Hello People,
Are you one of those first time visitors to Miami and the Keys in Florida ?
Well, here are some tips and ideas on what to do and where to go based on our experience.
To start of with , I did this wonderful 4 day trip with my husband for our anniversary in September.
September can prove to be a hot and humid weather in Florida so do not forget to pick up sunscreens. We did Miami for a couple of days and the Keys for another couple of days.
Miami Downtown
There are nice hotels downtown, a tad expensive (Delano is a personal favorite just for the giant chessboards :P ) , but they are very near to all the beaches and downtown restaurants and other clubs and bars if you want to hang out at night. There is a long stretch of the street called Ocean Drive along which there are umpteen restaurants and Shopping areas.
Miami Downtown
Miami beach - Surfside Beach & North Beach
We started off exploring all the beaches in Miami. Being an ocean lover, I completely fell in love with those pristine blue and green waters. Taking a dip in the scorching sun was a complete bliss and it soothes you.
A portion of the Surfside Beach
We checked out some beaches starting from the North shores. Miami beach is a place where you can see the tall skyscrapers in the downtown area directly while chilling in the sea shores. Further along from the North Beach, we found a quiet beach called the
Surfside beach. It is a very calm and neat place with less crowds when we were there. Ideal for families and people who want to just relax and swim and sun bathe.
South Beach
From there on, it is a straight road right along the Ocean Drive for about 7 miles and you can check out whichever beach that might interest you. Far along towards the end is the South Beach, the most popular hang out spots of all the beaches. The spectacular colored lights from all the Ocean-facing Hotels and resorts look so fancy at night.
South Pointe Pier Park
Towards the end of the shoreline, there is the South Point Pier Park, which is essentially a rocky Fishing Pier with a deck overlooking the ocean. Check it out before 8 PM because they close the gates to the deck. Watching the speedboats & the sunset from this place is absolutely breathtaking. Downtown sunsets look beautiful too ! :)
Do not forget to click a picture or two at the super colorful and super
pretty lifeguard stations here and there along all of these beaches.
The beautiful lifeguard station
Wynwood Art Walk
This is a 1.5 mile stretch of roads whose walls are covered in beautiful wall mural arts. The style of these street arts vary from random abstract patterns to cartoons to black and white sketches. It was so lively to just look at them. We preferred to just drive through this street and stop by and capture some pictures.
One of the Street Arts in Wynwood Walls
Nights in the downtown
Night Life in Miami is just good. There are lot of tourists roaming about the streets shopping & partying and bar hopping. Do not forget to check out the restaurants and pubs along the area. There are high end restaurants, sea facing restaurants, bars and budget friendly restaurants equally strewn across the area. There is no shortage for a variety of cuisines too.
Parking can be a bit of a trouble here, there is paid street parking but they were almost always full when we were there. Some indoor parking garages worked out for us and they charge a flat rate of something under 5$ and places with hourly rates were also there based on the location and timing.
Crandon Park Beach , Key Biscayne
Another place we found a short distance (roughly 20 or 25 miles) from Miami is Key Biscayne. This is a beautiful place with beautiful beaches and coconut trees. We checked out the Crandon Park beach which is a family friendly place. We can spot peacocks, Cranes and peahens out in the premises of the park. It was moderately crowded during the time we went and there is an entrance fee to this place.
Cape Florida Lighthouse
A short distance from the Crandon Park beach is the Cape Florida Lighthouse. It is one of the prettiest and picturesque lighthouses I have ever seen. The admission to the top of the 95 foot lighthouse is free and it closes at 2 PM itself. We were just lucky enough to be one of the last few people to be admitted.
It proved to be a realllllllllllllllllllyyyyyyyyyyyy long flight of stairs to the top and as physically unfit as I am,by the time I pushed myself to the top of the spiraling stairs, I became breathless, puffing and panting and on the verge of fainting. Nevertheless, the view from the top was breathtaking, a pretty blue beach on one end and an endless supply of trees at the other end !
This pretty shot was captured from the top of the lighthouse
Bill Baggs State Park Beach
Coming down from the lighthouse,we found the Bill Baggs State Park beach just nearby, it was the beach we happened to see from the top. I loved this beach so much that we visited this place twice during our stay there. This family friendly beach offers
Crystal clear waters, lighthouse views and less crowd. I could say it is probably one of the most clean and beautiful beaches ever. The only downside is it becomes crowded in the evenings and finding parking in the area can prove to be difficult but entirely possible. I did not have the heart to leave this beautiful place :D
Taking a Stroll :)
Coral Castle
One of the most off-beat places to visit is the mysterious Coral Castle. It is a beautiful place a few miles from Miami. The legend is that this place was built by just one 5 feet tall man with no heavy duty tools. Complete with a garden, sundial, well outdoor tables and chairs built entirely out of corals, this is simply a
modern day marvel. It is still a mystery as to how he managed to accomplish this feat. This place has an entrance fee of $15 and is definitely worth a visit.
