48 Hours in Miami Beach: The Do’s (And Don’ts)

As you may have noticed from my social media, Andrew and I spent 48-ish hours in Miami for my 27th birthday! It was a whirlwind trip, but we had a blast— and though we didn’t get to see nearly everything that’s available in Miami (where a friend of ours had been staying for a while, and absolutely loved!), we hit some highlights that are definitely worth doing if you only have 48 hours in the City of Magic.

Do: parasailing. Don’t: try yachting on a tight schedule.

One thing we did try was parasailing, which I was terrified of at first, but it ended up being so worth it. We went from South Beach with FlySOBE, and it took only about an hour (so didn’t eat up too much of our time!) and still included a boat ride before and after the parasailing was up, wherein we got the chance to see more of the Miami Beach coastline and some adorable sea turtles hanging out in the ocean.

We skipped yachting, as most of the trips take multiple hours (if not all day)— which isn’t a bad thing per se, but if you want to make the most of your time, you may not want to spend it all on a yacht, and that’s because…

Do: dining and nightlife.

… You want to have enough time in the afternoons and evenings to try the authentic Cuban food, and experience Salsa live and up-close! Some places we dined were particularly great, including Old’s Havana (which also allowed us to see more of the Calle Ocho area), and Mangos in Miami Beach for drinks and dancing was definitely a hit. You can’t really go wrong with bopping around in either area, but both offered great prices for authentic food and drink, as well as live Salsa music and entertainment.

Other than that, we mostly spent our time relaxing poolside (because the weather is too good not to!)— we stayed at The Gates Hotel South Beach, which was gorgeous, and included poolside dining (provided by Ola restaurant, whose Mix Ceviche was 100000/10 delicious), poolside salsa lessons and games, as well as music pumping through the speakers all day long on the weekends, which kept the vibe fun and hopping no matter what time you decided to spend time by the pool.

We saw a ton of other things around Miami Beach (like the old Versace Mansion), but the activities and spots listed above were definitely the highlights of the weekend. If you’re on a tight timeline you can still have a ball in Miami Beach— so don’t shy away!

Xoxo, MM.