hey there fellow travelers mark here
with walters world and today we're here
on south beach in miami beach
and today what we have for you are the
don'ts of visiting miami because
it doesn't matter if you're coming here
for a weekend away a bachelorette party
or you're coming through on a cruise
there's some definite dues
and don'ts when you come to miami and my
first don't for you
for anyone that comes here is don't
forget to look at your bill
when you go to the restaurant why well
service charges i.e tipping
may already be added onto your bill here
on south beach everywhere we went
20 already added on 21 already added on
whether it was drinks whether it's a bar
whether it was restaurants whatever
so make sure you're looking to see
because they'll still have a little
place for you to write tips like more
tips on your bill
so you might end up tipping 40 on a bill
and not realizing it so do take a look
now it's not everywhere like here on
south beach yeah it was pretty much
everywhere
but we were in downtown miami this great
peruvian restaurant
didn't have the service charge already
on there so we needed to write it in so
just have a heads up with that okay and
i think another important thing when
you're looking at service here in miami
don't expect great service when you're
here i mean i'm not going to lie to you
i've had multiple people come up to me
actually i bumped into two of my old
students
maggie who's getting married and tiffany
and and they're like mark please make
sure you mention how bad the service
here is here in miami you're gonna have
to wait it's gonna take time
and people aren't gonna really care if
you're happy or not with your service no
it's not like that everywhere i mean it
happens a lot on south beach but
it doesn't happen everywhere in miami
but just know that service is not going
to be like
wowing you when you're here and maybe
part of that is because they already
know that that 20
service charge is already charged on but
just something to have a heads up on so
have some more patience with your waiter
know that it might take a little bit
longer to get your food longer to get
your drinks no it's miami man what else
are you gonna do
we're here for the beach we're here for
the sun we're here to relax so so just
have a heads up for that
and i guess since i'm here on south
beach i think i should really talk about
some of the other like kind of going out
don'ts you want to make sure you don't
do
one don't do the bottle service whether
you're going to a cabana thing or you're
going to a bar or a club
you will save a lot more money if you
just order drink by drink versus the
bottle service
also another thing they'll do is you'll
you'll go to a south beach restaurant or
bar
and you'll order a beer like i want them
they're going size medium like well you
know
we've got a two for one special with the
large beers or a three for one specials
with this
and you're thinking oh that's going to
be a deal sure i'll go for that
but you'll notice they don't tell you
the price okay so my dome for you is
don't do the two for ones don't do the
three for ones without
looking at the actual price for that
deal i know my friend and i'm like i
have to see how much it's going to cost
just to like check it out because i was
ordering a medium beer and they
said oh we have a two for one large beer
special i'm like
all right i got to see what it is and
i'm not joking for two big beers i mean
they're big beers i'll give them that
too
when the two for one thing happened i
still paid 45
for two beers and a service tip and
taxes added on
but what's great with those two for one
deals a three for one deals they always
like to bring you
the check and say look how much you
saved this would have been 90
and you only paid 45. i'm like for two
beers you gotta be crazy so
don't fall for the two for one or three
for one make sure you're looking at the
menu to see what the real prices are
and another thing is when people hear on
south beach i mean this gets happening
like during the evening times and a lot
of people like oh i don't want to spend
all this money on alcohol i'll just go
to
the cvs the walgreens and go buy some
alcohol in the evening and we'll just
drink and do that oh no no
my don't for that is don't expect to be
able to buy alcohol at least here on
south beach
after eight o'clock at night they want
you spending that money in the
restaurants in the bars
and so it's not open i mean there's a
cvs right over there that i've been
multiple times and i have multiple
people asking me hey
where's the alcohol man i'm like look
they don't have alcohol at that cvs on
south beach
if you walk down there and take a right
there's a walgreens that has an alcohol
annex but it has to be separated so just
just be ready for that so pick up your
booze if you want to do that and save
some money
pick that up before eight o'clock at
night now
my next stone for you is something that
i'm sure everybody that's from miami
really wants to make sure i say
