This May, we attended the inaugural Miami Grand Prix and had an incredible time. Being that it was the first ever, it was a bit of a learning experience for everyone, and I want to lay out our best tips and recommendations for it here!

Where we stayed:

AirBnb in Miami Beach: We found a cheap studio apartment on AirBnb right in Miami Beach where we stayed for the duration of our stay. While the location was prime, the studio itself wasn’t the nicest. Next time around, I think we may splurge a bit for a larger and nicer hotel room. After long days in the heat, you realize how important it is to actually look forward to coming back to your hotel room/other accommodation!

Restaurants/Bars:

Jaya: I previously mentioned this restaurant in my Miami post last year, but I felt it needed another shout out because it is the absolute best restaurant in Miami in my opinion. The food is phenomenal and the atmosphere is even better. It is located in the Setai Hotel: one of the nicest hotels in all of Miami where you can go to see and be seen. (Kygo and his posse walked by us as we were eating our dinner there!)
Cecconi’s: We got brunch at this beautiful restaurant inside of Soho Beach House. The atmosphere was relaxing and perfect for our first morning of the trip. The food was delicious as well! I would highly recommend the Avocado Benedict and any of their cold pressed juices.
Watr: This beautiful lounge is situated on the rooftop of the 1 Hotel: another one of the nicest Miami hotels. The crowd/vibe here was honestly a bit douchey, but I would still recommend going here if you have a chance. It is beautifully set up and the views of Miami Beach are incredible.
Story: We ended up having an awesome night at Story nightclub, where we got tickets for the Zedd soundcheck. If you have a Chase credit card, be sure to check the offers regularly. We spent 8K points and got two tickets with prime viewing, right behind the dj booth, AND open bar! It was a great time, and so worth it for the points!

Grand Prix:

Tickets: We purchased the 3 Day Turn One Grandstand tickets. We purchased them right when they went on sale and we spent quite a bit on them (because yolo). As they released more tickets in the months leading up to the race, prices started to drop pretty significantly. I’m not sure what the demand would be like next year, but if it is similar to this year, I would recommend waiting to purchase tickets until it gets closer to race weekend! Overall, we LOVED our seats. There was some good Turn 1 action with spin outs and even a crash, and we had a view of the entire main straight to our right. The only thing I would have changed is booking tickets higher up in the grandstand. It was SO hot the entire weekend, and our seats (Section B3, Row 18, Seats 19-20) were unfortunately about 5 rows too far down from the shaded area of the grandstand.
Transportation: We opted against renting a car and paying for a parking pass for the weekend. We took Ubers/Lyfts to and from Miami Beach each day, and it worked out great. We decided not to use the designated ride share lots, and instead have them drop us off and pick us up at the Walmart right near the stadium. This was only about a 10 minute walk, as opposed to about a 30-40 minute walk to and from the ride share lot. I think other people had the same idea, because Uber then decided to block out the Walmart area on the map. But, if you are able to place a pickup location anywhere around the area, it’s better than using the ride share lot…trust me!
What to wear/bring: The weather in Miami that weekend was uncharacteristically hot and humid, which made race weekend pretty exhausting. Be sure to bring sunscreen, hats and good walking shoes. We also bought a Gatorade at Walmart each morning and drank it on the way to the stadium, which I would recommend! You can bring your own water bottle, as there were a few refillable water bottle stations. However, the lines were crazy long and went very slowly.

Here are a few photos from our trip!