South Beach, South Beach, South Beach!

Do go to Mango's! Fun, funny and hysterical! Get drunk and dance on the street with the staff and everyone that walks by. The food is good too. Do look for the flamenco dancer on Ocean Drive, he will be famous one day. Do go to Coconut Grove for shopping and dinner. Do go out at night (imagine a mix of NYC and Havana on the water).

Quick Tips:

Do not stay in the Cleavlender, Adrian or related hotels. Be very wary of hotels on Ocean Drive they are pricey and that does not necessarily mean they are exclusive, the ones mentioned above will cost you at least 180 a night and are worth about 20 a night!HONESTLY! Nicer hotels are TIDES, Leslie, Beacon, (the MArriott is opening soon, finally a chain hotel in South Beach).

Eat at the News Cafe at any hour and make pretend you are in Europe! If you have the money stay at the Bentley or just go and ask for a visit of the rooms! No words can describe the luxury and cozy feeling of these unique rooms, each one is a diffent theme.

Best Way To Get Around:

Everybody likes to think about renting a convertible in a town like South Beach. Be seen is the password! However, be warned your shiny red convertible will take you no where especially during holiday weekends and Spring Break. It will most likely be parked in an underground parking lot 5 blocks from your destination.

Ocean Drive and Washington Avenue are the target zones of all the action; cafes, restaurants, shopping, nightlife and beach! On weekends such as Memorial Day it will take you at least 45 minute to drive 7 blocks. Take a taxi and get off on Collins Avenue and walk the rest. Walking is easy and everything you need is less than 10 blocks away (one S. Beach block is equivalent to half a NYC block. A car is useful if you want to go outside the South Beach vincinity and visit other areas of Miami Beach. Driving on the highways is easy and peaceful. There is no traffic on the highways and the rides to the city and Coconut Grove is pleasant.

Where do I begin! It's ten pm when we exit from the taxi and Ocean Drive is bustling with people on a Friday night. We enter the hotel, there is no bell boy or related services. The rude man at the front counter takes our name and tells us we are staying in the other building which is two stores down. The so called lobby looked like a roach motel. Of course we had to carry our luggage to the other building which is on top of a restaurant that stunk up the whole hotel. We get into the elevator (the ones with the closet doors and triangle windows) we go to our room. The hallways were dimly lit, and our disgusting door had a whole in it. We open the door and SUPRISE, welcome to hell! Two single beds (for a couple) with wool covers, no telephone dirtly oily windows, pubic hair on the toilet seat and a rusted bathtub. We walk down the hall to my friends' room, where we find them sitting on the dresser because they were too disgusted to sit on the bed, because when they turned them down their was blood stains. We carried our baggage right down the block where we complained, the guy nonchalantly told us they had no other rooms left. After we stood there screaming for a while he magically found rooms in the main building. Now compared to the previous rooms these rooms were slighlty better, but still worth only $20. During our stay there we discovered that our key opened the doors of 3 other rooms and vice versa, the maids visited on a weekly basis and the windows did not open. The theme of the furniture in the room was 'salvation army' and the elevator did not work, and yes we had to carry our luggage up the stairs!

I have stayed at this hotel 3 times. My first experience was the most pleasant and they all went downhill from there (maybe I just got meaner). This hotel as one of the larger hotels in South Beach with spacious rooms that can fit up to 6 people inside! This sad part is that this hotel has so much potential to be something greater. It has a huge pool area (most hotels in South Beach do not have a pool), on the beach. This hotel must have been a luxury in the early 70's but it does not seem as if they changed anything from there. The hotel is not consistent. Some floors are nicer than others, as are the rooms.

This is a good hotel for spring breakers that want something a little bit better than the ones on Ocean Drive. I would not recommend this hotel if you are acustomed to chain hotels like Marriott and Sheraton. It used to be a Choice Hotel for about 1 year, I guess they didn't meet the satisfaction guarantee for long.

When we stayed there, we complained about the water. They shut it off for one day, and they told us all of Miami had no water which was untrue. It's a good location right on top of Denny's and across the street from a Walgreen's. European travelers seem to think this is a paradise. American travelers, especially from NY, demand much more!

Lario's the well known eatery owned by Gloria Estefan. I have eaten there 3 times and all three times have been quite different. It is not consistent. The first experience was excellent! We had a cozy little table on the sidewalk the food was delicious I had a meat dish with rice/beans. If you are not familiar with Cuban or latin cusine ask the staff for help. The drinks were big and good.

The second experiece was not a pleasent, the table was the same but the chicken smelled old. It was late at night and that might be the reason for the leftover meat. The third time i returned was for a friend's b-day. We were a party of 15. We sat indoors, we had to wait 30 minutes because we were '5' minutes late for our reservation. They have a band playing and you can dance or have a drink while you are waiting.The food was good this time, I had the thin steak with rice and beans which was juicy! The waiters were nice and sand the birthday song in two languages. It's a fun place to eat and worth the visit while in S. Beach.

News Cafe is a must when in South Beach. Ocean Drive is filled with cafes and choosing which one to go to is confusing. News Cafe is in the center of the action. You can go for breakfast, lunch, dinner and after hours. Is is always lively. My favorite time to eat there is after a day a long morning at the beach. Go as you are! At 5 in the afternoon you can enjoy there perfect sized snacks and entrees and watch everybody walk by as you watch the ocean. The food is tasty and unique. After a club we would run there for the delicious spinach and tomato personal pizza. It's a fun place to eat and be seen. The staff is good looking and friendly and the prices are fair.

This lovely romantic restaurant is located on Washington Avenue. The inside of the restauant is cozy and peaceful which has huge glass windows through which can watch the busy street. The service is good-looking and friendly. On busy nights they have a live band and the waiters encourage you to dance. The portions are huge! I could only take 3 bites out of mine. It is so filling and satisfying that you cannot finish it. I felt as if it was the best food I tasted in all of Miami. The pasta dishes are beautifully prepared and presented. The mussels are juicy and fresh. Delicious!

Before going please call in advance, scheduled events may interfere with the club. The club has a big S outside, There is usually face control at the door so dress up. The inside of the club is nice and modern. The bathroom is a cute place to take pictures because there is a wall made out of a fish tank.

Friday's is hip-hop night, friendly crowd ages 20-26. Saturday's is house music night. Again the crowd is a typical techno 'friendly' crowd ages 20-30. During high season it gets very crowded. There is a quiet bar off the dance floor in the back where you can go to get away from the crowd.