Miami Beach (Part 2)

As noted in the previous post – the beach is beautiful and goes on forever towards the north. The area considered “South Beach” is really below 20th street and now extends down to South Pointe. That area of the beach is nice and wide which allows it to accommodate crowds and the beach narrows as you head north where you run into the high-end hotels and condos.

Hitting this place at the end of high season in the back half of May and it’s still relatively busy with tourists. COVID? Naaah – no one acts like it exist here – they are in town to have a good time.

As mentioned previously – the beach is free, but if you want a chair, they run around $20 each for the day and around $15 for an umbrella. Services up and down the beach manage the chair areas. If you do the math, if you are staying more than a day – it makes economic sense to actually just buy some chairs and an umbrella at the drug store and bring your own. The walk to the beach is not that far.

*Matching umbrellas with chairs in the back are for rent. The open sand closest to the water is free for everyone as well as any areas not taken up by the rental chairs.*

The “South Beach” part of the sand can get pretty crowded which might be an issue for some folks. You can always rent a chair to get some space from the crowds or go farther north by the high-end real estate which can be a bit less crowded on the beach.

*South Beach from South Pointe at sunset*

There is a path that winds along the back of the beach starting from South Pointe and goes all the way north (pretty much as far as you would ever want to go). It is a super pleasant walk, run, or bike path (they don’t allow e-bikes on this section).

*Turtles get their space on the busy beach*

There are the two “Muscle Beach” sections where the city provides weights, machines, and work out equipment for anyone to use for free. The actual free weights get put away every night but the machines are available around the clock. It’s a great routine to wake up, go for a beach boardwalk run, hit the weights, and then go about the rest of your day with coffee, beach, and re-toxifying yourself.

Another wonderful addition to Miami is the Citi Bikes system. They are everywhere and they are awesome. You can get a monthly pass for about $35 (or you can pay as you go for about $5 per ride). Miami Beach is set up perfectly for this since it is completely flat and everywhere you want to go is not that far. The stations are ubiquitous which makes it super convenient. The app will tell you where the stations are as well as how many bikes and docks exist at them in real time.

The bikes also exist in the downtown area and I used it there a bit but the beach is the best location. The main strip of Ocean Drive is also now one way so they made the other side a bike lane making it very safe to ride up and down the beach.

*Ocean Drive one way with bike lane, boardwalk is on the far left and goes all the way north with the beach*

Every city should have these bikes. I realize some cities be more challenging because they are less flat than Miami, but I was able to snag an e-bike on one of my trips and that would help on hills if they existed.

All in all, the beach itself is how you would picture it to be and really lives up to expectations as a vacation spot.

Miami Beach (Part 3)

Miami Beach (Part 1)