AREAS & ACCOMMODATIONS (Listed south to north along the coast)

Key Biscayne - Key Biscayne juts south, but it is connected to Brickell via Virginia Key and a causeway. Don't confuse Key Biscayne/Virginia Key with the long stretch of islands much farther south connecting Key Largo to Key West. There is a tall, beautiful bridge that connects Virginia Key to Brickell - it is worth driving across even if you aren't staying there. There are no accommodations on Virginia Key; on this island you have University of Miami research facilities, two restaurants, the historic Marine Stadium, and MAST Academy. Across the bridge to Key Biscayne is where you will find hotels and rentals. Two-thirds of this island is parks/preserves - the middle third is a very nice island community. If you can find a good deal on a hotel or rental here this would be a nice, quiet location close to Brickell and downtown.

Coral Gables - I'm sure that it is very expensive, but the Biltmore Hotel is an amazing property. It is designated as a National Historic Landmark. This hotel is from the same era as Hotel Galvez, so that may give you some idea of the style and architecture. For a long period of time the swimsuit competition of the Miss America Beauty Pageant was held here - you will see many of these framed competition photos
displayed in the corridors.

Coconut Grove - Although Coconut Grove is located far south relative to Hard Rock Stadium, this is one of my top recommendations. Coconut Grove is a very pedestrian friendly city centered around Coco Walk - a small commercial area where 5 streets intersect. Coconut Grove has a beautiful bay, waterfront restaurants, and lots of history. Miami City Hall is located on Dinner Key, which is where the famous Pan Am clippers of the 1930s landed and departed from the waterfront docks there.

Brickell (South of Miami River) - This is where the "yuppies" like to live. I know that people don't use that term any more, but that is the best way to describe it. Young, urban, professionals who like to jog and work out live here. It is a very impressive area, and Mary Brickell Village is the place to be seen, eat, drink, and shop.

Downtown/Bayside (North of Miami River) -

South Beach (Miami Beach from South Point to 25th St) - Obviously South Beach is world famous and a sight to see if you haven't been there before. There are many beautiful, historic Art Deco hotels located along Ocean Boulevard, but keep in mind that if you are staying where the action is you might be hearing loud music and partiers at 4:30am when you are trying to sleep. The "party district" starts at 5th St and dies down around 13th St. The best place to stay in South Beach is just north of Ocean Blvd where Collins becomes the nearest street that runs along the beach. There are several nice hotels on Collins between 15th and 18th Streets: Loews, Royal Palm, and the Ritz Carlton. You could stay at one of these three hotels and be a 5-minute walk from the craziness of South Beach. In addition to this Lincoln Road is just across Collins and there is a ton to see and do there.

Mid Beach (Miami Beach from 26th St to 59th St) - Two famous Miami Beach hotels/landmarks are located in mid beach at 44th - 45th St. The Fontainebleau Hotel and Eden Roc. Both of these hotels are historic and architecturally significant. This is a very "skinny" area of the island where beautiful hotels and condos are on one side of Collins and Indian Creek and docked mega yachts are on the other side of Collins. It looks like a scene from a movie… in fact this area has been featured in many movies and television shows. Fontainebleau has so much history it is hard to list it all. It is famous for being a hotel where Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, and the Rat Pack vacationed in the late 1950s/early 1960s. This hotel is featured prominently in the James Bond movie GOLDFINGER. The Fontainebleau dock is where the houseboat docked in the TV show SURFSIDE 6. Rob Lowe starred in a movie about the son of the hotel owner who ran a convention business and drove a Batmobile. He married a stripper from South America and she had him killed in a murder-for-hire plot. There is so much history here that the more you list the more you realize you are forgetting.

North Beach (Miami Beach from 60th St to 87th St) - This is my neighborhood, so I'm very familiar with the area. When I moved to Miami in 2016 I lived at 73rd and Harding. I now live near 84th & Biscayne. As far as hotels The Carillion Miami Wellness Resort would probably be my top recommendation. You have Publix across the street and Normans and Sand Bar one block south. You can walk to so many places from this hotel - there is too much to list.

Biscayne Blvd/Miami (runs parallel to the entire length of Miami Beach, but on the bay side) -

Surfside - This is a small beach community from 88th St to 96th Street. At the very southern end of Surfside (88th) is where they had that huge condo collapse several years ago… almost 100 residents died. The last time I looked there was still a huge excavation area roped off.

