Destination Guide: 3-Day Weekend in Miami, Florida
Including a day exploring Everglades National Park, a stones throw away from Miami
In February, we spent 3 days exploring Miami and Everglades National Park.
Miami isn’t just a city of beaches, good food, shopping and art deco buildings. Three National Parks—Everglades, Biscayne and Dry Tortugas—sit at the doorstep of Miami.
If you’re looking for a trip with city energy but also the slower pace of nature.
This is for you.
Know Before You Go
Currency: USD ($)
Language: Most commonly spoken languages are English and Spanish
Religion & Culture: Miami is a multicultural melting pot, with a significant Cuban and Latin American population and influence.
Weather & Best Time to Visit: There are broadly two seasons in the Miami region—dry and wet.
Between December and April (Dry season), the temperatures are mild (70s–80s°F) making it the best time to visit if you want to be exploring outside. But that also means it can be pricey and crowded.
Between May to November (Wet season), the weather is hot and humid (90s°F) with high chances of storms and even hurricanes. If you want cheaper flights and hotels, and less crowds, brave the wet season.
The best time to visit Everglades National Park is during the dry season. We visited during the middle of winter in early February, and it was still pretty warm—perfect t-shirt weather to explore both the park and Miami itself.
Getting around
There are free and paid public transport options within a district, but it was often tedious to get between districts using public transport.
We hired a car for one day to head out to Everglades National Park, and for the rest of our time in Miami we either walked or took an Uber between the different districts.
Miami is a grid-like city, but traffic is busy and chaotic. Expect to take twice as long to get from point A to B, especially during peak hour.
Renting a car from the Miami International Airport was easy.
Once you land, you follow the signs towards the MIA Mover on level 3 to take you to the Car Rental Garage.
Stay
Hotel and accommodation can be really expensive in Miami.
Depending on your interests, here are a few suggested areas for where to stay in Miami:
First time visitors: South Beach or Downtown—A lot of hotels, very walkable area and easy access to nightlife, bars and restaurants.
Budget conscious: Little Havana or North Miami—affordable central, local stays.
Car travelers: Blue Lagoon (near the airport)
Artsy or hipster vibes: Coconut Grove or Wynwood—Lots of cafes, restaurants, shops
High end shopping: Design District—you’ll have access to the world’s luxury brands at your finger tips.
For this trip, we opted to stay at a more budget location and stayed at Holiday Inn Express Miami – Blue Lagoon. It was relatively close to the airport,offered free parking, complimentary breakfast and a sizable room.
Since it’s located towards the west of Miami, it was closer to Everglades National Park, cutting down our travel time to the park.
See & Do
If you’re taking a trip to Miami, Florida, these are our highlights, must-do activities and must-see places.
1. Shark Valley Tram Tour (Everglades National Park)
Of the 3 national parks in the area, Everglades National Park is the most accessible park from Miami.
It was designated a national park in 1947 to preserve the biodiversity and it’s the third largest national park in terms of land size. The park protects 1.5 million acres of wetland, forest, marine areas, and native plants and animals.
The Shark Valley entrance is the closest park entrance to Miami—only 30 minutes away!
And Shark Valley is a must if you visit Everglades National Park. You can walk, bike or take a tram to explore the area. But if you’re short on time, the 2-hour tram tour of Shark Valley with a knowledgeable tour guide was an effective way to see and learn a lot about the park.
Even though we visited during winter, it still got quite hot during the day.
Aim to explore Shark Valley in the morning to beat the heat. We opted for the first 9am tram tour, the first of the day. That meant beautiful light for photography and cooler weather.
This 15-mile loop showed off all the Everglades plants and wildlife—alligators and birds were everywhere!
We even spotted the elusive American Crocodile basking by the water. According to the guide, it’s an endangered species, with only 2000 left.
Half way through the tram tour, we stopped at the observation tower. From to the top of the tower, we saw 360° views of the River of Grass and rest of the park. Don’t skip this!
2. Driving down from Homestead to Flamingo, and walks in between (Everglades National Park)
Everglades National Park is completely different to the 10+ parks we’ve visited in the last 2 years.
We swapped mountains and unique rock formations for grassland, subtropical landscape and wildlife.
The drive from the southern Homestead Entrance all the way dawn to Flamingo area takes around 30 minutes without stopping—but there are plenty of short walks and scenic view points to stop along the way!
Here were our top trails and overlooks:
Anhinga Trail was the star: Easy and short wooden boardwalk that gets your close to wildlife, you’ll see birds, alligators and even tortoises lounging around
Pa-hay-okee Overlook: A short 0.2mile boardwark to see sweeping views of the grassland.
Mahogany Hammock Trail: Another short 0.5 mile roundtrip boardwalk, where you walk under the canopy of trees. A nice break from the warm weather!
