24 Hours in Miami, FL

One of my college roommates recently moved to the Miami area (about an hour outside), so we decided to do a girls trip. Our other roommate drove down to Chicago and we both flew down to Miami together. We were there for about 4 days and spent time in Fort Lauderdale, The Keys, and Del Ray Beach. In total, we spent about 24 hours in Miami. Here’s what we did:

Wynwood Neighborhood

We started our day in the Wynwood Neighborhood. It’s known as an artistic area of Miami. There are murals everywhere. Not just buildings and walls, but also sidewalks, telephone poles, and cars. If you’re excited by creativity and out of the box thinking, then you will love this neighborhood! It’s bold, energetic, and very unqiue. We walked around and looked at murals, and also frequented some boutiques and coffee shops. 

We grabbed some coffee at Panther Coffee, a popular Miami coffee spot with multiple locations. 

We also had to grab some donut holes at The Salty Donut. The inside was super cute and had limited bar stool seating. My friend and I split an order of donut holes, but they were so good that we ended up ordering more!

OOH RAW! Poke & Juice Bar was our pick for lunch. It was healthy and light, and also incredibly pretty! I upgraded to a pineapple bowl - mostly for the gram, BUT it added great flavor so it was definitely worth it. 

One of my favorite parts about this whole trip was stopping at Art Fusion Galleries. We walked past the window and saw an amazing bust sculpture  made from pennies - so we had no choice but to walk in. The gallery had different rooms with different artists featured.

We actually got to meet the gallery owner, William Braemer, who told us his mission was to showcase emerging artists who usually get little to zero chance. We were able to hear more about his personal story as an artist, which was intriguing. Overall, we had a great time there viewing incredible art and we felt very welcome! If you only have 24 hours in Miami, make sure to stop here!

Design District 

The Design District was another favorite of mine during our 24 hours in Miami. I would most definitely come back here again. First of all let me make it clear that the Design District is an outdoor shopping area of designer stores that takes up about 6 blocks. Before coming here, I thought it was an area that had really cool architecture designs, but it’s actually full of designer stores.

Even though I had come here under false pretenses (of my own fault) I loved it. We didn’t go into any designer stores, but the architecture was indeed creatively designed. If not to shop, this place is incredible to walk though and take pictures of the buildings and shopping area. 

We ended up going into one store - Glossier. I had no idea that they had a physical store in Miami, but I’ve been a fan for a long time (read my comprehensive review) and this was my first time going to an in person store. 

We also stopped at The Bar at Mia Market. I wasn’t sure what to order, so I ordered the “surprise me.” I told the bartender what I liked and didn’t like and he made me a gorgeous orange cocktail. We named it “The Bennett” after our beloved bartender.

Sugar Rooftop 

I keep saying each one of these were one of my favorites, but going to Sugar was truly my NUMBER #1 FAVORITE part of our whole girls trip! I scoured the internet and TikTok for a great rooftop bar for our trip. We came to the conclusion that for the price and view, Sugar was our best option. 

We made a reservation, but when we got there, they told us that a reservation meant that we had a spending minimum ($100+). We ended up skipping the reservation and did bar seating and got seated right away.

Our drinks were pretty good and our bartender was super nice. One of our friends was pregnant, so he made her a nonalcoholic cocktail on the house. 

Besides the drinks, the views were breathtaking. I felt like I was in a different country, looking out at the skyscrapers with the ocean interwoven between them. 

HOT TIP: we went right before sunset! We got settled in and then watched the sunset over the ocean, reflecting off buildings. It was really cool to watch and we also got to see the city lights at night. It made it feel really special! 

Miami is obviously known for it’s night life, so coming without a reservation around 7 was perfect since the party doesn’t start until way later. 

I hope these tips help for your trip - especially if you only have 24 hours in Miami!

Until next time - may your weekend be full of creativity and style.

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