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Message
Couple questions about Miami Beach trip
Posted on 6/12/21 at 8:31 am
Posted on 6/12/21 at 8:31 am
First of all I did do a search, so I've got some great food recommendations that were very helpful. My questions are more about what specific area to stay. My wife and I are mid-30s are going in August. This is a combo anniversary/leave the kid at home for a break trip. Our time will probably be split around 30/70 with 30 being just laying on the beach relaxing and 70 being whatever running around tourist shite my wife wants to do.
I've found a handful of Air BnBs I like that are pretty evenly split between north beach and south beach. I saw in another thread someone started last summer 2020 that south beach was "like freaknik" and pretty much a wild raging party late into the night, which is definitely not our kinda scene these days. So here is basically what I'm wanting to know:
-First is that somewhat accurate, in that if we stayed somewhere in the heart of south beach it'd be pretty noisy and raucous late into the night to the point that you can probably hear partying if staying close to the main drag?
-If that is true, I assume north beach is not the case? Am I right ot assume north beach is the more laid back, older crowd?
-My wife is very much a touristy person so most of our running around will probably just be the popular stuff she googles from "best things to see around miami beach" or something like that. With that in mind, I'm guessing we will spend a lot of our daily time in south beach, is the area overall walkable or are we going to need to uber most places? Also if we stay in north beach and just spend our tourist time in south beach is that going to be a bad uber? I assume we'll be going back and forth at least once a day and maybe more.
-Is there a lot of popular touristy type stuff to do in the north beach area or would you probably assume we'll likely be in south beach most of the time?
-Lastly does anyoen have any experience of feedback on the Lapis spa at fountainbleu? Most of what we do will be pretty low key btu I do want to do the day for 2 there as an anniversary gift. Just wondering if the experience justifies the cost.
I know a lot of these questions are hard to answer but I'm just trying to get a general sense on what to expect and where we need to set up home base for the time we're there. We definitely want to stay on the ocean so staying in south beach but away from the main action won't necessarily be an option.
I've found a handful of Air BnBs I like that are pretty evenly split between north beach and south beach. I saw in another thread someone started last summer 2020 that south beach was "like freaknik" and pretty much a wild raging party late into the night, which is definitely not our kinda scene these days. So here is basically what I'm wanting to know:
-First is that somewhat accurate, in that if we stayed somewhere in the heart of south beach it'd be pretty noisy and raucous late into the night to the point that you can probably hear partying if staying close to the main drag?
-If that is true, I assume north beach is not the case? Am I right ot assume north beach is the more laid back, older crowd?
-My wife is very much a touristy person so most of our running around will probably just be the popular stuff she googles from "best things to see around miami beach" or something like that. With that in mind, I'm guessing we will spend a lot of our daily time in south beach, is the area overall walkable or are we going to need to uber most places? Also if we stay in north beach and just spend our tourist time in south beach is that going to be a bad uber? I assume we'll be going back and forth at least once a day and maybe more.
-Is there a lot of popular touristy type stuff to do in the north beach area or would you probably assume we'll likely be in south beach most of the time?
-Lastly does anyoen have any experience of feedback on the Lapis spa at fountainbleu? Most of what we do will be pretty low key btu I do want to do the day for 2 there as an anniversary gift. Just wondering if the experience justifies the cost.
I know a lot of these questions are hard to answer but I'm just trying to get a general sense on what to expect and where we need to set up home base for the time we're there. We definitely want to stay on the ocean so staying in south beach but away from the main action won't necessarily be an option.
This post was edited on 6/12/21 at 8:35 am
5
Posted on 6/12/21 at 9:28 am to WG_Dawg
What’s funny, me and my wife are going to Miami on Monday. We will probably spend 90% of the time on the beach. If you plan ahead, reserved in March, we got a hotel with their own beach access for under 100 a night. Wife just told me she looked up the price and it was 300 a night for the same room. Miami is all about the beach. Some people like the Cuban culture but considering we went to Cuba 2 years ago right before trump shut it down again I doubt they can come close to what we experience in Cuba.
Posted on 6/12/21 at 2:09 pm to WG_Dawg
I hope your plans include Barton G's on west ave. I have a long-standing challenge.... If it's not the best dining expierence ever, I will pick up your tab.
