Miami travel guide

Plan your trip, step by step

• Where to stay
  Choose beach or mainland, then a hotel vs a rental.
• Things to do
  Decide which tours, boat trips and museum tickets to pre-book.
• Miami in 3 days
  Follow a plan that splits the island and the mainland sensibly.
• Estimate your trip cost
  See what a Miami trip costs once resort fees and parking are counted.
• First-timer mistakes to avoid
  Sidestep the errors that cost first-timers time and money here.
• Miami on a budget
  See what a lean, comfortable or generous day really costs.

The neighborhoods at a glance

South Beach (Miami Beach)

Known for the Art Deco Historic District along Ocean Drive, the widest stretch of sand, Lincoln Road’s pedestrian mall and the loudest nightlife in the metro.

Mid-Beach & North Beach (Miami Beach)

Known for the Collins Avenue resort strip, the oceanfront Beach Walk, and North Beach’s low-rise MiMo-era architecture and quieter, more residential feel.

Brickell & Downtown Miami

Known for the high-rise financial district, the free Metromover loops running overhead, and Museum Park on the bay with Pérez Art Museum Miami and Frost Science side by side.

Wynwood & the Design District

Known for warehouse walls painted end to end, galleries, breweries and taquerías in Wynwood; luxury fashion, courtyards and the Institute of Contemporary Art a few blocks north.

Little Havana

Known for Calle Ocho (SW 8th Street) — ventanita coffee windows, cigar rollers, the domino tables at Máximo Gómez Park and the metro’s densest concentration of Cuban food.

Coconut Grove & Coral Gables

Known for shaded bayfront streets and sailing marinas in the Grove; Mediterranean Revival architecture, Miracle Mile and the Venetian Pool in Coral Gables. Vizcaya sits between them.

Deciding where to base yourself? The where-to-stay guide turns these areas into a lodging decision.

When to go — month by month

Average daytime high (bars) and rainy days per month, from 5-year climate normals. Greener months are the most comfortable to visit.

Best months to visit: Jan–Mar

Destinations with a similar climate

Like Miami’s weather? These places have the closest year-round climate in our data — tap through for each one’s best time to visit.

• Playa Del Carmen →
• Orlando →
• Cancun →
• Tulum →
• Hanoi →
• San Juan →

Know before you go

Currency

US dollar ($). Cards and tap payments work virtually everywhere, including transit and most food trucks. Sales tax and lodging taxes are added at the register or at checkout, never shown in the menu or nightly price.

Language

English and Spanish are both everyday languages here — plenty of businesses run primarily in Spanish, and Haitian Creole is common in Little Haiti. No visitor needs Spanish, but a few words go further than in most US cities.

From the airport

Miami International (MIA) is close in. The free MIA Mover links the terminal to the Miami Intermodal Center, where the Metrorail Orange Line runs into Brickell and Government Center for $2.25. For the beach, the Miami Beach Airport Express (Metrobus Route 150) runs every 30 minutes from about 6 a.m. to 11:40 p.m. daily, also $2.25. Rideshare and taxis go direct for much more.

Getting around

Metromover is free and covers Downtown, Brickell and Omni across three loops, 5:30 a.m.–10 p.m. daily. The Miami Beach Trolley is also free — four routes, 8 a.m.–11 p.m. daily. Metrobus and Metrorail are $2.25 a ride, $5.65 for a 1-day pass or $29.25 for 7 days, paid with an EASY Card or EASY Ticket. Nothing rail-based crosses to Miami Beach — that gap is the whole transport puzzle.

Best time

December–April is the dry, warm, expensive high season. Summer is hot and humid with near-daily afternoon thunderstorms. The Atlantic hurricane season officially runs June 1–November 30, with the most active stretch between mid-August and mid-October — the cheapest rooms of the year sit inside that window for a reason.

Two city halls

Miami and Miami Beach are separate governments, and so are Coral Gables, Surfside, Bal Harbour and Key Biscayne. Parking rules, alcohol hours and — critically — short-term-rental law all change at the city line, not at the neighbourhood line.

For the best months to visit and a day-by-day plan, see Miami in 3 days.