Bay Harbour Islands - This is a small beach community stretching from 96th St to Haulover Pass. At Haulover Pass is where one of the more spectacular hotels in the area is located - The Ritz Carlton Bay Harbour. The hotel is later on the south side of Haulover Inlet. On the north side of the inlet is Haulover Pass Park which is a long stretch of uninterrupted public beach that continues until it reaches the south end of Sunny Isles Beach. There is also a huge marina here with ocean-going vessels, deep sea fishing, kite park, skate park, dog park, nude beach, etc.

Sunny Isles Beach - Sunny Isles starts at the north end of Haulover Park. There is a long line of impressive hotels and condos here. Somewhere in the middle you will see the cylinder-shaped Porsche Design Tower. The elevator in this beach property will take you and your car up to whatever floor you live on.

Aventura -

Golden Beach (the northernmost beach community in Miami-Dade County) - This is one of the very few places in Miami-Dade County where you can own a large, single family home (basically a mansion) on the beach. If you are staying at a "beach house" in Golden Beach you are either very wealthy or have some very wealthy friends. Have fun and don't forget about your Aggie friends!

Hallandale Beach (the southernmost beach community in Broward County) -

Hollywood - This is one of my favorite cities in Broward County. The boardwalk (or Broadwalk as they promote it) is a wide promenade along a more than 2 mile stretch of beautiful beach. The paved boardwalk has separate paved lanes for pedestrians and for bicycles. Although there are some larger properties most of the boardwalk has kept its small beach community charm. There is a large Margaritaville hotel that looks like it would be a fun place to stay. This hotel includes a large zone of the boardwalk where you can carry around drinks purchased on the property. There is a surf wave action pool as well as some other attractions. The beach along this 2+ miles is beautiful. It is wide with plenty of palm trees and natural dunes.

If you don't have to be on the beach The Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino would be an excellent option. This huge guitar-shaped hotel only opened 3 years ago. This is a destination place with concert venues, multiple restaurants, an indoor mall, resort-style pool, etc. it is very impressive and located just 6.6 miles north of the stadium.

Dania Beach -

Fort Lauderdale -

RESTAURANTS & BARS & CLUBS

I'll have information on sports bars, dive bars, clubs, and bar/restaurants here, but I'm not really knowledgeable on all of the really nice restaurants in the area - I usually go to more casual places. South Florida Aggies more in the know will post restaurant recommendations further down in this thread.

I don't go to famous clubs like CLUB SPACE, so others who have been can tell you more about that. I think that most of these clubs are located near downtown and in Wynwood.

Locals in Miami go out to bars and clubs at all hours, but it is generally a later crowd. It is not unusual to see locals "just getting started" at 2:00am - 2:30am. Many times when my friends and I are leaving at 2:00am we notice that more people are arriving than leaving. Many of the bars and clubs close at 5:00am. There are some clubs in downtown and Wynwood that stay open all night/all morning on the weekends and don't close until 12:00 Noon the next day.

I can tell you that one of the best Italian restaurants in the area is Cafe Prima Pasta (Miami Beach 71st & Harding). Lots of famous people have been here and you will see their photos on the wall.

On Virginia Key (across the bridge from Brickell) there are two restaurants on the marina there that I would recommend - they are right next to one another. The casual restaurant is Whiskey Joe's and the fine dining restaurant is The Rusty Pelican. They both have great views of the water and marina. We have had an Aggie Football game watching party at Whiskey Joe's and enjoyed our time there.

ON THE ROCKS is one of my favorite dive bars. It is located less than half a block from the beach at 71st St and Collins Miami Beach. There is even a large 3' Texas A&M street sign displayed there (I know the owner - he hung it for me) which may be good for photo ops. This bar closes at 5:00am.

Four blocks farther south on Collins there are two more bars/restaurants that I would recommend. They are located next to one another at 67th and Collins and are walking distance from ON THE ROCKS. Both THE SAND BAR and NORMAN'S serve food and close at 5:00am.

Way down south on Red Road/57th is a bar called THE 7 SEAS bar (2200 SW 57th Ave). It is located on the southern border of the University of Miami on a street with Coral Gables to the north and South Miami to the south. The Miami area A&M Game Watching Club is usually here at least twice each football season. This is basically a smaller version of THE DIXIE CHICKEN and DUDDLEY'S DRAW, but with a nautical theme. SEVEN SEAS has been operated as a bar by the same family since 1957. To give you some perspective, THE DIXIE CHICKEN opened in 1974. Even though this bar is on the southern border of the UM campus it is not really known as a college bar… it is more of a neighborhood bar with good clientele. This bar has legendary karaoke Saturday nights starting at 10:30pm. There are some really good singers there every Saturday; very few hacks take the mic. This bar only accepts cash, so don't forget paper $$. I think that 7 SEAS closes at 3:00am or 4:00am. They don't serve food, but you can walk next door and pick up food at DUFFY'S and bring it back or order a pizza to be delivered to 7 SEAS. For Aggies staying in Coral Gables, Coconut Grove, South Miami, or other areas nearby this would be a good default location to gather and hang out when you don't have other plans.

