If you want to experience a completely different side of Miami, this Little Havana Miami Guide will help you plan exactly what to see, eat, and do in one of the cityβs most iconic neighborhoods.
Little Havana is the heart of Miamiβs Cuban culture. There are domino games in the park, cigar rollers at work, Cuban coffee windows, live music spilling out of bars, and some of the best Cuban food in the city.
You can easily explore Little Havana on your own, and thatβs exactly what we did. We spent the afternoon and evening walking around Calle Ocho, stopping for food, checking out landmarks, and just soaking in everything happening around us.
If you have at least a half day, this is a great way to experience one of Miamiβs most recognizable neighborhoods.
If youβre planning the rest of your trip too, check out my Miami 3 Day Itinerary: The Perfect Miami Weekend Itinerary for more ideas on how to structure your time in the city.
Before heading out, itβs also worth looking at hotels near Little Havana here if you want easy access to both downtown Miami and this neighborhood without spending your entire trip in rideshares.
A great place to start your walk is Domino Park.
Officially called MΓ‘ximo GΓ³mez Park, this small park sits right along Calle Ocho and is where locals gather daily to play dominoes. The games can get intense, and people watching here is excellent.
There are lots of rules if you want to play here.
You have to be 55 or older, and things like betting, swearing, alcohol, and even spitting are not allowed. Visitors can sometimes play on Fridays, but most days the tables are reserved for members of the domino club.
Even if youβre just watching, itβs one of the most authentic cultural experiences in Little Havana.
If youβre lucky, there may even be an event happening in the park when you visit.
And yes, the domino slamming is real. If someone wins a hand, youβll hear it.
After watching a few domino games, walk a few steps down Calle Ocho to El Pub Restaurant.
This is a great place to try a few Cuban staples without committing to a full meal yet.
Order a ropa vieja empanada, which gives you a taste of the traditional Cuban shredded beef dish, wrapped in a flaky pastry thatβs very hard to stop eating.
While youβre there, grab a cafecito.
Cuban coffee is strong, sweet, and a huge part of the culture here. Itβs small but powerful β basically espresso that shows up with a lot of confidence.
One sip and suddenly you feel like walking another five blocks.
As you continue walking down Calle Ocho, stop near Sushi Sake where youβll find several colorful murals that make a great photo spot.
Little Havana has a lot of street art celebrating Cuban culture, music, and history. Some of the murals feature famous Cuban musicians and cultural icons.
Even if youβre not actively hunting for murals, youβll notice them as you walk.
Music plays from nearby bars, people sit outside cafΓ©s chatting, and the smell of cigars drifts through the air as you move from block to block.
Itβs a very walkable area, and the best way to experience it is just by wandering.
One of the coolest things to see in Little Havana is cigar rolling.
At Clandestinos Cigar Company, you can watch artisans hand-roll cigars the traditional way.
Some cigar rollers make around 150 cigars a day, which is pretty impressive once you see the process up close.
The leaves are cut, rolled, pressed, and shaped completely by hand. Itβs precise work, and watching it happen right in front of you makes it easy to appreciate the skill involved.
Even if you donβt smoke cigars, itβs a fascinating part of the neighborhoodβs culture.
A short walk down Calle Ocho brings you to the Bay of Pigs Monument, which honors Cuban exiles who fought in the Bay of Pigs invasion on April 17, 1961.
More than 1,300 Cuban fighters known as Brigade 2506 attempted to overthrow Fidel Castroβs government with support from the United States. The invasion ultimately failed, with over 100 men killed and many others captured and imprisoned in Cuba for nearly 20 months before being released in 1962.
Many of the fighters later returned to Miami and helped build the Cuban-American community that still defines Little Havana today.
Itβs a small stop along Calle Ocho, but it adds important historical context to the neighborhood.
By the time dinner rolls around, youβll probably be ready to sit down for a full meal.
Head to Salaβo Cuban Restaurant & Bar.
This is a great place to relax after walking around all afternoon and finally dig into a proper Cuban dinner.
If you drink, definitely order a mojito. Itβs one of the most classic Cuban cocktails and the perfect way to start the meal.
Then order a Cuban sandwich, one of the most famous dishes in the neighborhood. Pressed bread, roasted pork, ham, pickles, Swiss cheese, and mustard β simple ingredients that somehow work perfectly together.
At this point in the day, it hits exactly the spot.
If you want to experience more of the food scene here, you can also book a Little Havana food tour here. Itβs a great way to try several Cuban dishes while learning the history behind the neighborhood. I did it and loved it!
I actually break down the full experience in my Little Havana Food Tour Review: The Best Way to Experience Miamiβs Cuban Food if you want to see what the tour includes.
This might sound random, but itβs actually worth a quick stop.
The Little Havana McDonaldβs has colorful Cuban-style tile artwork on the outside of the building that makes it stand out from your typical McDonaldβs.
Itβs a small detail, but itβs fun to see how even a major chain incorporated local design elements here.
Youβre not stopping for fries. Youβre stopping because the building itself is surprisingly photogenic.
Before you leave the area, stop at Party Cake Bakery.
Grab a cheese pastelito to take back with you for breakfast the next morning.
Actually⦠grab two.
Trust me.
Theyβre flaky, sweet, and one of the best Cuban pastries youβll find. The cream cheese filling is slightly sweet and wrapped in crisp layers of pastry that somehow disappear very quickly.
Future-you will appreciate this decision when breakfast rolls around.
For dessert, head to Azucar Ice Cream Company.
