The Official Miami City Tour Small Group Experience with Pickup





Description
Are you ready for the most unique Miami City Tour that money can you buy? For this unforgettable tropical adventure all you need to bring are your sandals, shorts, hats and be in a good mood! We will show you Miami's most exclusive spots, its best kept secrets and everything else you need to see while visiting the 'Magic City'! Our tours are special because we pick you up from your hotel and expert tour guides are locals that live and breathe Miami. Banana Joe Tours excursions are always original, never fabricated. Our tour guides are trained to deliver excellent service and cater to your needs and interests. You can be assured to get all the insider information that you need.
Tour Options
Itinerary
After our expert tour guide picks you up from your hotel you continue on to Miami South Beach and its beautiful Art Deco District. You stroll down Ocean Drive and learn about the district and its history. From here you continue on to Downtown Miami, Coconut Grove, Coral Gables and Little Havanna. There's plenty of photo stops along the way as well as all the information you need to become a Miami insider. Our tour guide are there for you and are happy to answer all questions you might have.
We will visit Miami Beach & discuss Miami history
**Colony Hotel** – iconic postcard spot on Ocean Drive **Versace Mansion (Casa Casuarina)** – former home of Gianni Versace **Breakwater Hotel** – striking blue neon tower, a 1930s classic **The Carlyle Hotel** – famous from the movie *The Birdcage* **Cardozo Hotel** – owned by Gloria & Emilio Estefan **Park Central Hotel** – one of the oldest buildings in the district **Art Deco Welcome Center & Museum** – on 10th Street, info point and small exhibition **The Leslie Hotel** – yellow façade, a typical Streamline Moderne example **The Tides Hotel** – elegant 1930s landmark **The Essex House** – nautical design and a distinctive corner façade **The Clevelander Hotel** – legendary for its rooftop bar and pool parties **The Beacon Hotel** – light blue neon icon right on Ocean Drive **The Waldorf Towers** – orange landmark with beach views **The McAlpin Hotel** – pastel pink favorite, one of the most photographed buildings
**DOWNTOWN MIAMI & BRICKELL – THE MODERN HEART OF THE CITY** We drive through **Downtown Miami** and the financial district of **Brickell** – the vibrant core of the city, filled with stunning skyscrapers, modern architecture, and luxury residences. You’ll see all the major highlights: the **Freedom Tower**, **Kaseya Center**, **Bayfront Park**, **Brickell Avenue**, and the new high-end developments along the **Miami River**. A special stop is the **Miami Circle** – an archaeological site right by the water, considered one of the oldest traces of human settlement in South Florida. Here, **history meets modernity**: glass towers, yachts, and ancient stone circles – this is **Miami at its most fascinating.**
**WYNWOOD – THE CREATIVE HEART OF MIAMI** We drive straight through **Wynwood**, Miami’s famous street art district. Not just to the well-known **Wynwood Walls**, but also into the **hidden backstreets** where big buses can’t go. Here you’ll see real art, raw colors, and the Wynwood only locals know – **authentic, creative, and full of life.**
**COCONUT GROVE – MIAMI’S GREEN HEART & AFRICAN-AMERICAN HERITAGE** We drive through **Coconut Grove**, Miami’s oldest neighborhood — known for its tropical atmosphere and its historic **Black community “West Grove.”** Since the 19th century, the first **Bahamian and African-American settlers** lived here and helped build the foundation of Miami. We show you the **original wooden homes**, **churches**, **local markets**, and landmarks like the **Christ Episcopal Church** and **Coconut Grove Cemetery**, where the history of this community is still alive. Among **banyan trees**, **colorful houses**, and **modern street art**, you’ll learn how this neighborhood grew from a working-class settlement into a vibrant cultural center — **authentic, historic, and full of soul.**
**CORAL GABLES & GABLES ESTATES – PURE LUXURY IN MIAMI** We drive through **Coral Gables** and the exclusive neighborhoods of **Gables Estates** and **Coral Estate Club** — home to some of Miami’s most expensive villas. You’ll see **waterfront mansions**, private docks with **yachts**, perfectly maintained **palm-lined avenues**, and gated streets offering total privacy. Along with highlights like the **Biltmore Hotel**, the elegant **Miracle Mile**, and historic **Mediterranean-style villas**, you’ll experience Miami’s most refined area — **quiet, green, and full of understated elegance**. A glimpse into the **true elite side of Miami** — the one you usually only see in magazines.
**OCEAN DRIVE & ART DECO DISTRICT** We drive along the legendary **Ocean Drive** — the place that gives Miami its iconic look. You’ll see the famous **Art Deco District** with pastel-colored façades, glowing neon lights, and elegant 1930s hotels. Along the way, we share plenty of **insider stories and local tips** you won’t find in any guidebook — straight from true Miami experts. We also explore the full **Art Deco Historic District**, showing you not only the famous landmarks like the **Colony**, **Carlyle**, and **Versace Mansion**, but also **hidden gems** — the **Art Deco Museum**, **neon-lined Ocean Drive**, and **side streets** filled with Streamline architecture, old **cinemas**, **bars**, **galleries**, and **boutique design shops**. This is how you experience the **real South Beach** — rich in history, style, and unmistakable Miami flair.