Posted on 6/12/21 at 4:45 pm to WG_Dawg
We stayed at Nautilus by Arlo in South Beach. Collins Ave was very calm during the week but very much like Canal St. in New Orleans on the weekend. Despite that, it never got overly noisy to the point where it bothered us, except maybe a few sports cars revving.
We never went all the way up to North Beach, but we walked everywhere around South Beach. There's a free public transit that runs up and down the island so if you can plan your day around that it makes it much cheaper than Uber. Uber was relatively high while we were there.
As far as "touristy" there isn't much I can think of on the beach that isn't laying out at the beach or hitting up some restaurants, maybe some shopping (but there aren't many stores that you probably don't have at home). I recommend La Leggenda Pizzeria for Italian (the waiters were straight from Italy, as they told us) and Rosetta Bakery for coffee and some pastries. Both delicious places.
When we were there they had red flags and purple flags, so no getting in the water. Be aware of that in case that's something you wanted.
For touristy shopping you can go to Bal Harbour shops in the north, or take an Uber to the Design District. We did the latter, but you have to make an appointment or wait in line to get in most shops because of COVID regulations. Not too long of a wait though. Worst was Louis Vuitton at an hour, but you could put your name down and walk around and they'd text you when you could come in.
My wife and I, like you, had an appointment at Lapis. Great place, high end. They take you through the locker room and you can change into your swimsuit there, then there's a co-ed area with a huge "rain room" where heated water falls on you like a massage as you lay on this slab, or they have a big heated pool that you and your wife can hang out in with the other spa guests. They have separate men's and women's facilities for hot tubs and steam rooms but we didn't hang out there because we were together. Massage was good but they made you wear a mask the whole time regardless of vaccination status, so that was unfortunate.
I highly recommend not spending money elsewhere at Fontainebleau because it's expensive as shite
we had a little left over on our gift card from the spa so we went to use it at the pool bar per staff recommendations and drinks were like $40 apiece. Screw that, good thing we had a gift card. We also had a 2 course lunch at La Cote included in the spa day, which was good. The pool at Fontainebleau was PACKED so if that's not your thing you can hang out anywhere at the hotel as part of your day.
If you have any other questions let me know, we just got back from our trip which sounds similar to yours!
We never went all the way up to North Beach, but we walked everywhere around South Beach. There's a free public transit that runs up and down the island so if you can plan your day around that it makes it much cheaper than Uber. Uber was relatively high while we were there.
As far as "touristy" there isn't much I can think of on the beach that isn't laying out at the beach or hitting up some restaurants, maybe some shopping (but there aren't many stores that you probably don't have at home). I recommend La Leggenda Pizzeria for Italian (the waiters were straight from Italy, as they told us) and Rosetta Bakery for coffee and some pastries. Both delicious places.
When we were there they had red flags and purple flags, so no getting in the water. Be aware of that in case that's something you wanted.
For touristy shopping you can go to Bal Harbour shops in the north, or take an Uber to the Design District. We did the latter, but you have to make an appointment or wait in line to get in most shops because of COVID regulations. Not too long of a wait though. Worst was Louis Vuitton at an hour, but you could put your name down and walk around and they'd text you when you could come in.
My wife and I, like you, had an appointment at Lapis. Great place, high end. They take you through the locker room and you can change into your swimsuit there, then there's a co-ed area with a huge "rain room" where heated water falls on you like a massage as you lay on this slab, or they have a big heated pool that you and your wife can hang out in with the other spa guests. They have separate men's and women's facilities for hot tubs and steam rooms but we didn't hang out there because we were together. Massage was good but they made you wear a mask the whole time regardless of vaccination status, so that was unfortunate.
I highly recommend not spending money elsewhere at Fontainebleau because it's expensive as shite
we had a little left over on our gift card from the spa so we went to use it at the pool bar per staff recommendations and drinks were like $40 apiece. Screw that, good thing we had a gift card. We also had a 2 course lunch at La Cote included in the spa day, which was good. The pool at Fontainebleau was PACKED so if that's not your thing you can hang out anywhere at the hotel as part of your day. If you have any other questions let me know, we just got back from our trip which sounds similar to yours!