and that is look don't think that south
beach is actually in miami i'm actually
in miami beach southeast of miami beach
you go over this causeway
from miami to miami beach to get to
south beach so don't think
that south beach is actually technically
in miami i mean it's in the miami
metropolitan area but
just have a heads up for that and also i
think it's important to say is
don't think that miami is just south
beach
look this city has a lot of different
areas for you to go explore i mean
yes you can go to little havana which
i'll talk about later and you know
with kaiocho and you can go to the the
cigar factories the cigar shops and you
go eat some great food
and drink and make merry when you're
there but the thing is it's more than
that
i mean you have you can go to coral
gables and see the nice shopping that's
there there's some good eating there
you got the key biscayne i mean heck you
could get a car and go out to the
everglades and do a tour out there i
mean
there's a lot of things to do here in
miami that's not just south beach and
the thing is is i think it's really
important also mention that don't think
miami is just a crazy party heating kind
of place
24 7. it's not i mean it's pretty
chillax here in the morning on south
beach
yes this part of south beach on ocean
drive gets crazy at night
but mostly on the weekend during the
weekdays you know out of tourist season
it's pretty chill here and and if you
actually go south to 5th street
you go down there there's like really
chillax restaurants like it is night and
day
this part of ocean drive versus going
south of fifth and you go throughout the
city and you see that look miami's a
real city it's not just a tourist
destination you go to downtown miami and
you've got really cool museums you got
the frost science museum
you got the perez art museum of miami
and dade county
you have like good stuff to see down
there you've got the planetarium with
the frost i mean
there's a lot of things you can do
downtown you already go to you know
brickell
and you can go down there and have a
good time hit some bars up there it's
not
all like party party party it's real
people
having real life doing real things and
you'll see that when you explore
especially outside of south beach so
don't just stay in south beach go out
and explore more
now when you're looking at times to come
to miami i want to say right now
don't come in july in august the
humidity it's just
uh it's florida okay you got the
everglades not too far away i mean it's
just like
i'm melting you will feel that way in
july and august i mean and then you have
hurricane season which
is you know kind of like july through
october
early november somewhere around there i
mean there's times you don't
need to come if you don't have to if you
can plan your trip i would say december
through may is fantastic because you got
great weather
restaurants are still going there's
still stuff happening so that'll be my
preferred time to come
because i'm more built for a you're
going to die when it's 105 degrees
outside
kind of guys so have a heads up for that
now another donut i have for you and
this is my friend adrian who's actually
from here's like mark
please tell people don't drive in miami
if you don't have to because the driving
totally sucks and finding parking
is not really a fun thing and when
you're going around you'll see there's
tourists that are here there's locals
are going to work
there's traffic jams all the time it
gets really kind of frustrating so
if you can you can use uber and lyft all
over town it's super simple to do
and they're relatively quick in getting
you no matter where you are in the city
which i thought was wonderful
another thing that really gets you with
the driving is you actually see people
that'll come here
and they'll rent a ferrari or a muscle
car and they'll be like yeah i'm cool
and they'll rev it and drive it and you
know sometimes i know how to drive it so
it makes a little more complicated so
just just don't drive you don't have to
and the thing is if you're driving into
miami another don't i have for you is uh
don't think that valet parking is gonna
put your car in someplace
super special because a lot of times
what it is is they're just gonna go park
your car
in one of the normal garages okay so
it's not like you're going to the super
secret oh valet garage
is probably just a municipal garage and
they're just going to triple charge you
for the you know
privilege of them parking for you now
i'm not going to say don't do the valet
parking because
it can save some headaches but just have
a heads up for that i think that gets me
into another one
don't forget your usual travel safety
when you're here in miami
you don't leave anything of value in
your car you don't leave your stuff
unattended when you're on the beach
because things do disappear also if
you're going to be going out at night
don't think oh i'm just going to walk
those 20 blocks or whatever to get in
there it'll be fine
take the ubers take the lifts take the