Islamorada
We traveled to Key West the following day for some adventure. It is a 3 hour drive from Miami to Key West. On the way, we stopped over at the other keys and just explored around. One such place was Islamorada. It is a
fishing island with beaches, speed boats, water sports and fun activities. One of the off beat attractions was an old broken rail bridge called
Old Bahia Honda bridge.
Snorkeling beneath the Old Bahia Honda
It can be seen even from the freeway that we drive on to go to Key West. From the view point, we can see the blue sea, the new bridge and the rusty Old bridge side by side.
Panoramic View of the Over bridge and the Old Bahia Honda Bridge
The clear waters are ideal for Snorkeling and we even spotted a huge Stringray :) We also stopped at the
Rain Barrel Artisan Village, just to see and click pictures of the
giant Betsy Lobster sculpture. The place is right on the highway towards Key West.
Betsy Lobster in Islamorada
Mallory Square & Duval Street, Key West
Once we reached Key West we checked out the Mallory Square, where there are markets, souvenir stores, restaurants and other fun places to hang out. Duval Street is a popular downtown street filled with lot of restaurants and boutiques. With just 1.25 miles in length, it is just a chill place to hang out and have a Cuban coffee or a key lime pie. :)
Mallory Square Entrance
Key Lime Pie
After a leisurely stroll in the streets, we reached the Key West Marina from which we started our snorkeling adventure.
The Key West Marina
Snorkeling in Key West
Snorkeling in Key West is a must do. We had booked
Fury water adventures and they did a pretty good job for a decent price too. Their website can be found online here
https://www.furycat.com/ and the online booking was hassle free. It is optional but a totally great idea to have underwater cameras to capture this experience. One of the rentals we came across online was called BFS rentals. We however owned a gopro, so I am not aware of their services.
Key West sunsets are so special. Watching it from boats in the Barrier Reef was truly a sight to behold, it is an amazing sight when you see it up close disappearing into the horizon,. The colors were amazing.
This shot was captured in my iphone :)
Southern most Point of Continental USA
Other places to check out in Key West are the Southern Most Point. It is a popular tourist location from which Cuba is just 90 miles away. However, there could be a queue for taking pictures in that spot. Street parking is aplenty there.
Southernmost point
Close to it is the Southern most beach called the
South Beach of Key West, this is a popular beach in Key West.
South Beach , Key West
Ernest Hemingway House and Key West Lighthouse
The Ernest Hemingway House and the Key West lighthouse are just yards away from each other. It is the house that the famous poet was born. We just drove by the place and did not get a chance to check it out. The keywest lighthouse offers you a vision of the entire ocean as well as the views of the layout of the town. Do check it out if time permits !
The Key West Lighthouse
Sunset Pier
Close by there is the
Sunset Pier, a viewpoint which houses a restaurant, live music and a beautiful view of the open ocean.
The Sunset Pier Ocean View
One of the most interesting thing about Key West is the presence of fancy
Sign Posts everywhere pointing directions to neighboring cities, countries and continents alike :) It would be a sin not to capture a picture of those :D
One of the pretty sign posts in Sunset Pier, Key West
Museum of Art & Historical Society
A few yards from there and we came across the Customs House aka Museum of Arts and History of Key West. In front of it is a huge statue of a
Waltzing couple. This beautiful statue is a part of Key West history and is worth a 2 minute stop by. In and around this small town, we just shopped and explored around and came across pretty little places like this.
The Customs House Giant Statue
Fort Zachary Taylor
Fort Zachary Taylor Historical Beach Park is one of the historical places of Key West. It has an old
fort that we explored around for a bit and then we reached the shorelines. It had one of the best views of the rocky
Fort Zachary Beach and is a picnic spot.
Fort Zachary Taylor
Fort Zachary Taylor Beach Park
Smathers Beach
If you want to spend some more time at the beach, there is the Smathers Beach which offers a huge area of coconut and palm trees with white sand and blue sea. It is a crowd free family friendly beach that was close to our resort. Parking in Smathers Beach was absolutely hassle free for us.
Christ of the Abyss, Key Largo
On the way back we had another snorkeling stop at Key Largo for the famous Christ of the Abyss. It was absolutely breathtaking to travel to the
dry rocks location and just jump off into the ocean to see the statue. It is visible from the surface when there is sunlight.
So these are the places we were able to explore and cover in a 4 day trip. Perfect planning made it possible :)
Do check these places and I hope you wont be disappointed.
Happy Vacation !!!! :)