West Lake Trail: Make this quite stop if you want to see mangroves and water views.
Once you get to the Flamingo area, walk around the Flamingo Marina and see if you can catch some manatees!
3. Scenic Night Drive: North to South Miami Beach
Miami beach is what we see in the movies.
Drive through the streets from North to South Miami Beach check out the quintessential art deco style building, nightlife and restaurants, palm tree-lined streets filled with boutiques and shops.
Once you hit Ocean Drive you’ll see the glove of neon signs and even more nightlife.
🏄♀️ We thought Miami Beach and Ocean Drive was busy, but not as rowdy as New Orleans’ Bourbon Street.
4. Miami Beach Art Deco District
Ocean Drive and the surrounding area are filled with beautiful art deco buildings.
Even though we drove through the area at night, we wanted to explore it during the day in better light, plus pop by Miami beach itself.
A stroll through South Beach's Art Deco strip is like stepping back into the Gatsby era. Pastel-colored buildings, porthole windows, curved edges, and chrome details.
We walked from 5th to 15th Street, snapping shots and admiring the preserved architecture. Dropping by Espanola Mall. And given the warm weather, we stopped by for a drink at one of the historic hotels along the way.
🏦 I always make time to see historical buildings and interesting architecture in any city I visit—it’s a visual delight and I think adds to my appreciation of the destination.
5. Little Havana
This was a real gem!
We wandered down SW 8th street, starting at Sanguich Little Havana. This is the heart of Cuban-American culture.
We tried Cuban sandwiches at Sanguich, observed people planing dominos at Domino Park, popped into Azucar for ice cream and took photos of and in front of stunning art murals.
There were a ton of restaurants, cafes, bars, cigar shops and everything in between.
It was a hub of activity on a Saturday morning—filled with locals and tourists alike.
6. Wynwood Walls
Wynwood is Miami’s art district—a showcase of street art and murals everywhere.
And if you want to see some of the best street art, then get tickets to visit the very instagrammable Wynwood Walls, street art exhibit.
Other than Wynwood Walls, the neighbourhood is also full of galleries, cafés, and boutique-y shops.
We enjoyed walking around Wynwood Walls and the surrounding neighbourhood for a few hours.
7. Miami Design District
Looking for luxury goods and high end shopping. Look no further than Miami Design District.
8. Coconut Grove
I loved the Coconut Grove neighbourhood—lush, laid-back and even a little bit boho.
We had brunch at Los Felix, a 1-Michelin star restaurant in Miami, on Sunday and absolutely loved the food and the vibe of Coconut Grove. It was really nice to sit by the table of the side walk enjoying a Mexican inspired brunch menu while doing some people watching.
After brunch, we wandered around the area. There were indie bookstores, cafes, restaurants and more boutiques.
Drop by Books & Books, it’s a really cool indie bookshop.
A very charming little area of Miami.
Eat & Drink
Edan, North Miami: Laid-back dinner in the suburbs. It had a modern ambiance, and the crowd felt very local. Food was good, though nothing really stood out. It had a cozy casual yet a little bit of an upscale vibe.
Los Félix, Coconut Grove: A must-visit spot for brunch, lunch or dinner. Michelin star recommended Mexican fare. Staff were friendly and bubbles were on the house when they found our it was a bit of an anniversary trip. The pork tacos and the catch of the day were delicious.
Ariete, Coconut Grove: Our favourite meal in Miami. This was more of an upscale Michelin star restaurant. The food was good. The pressed duck for 2 (Canard a la Presse) was one of their specialty dishes and it didn’t disappoint.
Sanguich, Little Havana: Must try the Cuban sandwiches here! The lines get really long so come early if you can. We were in line for 30 minutes before getting seated at a tiny table.
Versailles, Little Havana: This is the iconic Cuban sandwich restaurant. We were dissappointed by the Cuban sandwich if we’re honest (Sanguich was much better).
Ice Cream at Azucar: Lots of great flavours.
Robert Is Here (fruit stand), Homestead: pick up a cool milkshake for fruit shake from this iconic grocery shop on you way down to the Flamingo area of Everglades National Park.
Wrap Up
3 days was just the right amount of time for us to explore both Miami and Everglades National Park.
We got to experience a mix of the vibrant and iconic city that is Miami.
But also got to get out in nature and see some unique wildlife we’ve yet to see—alligators and colourful birdlife.
Miami also has one of the most vibrant food scenes. Lots of great restaurants. We barely skimmed the surface of the food scene!
Do any of the activities or sights sound interesting to you?
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Great photos and spectacular photos! I was in South Beach last November and thoroughly enjoyed my experience there ... now need to return to visit all of these other great spots in the Miami area!