Welcome to Miami! When you think of Miami, you immediately think of South Beach, Ocean Drive & Art Deco. However, the city on the southern tip of Florida has much more to offer …
With this trip we wanted to explore the East Coast of the USA. Miami – Orlando – New York. The month May was made for this. Bathing weather in Florida & optimal sightseeing conditions for New York.
We started in the Sunshine State Florida, more precisely in Miami. Our accommodation was located directly between South Beach & Ocean Drive and was therefore the perfect starting point. We stayed at Marriott Stanton South Beach.
Within a few minutes walk you were in the Art Deco Historic District. This area is known for its colorful buildings and of course for the many restaurants, bars and clubs.
So that we didn’t just lay around lazily on the beach and drink cocktails, we went on a small group excursion to the highlights of Miami (Little Havana, Downtown, Coconut Grove, …). Finally, we enjoyed a boat trip with a view of the Miami skyline and some celebrity villas.
We always spent the evenings at the Ocean Drive, an entertainment mile in the center of the Art Deco district of South Beach. The motto here is “see and be seen” and “who has the coolest car” 😉
We trained off the excess calories every day shortly after sunrise. There’s nothing like a morning run at the beach. Actually, I’m not a fan of jogging at all, at home I prefer to walk for hours in nature with my dog. But strangely enough, while on vacation I love the our morning run routine at the beach.
An unserem letzten Tag in Miami unternaOn our last day in Miami we took another trip to the Everglades National Park.
Wenn man sich in Florida befindet kommt man fast nicht drum herum Orlando und seinen Vergnügungsparks einen When you are in Florida you can hardly avoid visiting Orlando and its amusement parks. We had 3 full days for Sea World, Walt Disney World and Universal Studios.
The weather forecast had predicted 40 degrees, so we were drawn to the cool water on the first day – to Sea World. I have to admit, the shows, the ambience and the variety are really great. From the current point of view, I would probably not visit this park anymore, as I am simply not a fan of animals in captivity (and certainly not of trained animals). The trip was already 10 years ago … at that time I hadn’t given enough thought to it..
I made an extremely stupid mistake at Sea World … I didn’t wear a hat. In the evening I already noticed that my stomach was no longer playing along and the next morning I could hardly get out of bed. I had really caught a sunstroke. Then only darkening the room and bed rest helped. Our 2nd day in Orlando was therefore not very exciting.
Fortunately, I felt better again on the third and last day. Unfortunately we had lost a day, now we had to choose … either Walt Disney or Universal Studios. Since we had the feeling that we were already a bit too old for the Walt Disney World theme park 😉 we headed for the Universal Studios.
We were pretty much the first in the park and yet the waiting time at the main attractions was already enormous. So we didn’t hesitate and upgraded to an “Express Pass” ticket at short notice. As it turned out, this was one of the best investments in this vacation. We just marched past the lines of people at almost all the attractions. Only at the mail attraction “the Wizarding World of Harry Potter” the Express Pass was not valid.
Our time in Florida was now over. Before heading back home, however, there were a few more days in New York on our agenda.
Our personal opinion about Florida:
- Miami Beach is great for relaxing and partying
- the theme parks in Orlando are absolutely worth seeing, but at some point the crowds get on your nerves
- Key West & Clearwater are still on my bucket list – next time 😉
Best travel time:
The best time to travel to Florida is from late November to mid-May. Rainfall is highest in the summer months. You have to expect hurricanes mainly from August to October.
Hotel recommendations:
- Marriott Stanton South Beach
- Hilton Grand Vacations at SeaWorld
Restaurant recommendations:
- Nikki Beach Club at Ocean Drive – Miami South Beach
- The Place Restaurant & Bar – Miami South Beach
- T.G.I. Friday’s – Miami South Beach
- Oceans Ten – Miami South Beach
More tips & recommendations:
For Universal Studios we can absolutely recommend the “Express Pass”. This is quite expensive, but you save yourself annoying queues and can experience more attractions in the same time.