taxi so you are safe
and obviously another dome when it comes
to safety is don't forget your sunblock
and sun protection all year round it's
and it's not just when you're going to
south beach and hitting the beaches
if you're walking around little havana
for a few hours having drinks and eats
and
loving life well you're still going to
get burned so make sure you're putting
lots of sunblock on
reapply it often have a hat you know you
want to be safe when you're here because
the heat and humidity can really get you
but it's truly the sun that can be
really dangerous when you come here
now speaking of little havana my next
stone for you is don't skip out
on cuban culture when you are here in
miami i mean
there are so many fantastic cuban
restaurants that you can go to
yes you have a cube incentives you go to
versailles and and you have you know
it's
it's ham it's cheese it's mustard it's
got
pickle it's got pulled pork it's on
cuban bread
it's fantastic that's a must but there's
a lot of other great
cuban food in here anytime you get the
croquettes is always fine but but my
favorite is the lechon asalo which is
roasted pork oh my god it is phenomenal
another great thing i love is vacarita
which is like really really thinly cut
steak it means cow fried i mean it's
so good and if you get tostones or or
just plain old plantains i mean there's
just so much good cuban food when you're
here
so don't pass it out you can get cuban
food all over the city i mean yes you
can get here in south beach it'll be
overpriced but it'll still be good
um but you can get all over but i
suggest you go into little havana and
have it there and when you go to
havana walk down the street you know guy
ocho you know go
through there you see their little walk
of fame that's there you see all these
little you know the guys playing
dominoes like you see on tv i mean it's
like
hey wow this is just like what i saw on
tv all the time with with miami
and when you go there restaurants bars
you go to the bay of pigs memorial
that's there i recommend
reading all the plaques that are there
to truly get a better understanding of
the community
they have all kinds of little you know
places that'll help you learn more about
the community
go visit some of the cigar factories the
cigar stores that are even you don't
smoke cigars i mean i don't but i
enjoyed going to it because i got to
learn something i mean
there's a lot of stuff you can enjoy
with cuban culture when you're here
having said all this great cuban stuff
you can do when you're here another
donut i have for you is
don't think it's just cuban culture when
you're in miami you have a large haitian
population that's come here you have a
lot of
puerto rican populations come here so
there's a lot of different stuff you can
have
yes you can have mofongos when you're
here you can have some fantastic haitian
food you're here
hey i had some of the best thai food
i've had in my entire life here in miami
in coral gables i mean i mean vegan food
i was that
was a full bloom vegan i mean chris the
the chef there was fantastic just blew
my mind
so you can eat really well and don't
think so you could eat really well and
don't think it's just cuban food and
it's just
great food from all over now my next
stone for you when you're coming to
miami is
don't worry about fitting in in miami
miami is made for everybody you've got
the
golden girls retirees you've got the you
know bachelorette party people you got
the
fat overweight middle aged guys just
coming here to eat and drink and have a
good time
i mean it takes everybody here in miami
and you can really relax when you're
here
that's what's cool about it it's a big
city where you can still chill out i
mean that's one thing i do like about it
here
and they're happy to take anybody that
comes so that's one of those nice things
about miami
it's really welcoming except for the
service which sounds silly but
when you're here you'll understand and
then i want to finish off with one that
for a lot of cities around the us this
isn't really a big helpful thing but
don't forget that miami actually has a
lot of public transport
that you can actually use yes there's
the above ground trains you can take
around the different parts but
if you're in different neighborhoods
you'll see these trolley buses
that you can ride on and just go around
the neighborhood and a lot of times the
public transportation
is free so it's like hey i can pay for
some stuff i can do free and i can
explore a bit
because if you're here in the summer and
the heat's beating down on you
why not hop on that trolley and coral
gables and go a little bit farther and
save yourself
a few sweaty armpits and so you could
enjoy a few more mojitos and a few more
fantastic food choices
when you are here alright so whether
you're coming here
for a cruise or you're coming here for
fun or coming here for work
i hope this helps you know some of the
do's and don'ts
of visiting miami so i wish you all the
best and i'll say bye from here on south
beach