When Arabella was 18 months, we took her to Miami and fell in love with the hotel. We knew we wanted to go again in the near future. Miami is the best; the weather, the people, the food, the culture, the beach, the pools, we just love it! When you go to Miami with kids, it’s not the way you would do Miami pre-kids, but it's still an equally satisfying trip.
THE HOTEL
We Stayed at THE 1 Hotel, South Beach. It's gorgeous and it encompasses everything I want out of life in terms of style. Everything is white but perfectly accented with nature. Even the hotel scent they pump through the air is perfection (it's santal). They are also one of the most eco-friendly hotels I have stayed at. The elevator system operates on an algorithm to prevent wasting unnecessary stops— it's hard to explain how eco-friendly and eye-opening it is, but that elevator system goes to show how deep they go. To fully understand it, you have to stay there, and you won’t be disappointed. While this hotel does offer child service (we don’t personally use child service) I wouldn’t say that it is the most overly kid-friendly hotel. They have some restricted adult areas. They make it kid-friendly by offering toys on the beach, and pools that are used by families, but it doesn’t feel like the Disney type of kid-friendly. It’s just a different kind of kid-friendly, more of how you operate with kids out in the real world. Personally, I love both. I love to do the all about kids places but I also love places that have a balance like The 1.
THE ITINERARY
We mostly went to Miami for THE SUN. We ate out a ton, hung out by the pool, hung out by the beach, walked around, checked out art and did a little bit of exploring, thats about it! I did NO shopping. I don’t like shopping with the kids. I can’t focus. I just wanted to keep it super light and fun. I honestly didn’t even take that many pictures, but enough to be able to share a few. It was nice to just chill and focus on the kids and relaxing.
THE FOOD
For breakfast and lunch every day we dined at the hotel. We like to book using our AMX and get perks like free breakfast (and my favorite a free room upgrade when available). They had the most amazing spread for breakfast every morning. Hot omelets made fresh, bacon, waffles, fruit, granola, grapefruit (my favorite), muffins, pastries, basically everything you can imagine for breakfast. For lunch my preference was from one of the many hotel restaurants called Plnthouse. They had these amazing organic acai bowls that I have been perfecting to share. It might be more of a summer thing but I have made a few since back. They are especially good after a workout. The Sandbox restaurant at the pool had these amazing “Healthy Bowls”, that I have perfected and posted the recipe by identifying what I think was in it. The kids got chicken tenders and fries for lunch EVERY DAY.
Greg and I are pizza enthusiasts. In fact I could be a pizzatarian! If you or your significant other watches/reads barstool sports you would know about his pizza reviews. We waited an hour at LUCALI just to try the pizza based off a high score given by El Presidente of barstool sports. It was probably the best pizza I ever had. I also had a strong cocktail (one is enough for me to be tipsy) before I ate the pizza and that may have made it tastier. I highly recommend trying this place if your in Miami and they also have a New York location.
Another fun spot was Juvia! It had the most gorgeous city views and came reccomended by a friend. I have to be honest, it was a little out of my comfort zone in terms of how much I like to spend on a meal so I opted for a salad (that I really didn’t like). The kids got the cutest bento box with rice, cookies, steak and fries and they shared it. Greg got a pricey steak (also more than we would normally spend on food) and it was good. The best thing though: the fries! Every single fry tasted like those few perfect fries you get in your McDonald’s order, but skinnier without the ends (if that makes any sense). SO although I did love the spot I think the moral of this story is I would have been just as happy with McDonalds fries. I think it’s at least worth going for a cocktail and fries and to enjoy the views and that will still probably cost you $50.
Our second night we dined at this casual spot called Orange Blossom which was only a few walking blocks from our hotel. It was really good, nothing that you couldn’t get from most really good restaurants but everyone including the kids liked it. The best part of this evening though was the walk home. It was one of those perfect “summer” nights.
THE END
I apologize this post is mostly about food. I really don’t have much to say besides it was a really nice way to break up the kids' winter break. We went for the sun and spent each entire day switching back and forth from pool to beach and eating food. The hotel is one of my favorite hotels and a short flight so it made it worth it and easy to go for three nights. Nothing major really happened on the trip worth talking about, it was all about getting some sun and relaxation. However, you can never really relax with kids on a trip but we all had THE BEST time.
