Miami, Florida – Part 6 of our Florida Road-Trip

Miami was the final leg of our holiday and we had a couple of nights to explore the area. We quite often find that travel days end up being a bit disappointing so I booked us a Miami Duck Boat tour mid afternoon so we didn’t feel like we would waste the day.

We left Key West quite early and made it to Miami around lunchtime so Stu and I stopped at a Chipotle for food. Tom and Izzy had already had lunch at a subway as we drove through Key Largo mid morning.

Stu had researched where to park for the tour but when we drove into the city all the carparks were full or closed. We eventually found a random valet carpark where we were charged $50 although we concluded having the car watched probably wasn’t a bad thing as all our luggage was visibly inside.

We had about 45 minutes before our tour so we wandered to the beach for a paddle and bought an ice-cream.

^{Miami Beach}

Miami Duck Tour

We really enjoy duck tours and have done them in Boston and London. The tour started in the city and the guide spoke to us a little bit about the art deco buildings and then we drove over the bridge where we could see all the cruise ships lined up – I think we counted about 4!!!!!

^{On the duck tour!}

We then went out on the water where you could see all the waterfront mansions which we found a little dull. The guide kept telling us who lived where which we were not bothered by….. the person sat behind us actually had a nap!!!! Although it was good to see a bit of the city we did not enjoy the tour and left not really liking Miami.

We headed to our hotel – The Embassy Suites at the airport where Tom and Izzy went and spent the evening in the pool.

Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park

After the duck tour the previous day we didn’t really want to go back to Miami so did some research and found a lovely beach just a bit further south with a lighthouse. We set off quite early as it was the weekend and we didn’t know how busy it would be – it wasn’t.

We left Tom and Izzy paddling and sunbathing whilst we went to see the lighthouse at the far end of the beach. They were running lighthouse tours but we didn’t want to leave the kids for too long.

We then rented a couple of sun loungers and a parasol and spent the morning chilling and using flight radar to identify all the planes flying overhead and seeing where they had come from.

We decided we needed one last Cheesecake Factory meal so headed to the nearest one which was about 30 minutes away – we all had our usual (chicken tenders for me, burger for Stu and sliders for Tom and Izzy) As normal we couldn’t finish it all as the portions are huge so we took all the left overs back to the hotel with us for tea along with some cheesecake.

^{Inside the Cheesecake Factory}

We then spent the afternoon at the hotel pool again where I plane spotted as all the planes flew directly over as we were next to the airport.

Miami South Beach

It was our last day and we were flying home in the evening but had booked our hotel for the night so that we did not need to check out in the morning and could spend the day exploring and then go back and chill.

Despite not enjoying Miami the first day we decided that we needed to go and see South Beach. We arrived early and parked at South Point Park. We strolled along the walkway and passed the Smith and Wollensky restaurant. There were loads of stray cats sitting in the sun so we thought the restaurant must be feeding them and if so they would be the best fed cats!!!

We walked along the pier at the end and watched the fish in the sea. There were lovely views of South Beach from the pier.

*^{South Point Park Pier with South Beach in the background}*

Next we headed to Ocean Drive which was full of loads of stunning art deco buildings. We couldn’t understand why the duck tour didn’t drive down the road and show us this part of Miami.

We then walked onto the beach to walk back to the car. The beach was beautiful but I especially liked the lifeguard huts as each one was different. I made a point to take a photo of them all! My favourite one was the Lighthouse shaped hut.