Posted on 6/12/21 at 5:23 pm to Ingeniero
quote:
Ingeniero
awesome thank you. The day for 2 thing at lapis includes a massage, lunch at cote, water stuff, and access to their pool and beach. It sounds like that may be worth it based on your review. I'm hoping/assumign that all the covid mask bullshite will be done 2 months from now.
Posted on 6/12/21 at 5:35 pm to 3D
quote:
I hope your plans include Barton G's on west ave. I have a long-standing challenge.... If it's not the best dining expierence ever, I will pick up your tab.
On top of my list of restaurants I want to go to. We were going to go in December to do a fly into Miami, drive to Key West type trip and Barton G was going to be the restaurant I chose for the night we stay in Miami. (I’m the restaurant planner of our group)
Ended up getting outvoted and going to Clearwater Beach area. Bastards.
Posted on 6/12/21 at 6:09 pm to prostyleoffensetime
Thanks guys. Nice, expensive restaurants are a dime a dozen in any big city, what is it about Barton's that makes it as acclaimed as y'all are saying? Both of you have given it pretty effusive praise so I'm curious what exactly makes it stand out above other similar places
Posted on 6/12/21 at 9:16 pm to WG_Dawg
prime Fish is delightful. Drinks were great, food was fabulous. Grouper Imperial was excellent as were all the entrees ordered.
Posted on 6/13/21 at 9:40 am to WG_Dawg
quote:
Thanks guys. Nice, expensive restaurants are a dime a dozen in any big city, what is it about Barton's that makes it as acclaimed as y'all are saying? Both of you have given it pretty effusive praise so I'm curious what exactly makes it stand out above other similar places
I’ve never been, so I really have no idea how the food is. But if you have Instagram, search Barton G. Food looks great from the pictures, and looks like a hell of a good time.
Posted on 6/13/21 at 1:09 pm to Ingeniero
quote:
There's a free public transit that runs up and down the island so if you can plan your day around that it makes it much cheaper than Uber. Uber was relatively high while we were there
Awesome to know, I'll check this out and see the schedule it runs. What's the name of it? Is it a bus or rail? And did you guys get somd kind of weekend pass or just pay fare each time you rode?
Posted on 6/13/21 at 1:27 pm to WG_Dawg
quote:
Awesome to know, I'll check this out and see the schedule it runs. What's the name of it? Is it a bus or rail? And did you guys get somd kind of weekend pass or just pay fare each time you rode?
It's called the Miami Beach Trolley. If you go on their website they have a live map of the stops and ETA. Totally free, just hop on and hop off
Posted on 6/13/21 at 2:30 pm to Ingeniero
quote:
It's called the Miami Beach Trolley. If you go on their website they have a live map of the stops and ETA. Totally free, just hop on and hop off
omg, this is a total trip changer for real. This pretty much eliminates most of my questions from earlier on where to stay; I imagine we'll get one of the lesser priced places in mid/north beach knowing that we can just ride free down to south beach adn spend our day around there. We'll probably save hundreds on Uber over 3 days.
As for Barton G's, I appreciate the recommendation and I'm CERTAIN that if my wife and I were more refined or had more dialed-in palettes it would be a dinner to remember. Unfortunately neither of those apply to us so I can't begin to justify the cost of a meal like that. $38 for a funnel cake? $14 for mashed potatoes? $23 for a Caesar salad? And that's not even getting to the entrees yet! I'm sure the place is badass but I'm never going ot spend that much money on a meal when I'd be equally as satisfied eating at a sports bar.
We definitely want to get some seafood adn some good cuban food but I saw enough recommendations in some of the other bookmarked threads that I think we'll be good there.
Posted on 6/14/21 at 6:58 am to WG_Dawg
quote:
omg, this is a total trip changer for real.
The trolley can be nice, but you're still dealing with traffic so it can be slow. It can get packed full of people, and it attracts some of MB's finest mentally ill homeless residents. I wouldn't stay in North Beach then plan on using the trolley to zip back and forth to SoBe, but that's me. And I am a big take my time, let's take public transit on vacation kind of person.
