A couple of under the radar things that people skip in Miami:
1) Haitian food - it’s phenomenal. You’re not going to find a lot of high end places that serve, but it’s delicious. Little haiti in general is a cool area. If that’s of interest to you, I suggest just showing up at the little Haiti Cultural Arts Alliance and Iris Photo Collective, talk to the owners (both are award winning artists, so interesting people to talk to).
2) check out the Upper East Side, close to little haiti. It’s a more upscale area, but the Anderson is one of my favorite bars in the city, as is the New Yorker (behind the New Yorker motel).
3) Id suggest not staying in south beach. It’s a pain in the ass if you’re hosting an incall for people to drive and park there. Mid and north beach are more easily accessible, like 5-15 min to see all the attractions of south beach, and much much easier to check out
4) you’ll probably hear this from a lot of people, but if you enjoy the club scene, make Space your number one spot. No truer Miami experience than there, and honestly the place is so big and so diverse that you don’t need to go anywhere else. If you’re an attractive woman, which it seems you are based on your reviews, you’ll have zero wait or cover.
5) if you like cultural stuff - bass art museum, Perez art museum are my go to places
6) easiest rule to follow is - stay within a few blocks of Biscayne blvd and I-95.
7) brickell is fun but if you don’t know the area well it can be overwhelming. Check it out but Id recommend going with a friend who knows Miami. The Wharf is super fun, not technically brickell but not far
8) as previously mentioned, Wynwood is fun. Take an Uber to N Miami Ave though and then just walk the two blocks over - don’t go directly to NW 2nd Ave (it’s two blocks away from N Miami Ave, so about a 3 min walk, but will save you 20 min of traffic). You only really need to spend one night there. It’s similar vibe to Williamsburg 10 years ago, if you’ve ever been. I recommend Broken Shaker, Coyo Taco (speakeasy in the back, it’s not obvious but not really a secret), freehold, and Astra. Day time, check out Astra, No 3 Social, Wynwood Walls (outdoor art, don’t pay unless you want the pics for the gram), and Wynwood marketplace (saturdays is smorgasburg, a Brooklyn/LA food market that just opened up here).
9) if you’re close by, check out Coconut Grove on the weekend. Just set your location to Cocowalk, you’ll see everything else cool to check out from there. It’s a pain to get to if you’re staying on the beach and not cool enough to deal with 40 min of traffic
10) as a latina, you’ll probably enjoy little Havana. Set your location to Ball and Chain, go from there. Good day or night. El Tiesto cafe is an awesome Dominican restaurant (we don’t have a huge Dominican community though so I am not an expert). Great dancing at night. If you like salsa dancing, go to Cubaocho. If you don’t, go to cubaocho. A nice old cuban man will teach you, and they’re very respectful of women. Avoid being taught by the younger guys, they’re generally gropers in that part of town (as a guy in my 30s, trust me on this one, I see it all the time when I go there).
If none of these sound interesting, let me know what you are interested in and I can give you more specifics. These are just all the things I show my friends who come here (time permitting) in no particular order (other than the little haiti stuff, which I find most people skip, to their detriment).