TOURIST ATTRACTIONS

There really is a lot to see and do in the Miami/Ft. Lauderdale metroplex.

Two of my top recommendations operate out of Bayside (downtown). There is a double decker bus called The Big Red Bus if I remember correctly. For around $45 (check current prices) you get 3 tours you can take in any order over a 2-day period. The tour is a hop-off/hop-on type of deal, so it also doubles as transportation. One tour goes to South Beach, one goes to Coconut Grove, and the third goes to artsy Wynwood. This is a great way to see Miami and get a tan at the same time on the open-air upper deck.

The other tour out of Bayside that I recommend is the Millionaires Row boat tour. This used to cost around $35 (check current prices). A large tour boat with a narrating guide takes you around to all these famous waterside mansions on the bay islands opposite the bridge where the cruise ships dock. The tour includes Al Capones former residence with guard shack, the mansion where Scarface lived (I think that the mansion from the movie has recently been torn down), and many other homes of the rich and famous.

The Wynwood Walls is a very entertaining, artsy district. Almost all of the walls of this once industrial warehouse district are painted with interesting art. There is a little bit of everything here: micro breweries, art galleries, guitar shops, record stores, restaurants, bars, museums, shopping, etc.

I have not been myself, but I have heard that The Fairchild Tropical Botanic Gardens are a must-see. If you drive around Miami you have seen that everything grows here; obviously that environment is going to be magnified in this type of setting. The gardens are maintained on 83 acres south of Coral Gables on Old Cutler Road.

TRANSPORTATION & TRAFFIC

I would assume that most Aggies will be getting around (when it is too far to walk) via Lyft, Uber, and/or rental car. If for some reason you need to take a taxi just walk to the nearest large hotel/condo - especially along the beach - there will be taxis there.

The public bus system is average or below average for a city this size, but many smaller communities such as Surfside and Coconut Grove have small trolley-style buses that run fairly regularly and a free. These might be useful if you are tired of walking or don't know how far you are going. The routes, stops, and times for the city buses as well as the community trolleys can all be found on a free app called GO MIAMI DADE TRANSIT. You can find this in the app store.

If you are driving I would suggest avoiding I-95 for shorter distances. You may get prompted by a mapping app to get on I-95 for a shorter route. This may save you 5 minutes or delay you an hour if there is an accident or major construction. You are better off sticking to A1A (Collins/Harding), US1 (Biscayne Blvd.) or North Miami Ave. For longer drives to the airport and the stadium you will need to take I-95.

Traffic in Miami can be heavy, but it usually isn't bad Saturday and Sunday. People in Miami do not wake up real early, so traffic early in the morning from my experience is not as bad as in cities like Houston, Dallas, and Austin.

WEATHER

The weather in Miami in early September can be unpredictable to say the least. In my opinion July and August are the worst two months in Miami as far as weather. The third worst month for me is October - too many crazy winds. Some people think that the actual temperature in Miami regularly gets over 100 degrees F. This is simply not true. It rarely (if ever) gets over 100 here in Miami. It may FEEL LIKE 110, but the actual temperature will be in the low-to-mid 90s. Having stated that we are only 160 miles north of the Tropic of Cancer, so you can easily get sunburned here just like you might get sunburned in Cancun (or wherever your favorite Caribbean island is located).

On average, you can expect 2 sunny days in September, 15 partly sunny and 12 cloudy days. Measurable rain falls on about 19 days with 6 of these recording 0.5 inches or more. Daytime high temperatures will be mostly 90-91 F early in the month. On average, 12-15 days will record high temperatures at or above 90 F

Great info thanks. Headed there for the game

Thanks! Everything is going to be much more informative once South Florida Aggies start adding their advice and recommendations. I haven't even linked this thread yet since I wanted to get more written on my six posts first.

August bump

Have you cross posted on the football board?

UPDATE:

Yell Practice location has changed…

BEAT THE HELLOUTTA THE MIAMI HURRICANES YELL PRACTICE

What can you tell me about Air BnB rentals in the area? Found one in the Golden Glades area and seems to be close to Miami Gardens? TIA

We're staying in Hollywood Beach. I've always have had a good time there. Laid back fun.

