Depending on your involvement in the art world, you may or may not have heard of Art Basel. It’s arguably the largest arts festival in the country and it takes place the first week of December each year. It is replete with events, musical performances, outdoor installations and gallery auctions galore. Art Basel is based on an art convention based out of Basel, Switzerland and is responsible for a week of booked hotel rooms and happy cabbies accommodating the masses that fly in for the event, not to mention the hundreds of different international artists that show up for it as well!
Tag Archives: Bike
Virginia Key Mountain Bike Trail
In Miami, even if you’re a regular cyclist you may not be aware of all the different bike paths and trails available. This week we’d like to focus on the mountain bike trail one will find on Virginia Key!
Virginia Key was, for a very long time, uninhabited but in the early 20th century started to be cultivated as an idyllic beach and park landscape (in fact, it still is today!) Most of the city of Miami really gained momentum in the roaring ’20s, only 25 or so years after the establishment of the city of Miami.
The park is open 7 days a week and offers three different paths based on skill level. The best part is that there’s so much relaxing to do in this area, all within biking distance. If you take the recently renovated bike path on the Rickenbacker Causeway, just a few meters away is Hobie Beach – the only dog beach in the area! As well as Bill Baggs State Park which is located at the very southernmost point of Key Biscayne – the island adjacent to Virginia Key and which is home to the oldest structure in Florida – the Cape Florida Lighthouse. With the temperature’s rising, it’s only a matter of time till we’re all scrambling for outdoor activities.
Mercedes Benz Fashion Swim Week
Miami is a hub for all manners of fashion and culture! With the recent announcement from Chanel to move their headquarters from New York to our financial district, Brickell, we can only imagine what’s to come! Read More
Miami: Green City
According to new research via nerdwallet, American citizens’ views have placed Miami on a top 10 list of “America’s Greenest Cities.” A 2014 poll by the Pew Research Center finds that the majority of Americans believe the environment is a priority. Read More
SoBe Wine and Food Festival
There are a lot of events in February –The Miami International Boat Show, the Coconut Grove Arts Festival, but in South Beach the biggest one is the South Beach Wine and Food Festival, or as it is lovingly referred to around the Bike and Roll office: “SoBe WUFF”. Beginning on the 19th of February, it is a four day food fest showcasing different cuisines and chefs, taking place all throughout Miami Beach – sometimes literally on the beachside! It will be going on its 13th year and features all the biggest personalities on the Food network as well as local chefs – from wine tastings to “empanada happy hour” to a variety of diversely themed dinners. Read More
Winter Music Conference in Miami – Win Free Mansion Miami tickets!
Miami Beach has a lot of different reasons for its infamy: the beaches, the babes, the Art Deco, the outdated cocaine references. Among these many reasons, the growing electronic music scene has brought the masses to Miami for several years now; case in point: Winter Music Conference. Read More
Bienvenidos a Little Havana – A.K.A. Miami!
Just kidding. Miami is not the same thing as Little Havana, despite the record-breaking Cuban population living here! There is, however, a mini Cuba away from Cuba in Miami, a district called Little Havana, or La Pequeña Habana in Miami, which is swiftly growing in popularity for tourists and locals alike.
Multitasking Wednesday: Try out your Spanish while you read up on our bike tours
Hooray! Congratulations Bike and Roll! We’ve gone international! Our friends in Argentina over at Miami Chic – Solo Para Nosotras have written about our coveted Miami Beach Bike Tour!
Ale Velardo at Miami Chic has written various articles on Miami Beach and the different activities you can find, like visiting the farmer’s market and antique market on Lincoln Road each Sunday, going to the more historic Coconut Grove, spending some time at any one of the various chic outdoor malls in the area as well, and of course, best for last: taking a tour of Miami Beach on our wonderful bicycles.
10 things to do in Miami from a Miami-phile
Here’s a list of 10 things you can try in Miami and Miami Beach that are extremely accessible via bicycle!:
- Wynwood Artwalk – Wynwood used to be a dingy warehouse area but since 2008, it’s been converted into a massive outdoor street art gallery. The first Saturday of every month, the plethora of galleries in the area stay open later, offer wine and invite special musical performers to join the masses. (We love Wynwood – we even offer a bike tour of the area!)
