Hi, if you don’t know me yet and just found my blog, my name is Joanna. I love to travel and I work remotly from my laptop.
So far I lived in EUROPE
in Wroclaw, Poland
and in AMERICA
in Jersey City, NJ
in New York City, NY ( Upper East Side, Manhattan)
in Miami Beach, FL
and now I live in Miami.
In this post I want to explain what made me pick Miami as my home base. The good the bed and the ugly.
Why I decided to move to Miami
I love New York, it was my dream since I was a little kid to move to big apple and I made my dream come true. After living there 2 years I decided to move to Miami.
As I work from my laptop I often times spend 16-17h a day on it, so what I crave most once I am done with work is some outdoor time.
New York have 4 seasons, so considering in winter I would stay home most of the time I wanted to move to a warmer location.
I knew Miami already, been there on my honeymoon, and also that is where I developed my app and got this blog going. More here.
The pros that made me move here was:
- Great weather all year round
- Ocean – with warm water (LA didn’t pass that)
- A lot of sport options (citibike, tennis, jetski, paddleboard, swimming)
All the places I will mention in this post are circled on this map
From the left
1.Coral Gables
2, Coconut Grove
3. Vizcaya Museum
4. Brickell (the city- shops, restaurants)
5. Brickell Key (15 min walk around the island, worth to do at nigh, beautiful lit up city views)
6. Bayside Market Place – touristy spot
7. PAMM museum
8. Jet Ski spot near Margaret Park
9. Wynwood – pictures, Ooh Raw
10. Design District (the highest circle on the map)
11. Venitian way – worth a bike ride from Miami Beach to Miami and back – 20 min ride.
12-13. the 2 circles on the NW side in Miami Beach is where you can rent paddle board in Sunset Harbour and where you can paddle to see the amazing villas. Also Dreamer in Sunset Harbour- acai bowls and pics for the gram
14-15. Both circles on Lincoln ave where you can find Rosetta Bakery
16. Espaniola Way
17. Flamingo Tennis Park 11&Meridian
18. Best place to stay, muscle beach, jetski rental, rosetta bakery 8-9 and collins
19. South Pointe Marina, Planta restaurant
20. South pointe pier. Walk from 20 to 19.
Best places to stay in Miami Beach
Every single time I was in Miami Beach I stayed on Collins Ave between 8-9 street. To me its the best place as it is in the middle between South Pointe and Lincoln Road. The 2 places you should definitely visit during your stay.
What to see in Miami Beach
South Pointe park is by the ocean, there is a pier, a perfect sunset spot that faces Miami. You can spot many people flying drones. I sometimes fly there too. There is a beautiful marina.
Lincoln road is a place with all the shops and restaurants, some art galleries, and movies. It is on 17th street.
Another place worth visiting is Espaniola Way it is on 15th street with lots of spanish, greek and italian restaurants. Its a beautiful spot to visit at night time.
BTW Miami looks completely different during daytime and night time. During the day you may have a feeling that the city is empty and all stores are closed, but it all lits up at night.
Where to party in Miami Beach
LIV and STORY. Both clubs owned by David Grutman. Everyday you will be able to party with famous DJs and rappers. Since I moved to Miami there was : DJ Khaled, 50 cent, Cardi B, Diddy, French Montana, Tyga, Travis Scott, Lil Pump, Lil Wayne, A boogie wit da hoodie, Bad Bunny, 21 Savage and many many more as well as David Guetta, ZEDD, Steve Aoki, Cedric Gervais, Gianluca Vacchi, Tiesto, Armin van Buuren, Afrojack and more. Those clubs literally bring the best of the best. You can follow both clubs on IG to see what is happening & when. You won’t be disappointed.
What to eat in Miami Beach
There are 3 places I would recommend everyone to try:
Planta – David Grutman owned vegan restuarant on South Pointe. Vegan black been burger and kombucha mohito will swipe you off your feet.
Dreamer – beautiful and delicious Acai Bowls, amazing place to take pictures for the gram. Located on the Sunset Harbour (20th street).
Rosetta Bakery – for delicious sandwiches and desserts. Its a chain that you can find in at least 3 places: on Collins ave between 9-10st, and around Lincoln road and 17th st on Collins and Lenox. Great breakfast/lunch spot.
Besides that: Ocean Drive, Collins Ave, Washington, Espaniola Way and Lincoln Road, Sunset Harbour and South Pointe. You will find plenty of restaurants in those areas.