See y'all there soon.

BTHO miami

Have fun on the Hollywood Boardwalk! This is a great place to be. Check out Bonny & Read's Toucan Hideaway - it is turquoise - you can't miss it.

You don't want to stay near Miami Gardens… I mentioned places to avoid in my write-up… closer to the beach is better.

We are staying at the Cadillac resort in north Miami Beach. Looking forward to the trip!

And definitely post this on the football forum. Probably will get a lot more traffic there

I posted a link to this thread on the football forum, but there was a bunch of stupid comments and now it has been deleted. I'll link it again later. There is a reason I posted it here. For some reason some people on the football forum aren't happy until they have derailed a relevant and informative thread.

Wow. Sad. Thanks for posting all the information.

I've reposted the link on the Football Forum... hopefully the thread won't get derailed this time.

How are the casinos in the area? Any good craps tables?

I don't know that much about gambling and casinos in the area, but I think that the Seminole Hard Rock Casino & Hotel would be a good place to start.

Anybody happen to know where most of the Ags will be seated in the stadium?

Curious about this too but think it's 121-122 in the lower section. Not sure about the upper deck

I skimmed it but didn't see mention of the "official" Aggie hang out Mickey Burkes....is that not a good place?

Our plan is to have hotel around South Beach Friday night then move closer to MIA for early Sunday flight out.

I have not seen anything about Mickey Burke's Sports Bar being the official hangout. The local club designated Duffy's Intracoastal on 163rd as the "unofficial hangout" since it is huge and east of the stadium close to the coast in a good area.

Mickey Burke's must be new… I'm always searching for new sports bars for our Aggie game watching events and I never heard of this place. It might be a great spot, but I'm just not familiar.

In South Beach The Lost Weekend is a good hangout.

Anyone getting tickets that night to go watch Messi before flying back? I'm trying to convince the wife

In '07 we stayed at the Shore Club, not bad digs. If you wanna do some people watching, hit up Prime 112, Anna Kournikova was in there the night we were. Everything was awesome except for the actual game.

Sound like The Association should coordinate better with the locals...

All-Aggie Headquarters @ Miami 2023 Registration, Sat, Sep 9, 2023 at 11:30 AM | Eventbrite

The Miami area along the coast where most Aggies will be staying covers a lot of mileage in a long, narrow strip oriented north to south. If you are staying in South Beach, Brickell, Coconut Grove, or Coral Gables I would suggest Mickey Burke's (I'm assuming that it is a large sports bar, but I've never heard of it until earlier today).

If you are staying farther north in Miami, the North Beach area of Miami Beach, North Bay Village, Surfside, Bal Harbor, Miami Shores, Sunny Isles, Aventura, or you want to be directly east of Hard Rock Stadium I would suggest hanging out at Duffy's Intracoastal Canal on 163rd. This place has two large bars (one indoor; one outdoor), a large patio and a dock with a yacht or two always there, and an outdoor swimming pool. This place is on the water and just gives you that Miami vibe, and if you are driving there is plenty of parking and it is free.

I also suggested that there should be a third hangout even farther north for Aggies staying in Ft. Lauderdale or other areas in the northern end of Broward County, but no one has suggested a Ft. Lauderdale location yet.

I'm staying at Cadillac Marriott north Miami Beach is that close to the spot you mentioned?

There is a Cadillac Hotel & Beach Club at 3925 Collins… this mid-beach location is much closer to Mickey Burke's in south beach than Duffy's at Intracoastal/163rd.

I'm debating rental car vs uber...I can get a pretty good deal on rental ($100 for weekend)
but considering uber:

MIA to South Beach ~$70
South Beach to Stadium ~$50
Stadium to Hotel near MIA ~$40

parking fees or difficulty finding parking...thoughts?

Anyone going to watch Messi after? Just bought tickets for me and my 2 boys for both! Can't wait....know any good places to stay that will not break the bank for a dad and two kids?

I bought parking with my tickets through Miami athletic department for $40. I was worried about Uber prices being crazy after the game.

We also did a Turo and it was pretty reasonable. About $70 a day.

Parking is difficult in Miami in general… even more difficult the closer you are to the beach. Obviously how much you plan to drink will probably factor into your decision. Lyft here has always been relatively cheap for me in Miami - those Uber prices seem high to me, but I gave up on Uber about a year ago because I was always having random issues with them - never an issue with Lyft here in Miami.