- SoundScape Cinema Series – Our bike rental shop is a block away from the famed Frank Ghery building, The New World Symphony, on South Beach which offers a movie night every Wednesday at 8PM. Sit on the grass, watch a classic (they love to air Hitchcocks) or a more modern film (this week they showed Maleficent) with some friends and some wine (some people would say they’re one and the same).
- Group bike ride – The largest and most well-known is Critical Mass the last Friday of each month, but there’s also Magic Mondays at 9PM from University Metrorail station, there’s Wednesday Night Ride that leaves at 8PM from the Omni Station in downtown and ever Sunday like clockwork you can creepily join any one of the dozens of local pelotons as they ride down to the very scenic Key Biscayne.
- Check out a farmer’s market – Miami Beach has two – one on Lincoln Road and one on Normandy Drive every Sunday and Saturday respectively. Brickell’s market at Mary Brickell Village offers ceviche and fresh stone crab on Friday mornings!
- Jazz Night at Churchill’s – Every Monday night the infamous Churchill’s, a grimey-but-great live music pub offers a selection of jazz musicians in the front and open-mic in the back.
- Word & Wine – Another add to the open-mic list, located at Wynwood’s TSL Lounge, the name says it all.
- Watch an independent movie – Try O’Cinema Theater (Wynwood, Miami Shores and now Miami Beach) or South Beach’s Cinematheque on 13th street and Washington ave for a movie you have hopefully never heard of!
- Free Friday Nights at the Wolfsonian Museum – Could “free” get any better? Our bike rental shop is conveniently located around the corner from this student staffed museum. Borrow a bike for the day and then check it out!
- Watch people on the Promenade – The character of Miami is well-seen in its residents and visitors alike. Watch the weirdos and the beautiful people stroll up and down South Beach’s promenade be it on rollerblades, bicycles, skateboards and the occasional Segway.
- Miami River Segway Tour – Don’t pretend you didn’t expect us to self-promote! Our Segway tours are most prominent on South Beach (Art Deco Segway tour and Segways at Sunrise/Sunset) but the wonderful thing about the Miami River Segway tour is that it explores an area of Miami which explains our city’s nickname, The Magic City, best. Downtown Miami and Brickell as archaeological risk zones offer a magnitude of sights from towering sky-scrapers to thousands years old digging sites to the house of the first Miami doctor circa 1903.
Art Deco Tours: See the Architectural Marvel of Miami Beach
The Berkeley Shore
The Sanctuary
Miami Beach is known for its sunshine, crystal blue beaches, palm trees and the Miami Heat!
But to the architecturally savvy (and perhaps to that crowd who watched Miami Vice once upon a time), Miami Beach is extremely well known for its vast array of cozy, pastel-colored buildings which compose its historic Art Deco district.
Miami Beach is a young city, turning 100 years young in 2015 –so the Art Deco which dates back to the 1920-30s is just about the most ancient thing on the island! It’s extremely treasured since it is a major component of that laid-back, cozy vibe for which Miami Beach is notorious.
Art Deco, originally a French style originating in 1925, is inspired by the wanderlust of the Roaring 1920’s; as it was the golden age of industrial travel then, Art Deco is influenced by trains and as is most especially seen in Miami Beach, by ships. Thus, as you are biking or Segwaying around Miami Beach you will notice the patterns: the rounded edges of many buildings, the circular, port-hole windows, and the variation in façade heights to simulate the toppling presence of ocean-liners. The many pastel colors are inspired by the color schemes the travelers of this time noted throughout the world’s vast arts and cultures.
What makes Bike and Roll significant is that not only do we give tours of the area; we are also extremely conveniently located in the district itself – with not one but two different locations! Whether you grab a tried-and-true bicycle or book a tour on the not-so-common and incredibly fun Segway, you can take a ride around the Art Deco district till you count down to our golden sunset and watch the buildings come alive at night when they proudly light up in dazzling neon schemes that give Miami Beach a wholly different identity.