Here’s the thing about Nightlife in Miami, They never cool off. The same blanket of sultry humidity that engulfs the city by day sticks around for the after party, only this time it’s joined by a circus of neon lights and bars that don’t close. While the days in Miami might be beautiful, the nights are what make it Miami. A hot, sticky, anything-can-happen playground ruled by hustlers, credit-card millionaires, and college-educated courtesans.
A night that starts with mojitos on Calle Ocho somehow finds you eating the best barbecue of your life with a local rapper outside a strip club in Opa Locka. Or what began as rooftop drinks in Brickell will turn into an invite to Italy on a private jet and end with a sunrise from a yacht near Fisher Island.
Of course, our city has grown up from its party-til-you-die reputation, and while you can definitely still have your rage-til-sunrise nights, you can also try cocktails from the best bartender in America, tour through one-act plays in shipping containers, or eat a five-star dinner at midnight. Whatever your flavor, Miami has it for you. And here’s where to find it.
Perhaps the biggest drawback to Miami:
other than its drivers is that it’s completely flat. The only way to get an elevated vantage point is to literally take an elevator some floors up to the top of the Hotel. There you’ll find Sugar, an Asian garden with craft cocktails and views all the way from the Everglades to South Beach, where you can take in the colors of the city from its highest publicly-accessible vantage point.
Perhaps the only thing more ’80s-Miami than pastel suits and perpetual sniffles was jai alai, a game that involves hurling a ball at a wall using a sickle-shaped basket at hundreds of miles an hour. Patrons go, enjoy beers, and bet on who they think will win. Kind of like horse racing but way more fixed.
Go clubbing with the beautiful people: If there’s one thing Miami is synonymous with, it’s clubs full of beautiful models, A-list DJs, and people dropping more on a bottle of Grey Goose than they did on their car payment. LIV and Story are the stars of Instagram, but if you’re planning to go, take heed: Groups of ladies should be able to get in no problem. Rolling six dudes deep? It may be a long night in front of the velvet rope.
Eat dinner at midnight… or 5am!
Conclusion:
One of the wonderful advantages of living in a Latin American city is that dinnertime tends to skew late. Which means most of our best restaurants are not only open until midnight, but they also don’t even get busy until 11pm on weekends. That said, if you find yourself hankering for a second dinner, bars like Sweet Liberty and The Anderson offer restaurant-quality food well into the few hours. And you can never go wrong with late-night staples.
If you’ve never heard of Microtheater, it’s a popular Spanish concept where people perform short plays inside makeshift theatres made from shipping containers. Tickets for each show cost only a few dollars, and you hop from show to show, sipping cocktails in the grassy courtyard in between. Miami’s version is mostly in Spanish, but offers some shows in English too.
