A traveler's guide to Miami
Winter is the season people mean. Summer is hot, wet, and cheaper. Stay near the water you will actually use.
Miami is a beach city that happens to have serious art and a dozen Latin kitchens. South Beach is the photograph. The trip gets better in Little Havana, Wynwood in the morning, and any restaurant where the menu assumes you want plantains.
When to go
December through April is dry and busy. Hurricane season runs through November. Afternoon storms in summer are normal and brief. Spring break weeks are a different, louder city.
Neighborhoods
South Beach for the shore and the night. The Design District and Wynwood by day. Coconut Grove and Coral Gables when you want shade and a slower dinner. Key Biscayne if the point is water, not nightlife.
Eating
Cuban coffee, Haitian and Peruvian rooms, stone crabs in season, and a casual lunch that costs less than the beach club. Ocean Drive is a view. It is rarely the best meal.
If you only remember this
- A car helps once you leave the beach grid.
- Afternoon rain is a schedule, not a crisis.
- Beach clubs sell the chair. The sand is still public.
- Spanish will get you a warmer room in half the city.