United States
Miami
A Latin American capital inside the US. What Miami costs, what's free, and why the trip starts at a visa window.
Currency
USD
Language
English and Spanish — 67% of Miami-Dade speaks Spanish at home
Best months
November to April — dry, low humidity, and outside hurricane season
Mid-range budget
$
150
/ day
Miami is a Latin American capital that happens to sit in the United States. Two thirds of the county speaks Spanish at home, more than half the people here were born somewhere else, and the city they built together is far stranger and better than the one on the postcards. The beach is free. The best sandwich costs a few dollars in a strip mall. The Cuban coffee arrives already divided into little cups, because it was always meant to be shared.
What it asks of you is planning. Not the sort you're used to — the trip starts months earlier than you think, at a consulate. Get that part right and the rest of Miami is one of the great group cities: eight of you in one car for eight dollars, an afternoon in the Everglades priced by the vehicle, and a whole side of the city that costs a dollar a head.
The soundtrack
Practical Stuff
Tipping
Read the bill before you tip. Since 1 July 2025, Florida law requires a restaurant to state any operations charge on the menu with its purpose, flag it on the face of the bill, and itemise gratuity, operations charge and sales tax on separate lines of the receipt. Miami restaurants commonly add 18–20% automatically. If that line is already there, you have tipped. Where there is no service charge, 18–20% is the norm.
Safety
Ordinary big-city sense covers most of it. The two things that actually catch visitors are weather and water: the August heat is serious, afternoon thunderstorms arrive fast and carry lightning, and the ocean has rip currents. Swim near a lifeguard stand and respect the flags flying on it. Hurricane season runs 1 June to 30 November, peaking August through October — if you travel then, buy the changeable fare and watch the forecast.
SIM card
Buy an eSIM before you fly — a US tourist eSIM is cheaper than roaming and works the moment you land. Airport counters cost more for the same coverage.