Posted on 6/14/21 at 9:05 am to WG_Dawg
I think the water in South FL has the most days of warm water than anywhere else in the country, so we make at least a couple trips a year on average for long weekends. When we choose Miami, we stay on North Beach. I wouldn't say it's an older crowd so much as it's more of a local crowd. One of the things I miss about living in South FL is the variety of cultures, so we get more of that in North Beach.
A typical weekend starts with catching a Lyft to the hotel/AirBNB, grabbing some groceries and liquor at the nearby Publix and then relaxing. There are plenty of small, local cafes and shops nearby so we don't even bother with a rental car. The area is much quieter and the beaches are not nearly as crowded. We probably spend 70% of the time at the beach and 30% doing touristy stuff. It's close enough that you're not going to miss out on anything that's touristy on South Beach, Winwood, Bayside Marketplace, etc. Just catch a Lyft 5-10 mins South for the day. I think being cut off from he touristy stuff is what makes the area so relaxing, but again it's close enough to spend a day doing that stuff with minimal effort.
Also, not sure if you have nailed down accommodations yet but consider Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach as potential bases or day trips. The rail system can get you around pretty easily and the family has always felt comfortable using it. Lots of people in ties and scrubs use the Tri Rail and Metro system.
A typical weekend starts with catching a Lyft to the hotel/AirBNB, grabbing some groceries and liquor at the nearby Publix and then relaxing. There are plenty of small, local cafes and shops nearby so we don't even bother with a rental car. The area is much quieter and the beaches are not nearly as crowded. We probably spend 70% of the time at the beach and 30% doing touristy stuff. It's close enough that you're not going to miss out on anything that's touristy on South Beach, Winwood, Bayside Marketplace, etc. Just catch a Lyft 5-10 mins South for the day. I think being cut off from he touristy stuff is what makes the area so relaxing, but again it's close enough to spend a day doing that stuff with minimal effort.
Also, not sure if you have nailed down accommodations yet but consider Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach as potential bases or day trips. The rail system can get you around pretty easily and the family has always felt comfortable using it. Lots of people in ties and scrubs use the Tri Rail and Metro system.
Posted on 6/14/21 at 10:42 am to MLU
My wife had just booked a place this morning before I checked back in here but it seems fine. Looking at google maps it's about halfway what I guess you'd call midbeach adn north beach. We are on the beach which was really my #1 desire in lodging and it looks liek we're abotu 4.5 miles from the main south beach stuff.
Posted on 6/14/21 at 8:57 pm to WG_Dawg
I've stayed at the Fountainbleau twice but I also like that it has so much going on that I didn't have to leave. It's expensive for sure, but I think it's worth it. GREAT people watching place. I would also like to stay at the Confidante, SLS, or the Setai.
If you go on instagram and follow miamifoodporn, you will find everything you could possibly want to eat.
If you go on instagram and follow miamifoodporn, you will find everything you could possibly want to eat.
Posted on 6/15/21 at 7:12 am to iluvdatiger
quote:
If you go on instagram and follow miamifoodporn, you will find everything you could possibly want to eat.
great thanks, I will be sure to check this out. The only food I KNOW I want to do is try the cuban at the 2 places that are always recommended, offhand I think there's a 1957somethign and one is like seguero something, idk I'd have to look them up. Other than that we're pretty wide open so I'm sure this will be handy.
quote:
I've stayed at the Fountainbleau twice but I also like that it has so much going on that I didn't have to leave. It's expensive for sure, but I think it's worth it.
Definitely out of our price range ha. I tried calling them pretty much all day yesterday to get in touch with Lapis about the day for 2 package because the more research I did the more I had some questions about wanting it and I couldn't get a hold of anyone. Like truly all day, morning to evenign, I called with no response. So that's a bit worrisome.
Posted on 6/18/21 at 11:02 pm to WG_Dawg
quote:
good cuban food
Versailles for really good Cuban food.
Sanguich for the best Cuban sandwich you will ever have. Also give a medianoche a shot. (Cuban sandwich with sweet bread)
La Colada Gormet for Cuban coffee
All of these are along Calle Ocho in Little Havanna.
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