Tag Archives: segway

Self-Guided South Beach Bar Crawl!

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Certainly there’s been more than a few articles written on South Beach bar crawls, but how many have actually been written by a former tour guide and local!

Tourists know Ocean Drive and the Versace Mansion, sure. They will definitely stumble onto the many restaurants that Lincoln Road has to offer, but for this article I’d like to focus on a part of town most visitors don’t venture into! And with good reason, it seems the posh community of South Beach decided to make it more isolated from the parties and the bus tours. I’m referring, of course, to the north west corner of Miami Beach near Maurice Gibb park, just north of the Venetian Causeway where you’ll find the following, hip bars for your own self-guided tour of Miami Beach’s locals-only bars:

Pubbelly
Self-proclaimed gastropub with a menu that is the epitome of Asian-fusion, the locale features an exposed brick wall as the backdrop of its tapas-like menu paired with craft, local beers. (Not veggie-friendly, by any means but if you like seafood that isn’t so kitschy, you may be in luck.)

Located: 1418 20th St, Miami Beach, FL 33139. If you walk just one block south, you’ll find….

Sweet Liberty Drinks & Supply Company
Sweet Liberty is known for its expansive artisan crafted cocktails, as well as their notorious adult milkshakes (liquor and all). This Americana-themed bar will send you time traveling. They also offer a selection gastronomic tastings with, of course, recommendation specific cocktails to go along with each!

Located: 237 20th St Suite B, Miami Beach, FL 33139. Right around the corner, you’ll also stumble onto…

The Purdy Lounge

With floral patterned couches that are reminiscent of granny’s house and an array of lava lamps behind the stage, the Purdy Lounge is probably’s South Beach’s best kept secret when it comes to chill venues, actually worthy of the title “lounge”. They have live music on certain nights (Reggae night is Mondays!) And though the prices reflect the city, it’s a low-key place to grab a beer, thus concluding a short though thorough beer tour of an area tourists do not regularly experience in South Beach!

Located: 1811 Purdy Ave, Miami Beach, FL 33139

SoBe Wine and Food Festival

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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 »

10 things to do in Miami from a Miami-phile

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Untitled-1

Here’s a list of 10 things you can try in Miami and Miami Beach that are extremely accessible via bicycle!:

  1. 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!)
  2. 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).
  3. 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.
  4. 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!
  5. 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.
  6. Word & Wine – Another add to the open-mic list, located at Wynwood’s TSL Lounge, the name says it all.
  7. 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!
  8. 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!
  9. 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.
  10. 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

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The Berkeley Shore Hotel, Miami Beach, Florida

The Berkeley Shore

The Sanctuary, Miami Beach, Florida

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.