This spot is famous for its Cuban-inspired ice cream flavors, and the line outside usually tells you everything you need to know.
Some of their most popular flavors include:
Abuela Maria (vanilla ice cream with guava, cream cheese, and Maria cookies)
CafΓ© con Leche
Guava & Cream Cheese
Mango
After walking around the neighborhood all day, ice cream feels like a very reasonable reward.
Strictly for cultural research purposes, obviously.
After dessert, stick around for the nightlife.
Places like Ball & Chain are famous for live music. During the day youβll often hear traditional Cuban musicians, and at night the atmosphere turns into a lively bar with music, dancing, and a lot of energy.
Another fun stop is Cubaocho Museum & Performing Arts Center, which doubles as an art gallery and a nightclub. The artwork on the walls is actually for sale β including the furniture and dΓ©cor β which makes the whole space feel like youβre dancing inside a gallery.
Itβs a fun, slightly unexpected way to end the night.
I would recommend spending at least a half day here. But if you enjoy food, culture, and live music, itβs easy to turn this into a full-day experience. We arrived mid-day and stayed until the evening, which felt like the perfect amount of time.
If youβre flying into Miami, it helps to arrive earlier in the day so you have time to explore neighborhoods like Little Havana. I usually compare flight options on Skyscanner to see what the best arrival times look like.
Absolutely.
Little Havana feels completely different from the beaches and nightlife youβll find in South Beach.
Itβs colorful, lively, full of history, and packed with incredible Cuban food.
If you want to experience a more authentic side of Miami, this neighborhood shouldnβt be skipped.
Between the domino games, Cuban coffee, live music, and food stops around every corner, itβs one of the most memorable neighborhoods in the city.
And if you somehow leave without eating at least three different things along the wayβ¦ I honestly donβt know how you managed that.
The tulip fields in the Netherlands look exactly like the photos, except the photos donβt capture how massive the color blocks actually are stretching across the countryside. Or the windmills. Or the sheep randomly standing in the middle of everything like they donβt know theyβre in the most photogenic country on earth.
The honest caveat: tulip season moves fast, the fields rotate every year, and peak bloom is not a guarantee, it depends on the weather, the harvest schedule, and a little bit of luck. But thatβs also part of what makes it feel less like a tourist attraction and more like something you actually found.
Full driving route with towns, parking tips, and what to expect | linked in bio. π·
#netherlands #travelling #tulipfields #exploreeurope
Amsterdam has a way of making you feel like you need to see everything, and then rewarding you most when you slow down anyway. The museums and canal cruises are worth it, but so is just wandering neighborhoods, eating whatever looks good, and sitting along the canals with a grilled cheese and nowhere to be.
First-time visitor guide is on the blog. Link in bio. π·
#travelling #travel #amsterdam #visitamsterdam #traveleurope
10 stops. One very full day. Zero regrets. Amsterdam has one of the best food scenes Iβve experienced anywhere in Europe, but the honest caveat is that some of the viral spots come with lines that will genuinely test your character. I skipped a few. I regret nothing.
Hereβs what actually made the cut on my self-guided Amsterdam food tour:
Fresh stroopwafels at Hans Egstorf: made right in front of you, warm caramel, no line. This one won.
Lourens cookie croissant: flaky outside, gooey chocolate inside. Did not share.
CafΓ© Winkel 43 apple pie: one of the rare viral places that fully lives up to the hype.
Davieβs Amsterdam for the Lelie sandwich: pastrami, pickles, marbled bread. Deceptively simple. Absolutely excellent.
De Kaaskamer to end the day: 400+ cheeses, grilled cheese with what they call ketchup (itβs not ketchup, and itβs better), and bunker cheese aged in underground military bunkers.
The full route covers 10 stops through Jordaan, the 9 Streets, the canal district, and the flower market area with a Google Map included so you can just follow along.
Full guide with every stop, tips for beating the lines, and what Iβd skip vs. do again | link in bio.
#amsterdam #visitamsterdam #netherlands #travel #visitnetherlands #traveleurope
Thereβs a version of Gatlinburg thatβs all fudge shops and tourist crowds, and then thereβs the version that actually makes you want to come back.
Hereβs everything worth doing downtown, in the order Iβd do it: ποΈ
β¨ Start at @gatlinburgskypark before the crowds hit
β¨ Walk the strip mid-morning when itβs still manageable
β¨ @googooclusters stop (see my post from Tuesday: donβt skip it)
β¨ Dinner at one of the local spots off the main drag
β¨ Wander back out at night when the lights are on and it gets actually pretty
This isnβt your overscheduled Smoky Mountain itinerary. Itβs more of a βhereβs what Iβd actually do if I had one solid dayβ kind of list.
Full downtown Gatlinburg guide linked in bio. π
If someone told me Iβd spend five hours at SkyPark, I would not have believed them. And yet. π
Gatlinburg SkyPark sits above the strip and itβs one of those places that looks like a quick stop on paper and turns into most of your afternoon. The SkyBridge alone is worth it β longest pedestrian suspension bridge in North America, and yes, you will look down.
β¨ SkyBridge (longest pedestrian suspension bridge in North America)
β¨ SkyLift ride up with views of the Smokies
β¨ Walking trails with mountain views in every direction
β¨ Way less crowded than downtown
Fair warning: if heights genuinely freak you out, the bridge might not be your thing. The rest of the park is still 100% worth it. Full guide with tickets, tips, and what to skip linked in bio. π
Follow @travelwithwendyplummer for Beautiful Beach Destinations, City Guides, Foodie Spots, and Luxury Hotel Recommendations.