Places to see in Miami – pictures for the gram
Ooh Raw – in Wynwood – beautiful acai bowls in Pineapple or watermelon bowls.
Wynwood Murals – get those money shots with wings, and create content for the next half year, so many options I evencreated a separate post for it. Click here.
Museum Park- PAMM Museum
Design District
Beach
Sport in Miami
Citi bike is everywhere. You can even ride from Miami Beach to Miami and back. There are hourly, daily and monthly passes and the monthly ones make the most sense if you are staying more than 1 day in Miami. You can literally go everywhere on those bikes. The furthest I went was Coconut Grove- a beautiful neighborhood, worth checking out. Places worth checking out: Ocean Drive, South Pointe, Venitian Way between the city and the beach, Wynwood, Design District, Coconut Grove, Coral Way.
Paddle boards – I always rent mine in Sunset Harbour its $20 per 2h with a groupon, you can easily paddle around the islands with gorgeous $20m houses.
Tennis – if you play tennis then you have to check out Flamingo Park. You can play for $10 per hour or get a yearlu pass for $250. There is a free wall as well if you come without a tennis partner.
Jet Ski – lots of places to rent jetski, all will give you different look at the city. Places I know and used: Miami Beach and 9 st or 16 (Bou Jah company) – 30 mins for $90, Mondrian hotel 30 mins for $80, MiamiTours.com will take you to the 70th street and you get 1h for $100. And the 2 with the best views of the city are at Alton road and 5th- South Pointe Marina and in Miami right when you cross Venitian on the right is the small marina. Mind that some Jetski will have a limit of 40mph, some wil not and you can cut the water with 70 mph which is so much fun:)
Worst time to visit Miami
If you want to see Miami Beach crowded like Time Square then come on Spring Break and Memorial Weekend. The craziness is real, amount of people on the streets are traffic are unbelievable. The other time when its super crowded is Art Basel, but then it is less crazy.
Miami – the bad and the ugly
Something I’ve never experienced in other places is people love to show off in Miami. They will rent expensive cars and they can’t afford gas, dress in designer clothes even though they cost more than their rent.
This is a business oportunity for businessmans who buy/rent the cars and the boats and rent them out.
You can lease BMWi8 for $1.3k/month and rent it out for $300-999 per day. The cars you will see daily in Miami Beach: Lamborgini, Ferrari, Porshe 911 & Panamera, Masserati, BMW I8, Mercedes SL550, Mustang, Corvette.
Miami is a tourist destination, its also a cruise port, there are tens of cruises coming every week with over 2k passengers on them. Hotel business is making money all year round, many festivals and concerts bring people from all around US and the whole world to this little area on the beach.
Miami Language Barrier
Many places you won’t be able to communicate in english. Spanish is dominating language, so even in uber you might experience some communication challenges.
Miami Crime Rate
There is a shooting everyday in Miami. Quick search Miami shooting and you find articles like this everyday. When I go do my nails I hear the owner talking to the police about the cameras in front of her salon as there was a shooting a night before.
That said, you never know who you pass on the street so being kind and not causing any trouble is the way to go. Just be mindful, this can happen everywhere so it is good to have it on your mind.
Conclusion
Miami is a beautiful place and has lots to offer. To me it has way more positives than negatives. The rent is way cheaper than NYC and the lifestyle is unbeatable.
Have you been in Miami? What was your experience?
Hi, my name is Joanna, I started this blog in Jan 2017. I created posts about beauty, fashion, travel, rabbits, money blogging ect. Simply put: all the stuff I care about. After 10 months I realized my blog is not getting enough traffic so I dived into research. Till Oct 2017 I only had around 700 visitors on my blog per month. Then I implemented my Pinterest strategy and automated my pinning with my own build tool – PinMeApp. In Nov 2017 I got 3300 page views and then in Dec 2017 8500. That is how my app was born: PinMeApp. I wanted to help others grow traffic to their sites as well. Today I offer subscription for my app, but I also teach people my Pinterest strategy, step by step what I did to grow the traffic so fast, so this blog is now getting around 20k page views each month. I also offer Pinterest Management and implement my strategy for brands who want to reach their audience on Pinterest as well. My Pinterest account reaches over 5m people monthly. If you want such results feel free to contact me. Cheers, Joanna