We bring you back to your hotel or meetingpoint
Highlights
What's included
Pickup Locations & Times
IMPORTANT INFORMATION – PLEASE READ We reserve the right to move your booking to our afternoon tour if the morning tour becomes fully booked. We only offer pick-ups at private residences or hotels within our designated pick-up area. Pick-up times vary depending on your location and traffic conditions. Your guide will send the exact pick-up time the afternoon before your tour via email. Please also check your Viator Message Center. Certain areas in Miami Beach cannot be serviced directly due to local city code restrictions. If your address is in a restricted zone, we will assign the nearest legal and safe meeting point. All final details will be available in your TripAdvisor InfoCenter the afternoon before your tour. Florida weather changes quickly. The tour operates rain or shine. Miami Beach Pick-Up Regulations Miami Beach does not allow pick-ups on the road. Stopping at the curb — even for just a few seconds — can result in high fines issued by the city. ⚠️ To stay compliant and ensure your safety, we only pick up at hotels with a private driveway or loading ramp where we can safely pull in without blocking the street. If your hotel does not have its own driveway: You will receive a nearby meeting point at a hotel with a legal loading area. This meeting point will always be within short walking distance. It will appear in your final confirmation email.
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
- Coordinated start times between 7:45 AM and 1:30 PM depending on location The guides will send out the pickup times the afternoon before the tour via email. Please check your Viator message center for that information as well.
Reviews(82)
Was a good tour. Could accommodate like 10 people+. Was easy pick up at our hotel, based off their map of pick ups. It wasn't super hot and sunny the day we went but on a hot Miami day, you wouldn't be able to beat getting in the ac. The stops weren't as long as I would've liked, especially in little Havana. But it was good to see different parts of the city with the guide explaining some of the history and who lived where. He also took pictures of us at every stop.
Unfortunately, we absolutely cannot recommend this tour. The driver was about 20 minutes late due to traffic – that was still fine for us and can happen. The drive through the different neighborhoods was basically worth seeing, but there was an extreme lack of background knowledge. It was stopped here and there, but there were hardly any really informative explanations. Our tour guide was exceptionally nice throughout the trip – almost overly friendly. In the end, we realized why. Our guide could hardly answer questions about the places, mostly there were only very superficial standard statements, which could have been put together yourself. As soon as you asked in more detail, he could hardly provide any information. For a city tour in this price range, we find this really disappointing – we have already experienced significantly better tours. Honestly, on other trips even a taxi driver could tell us more about the surrounding area than here the tour guide. After all, we have seen a lot, but unfortunately without any background knowledge about the sights. Now for the real negative highlight: In the end, we tipped the guide appropriately from our point of view – in hindsight, we regret this very much. You have to remember: He arrived too late, it was basically just driven and hardly anything was conveyed in terms of content. When we were back at our accommodation, I received a really outrageous message from the tour guide complaining that the tip was too low and that more should be given. This brazenness alone is absolutely inappropriate. We gave the tip voluntarily and out of good nature – complaining about it is not possible. The messages were also very long and intrusive, so we almost felt this was harassment. Looking back, the exaggerated friendliness during the tour seems more like a ploy to get as much tips as possible. We've never seen anything like this on our travels. For us it is clear: We will definitely never book here again. A real disappointment – a shame!
Wow – was für ein epischer Roman. 📚 Fast schon eine eigene Stadtführung durch eure Enttäuschung. Danke dafür. Fangen wir mal strukturiert an: ⏰ 20 Minuten zu spät wegen Verkehr Miami + Verkehr = Überraschung? Wirklich? 🚗💥 Aber stark, dass ihr das „noch in Ordnung“ fandet – wir notieren uns diese Großzügigkeit. 🚌 „Nur gefahren, wenig erklärt“ Interessant, denn genau diese Tour wird seit Jahren für fundiertes Wissen und starke Guides gelobt. Aber klar – wenn man mit der Erwartung kommt, dass bei jedem Stop ein TED Talk gehalten wird, kann es natürlich schwierig werden. 🎤 ❓ Fragen konnten „kaum beantwortet“ werden Unsere Guides sind bekannt dafür, extrem viel über Miami zu wissen. Wenn ihr da nichts mitnehmen konntet, gibt es erfahrungsgemäß zwei Möglichkeiten: Es wurde tatsächlich nichts verstanden Es wurde einfach nichts akzeptiert, was gesagt wurde 🤷♂️ 🚕 „Ein Taxifahrer wusste mehr“ Perfekt! Ehrlich gemeinter Tipp: Beim nächsten Mal einfach direkt Taxi buchen. Spart euch die Tour – und uns auch. Win-Win. 🚖✨ 😊 „Zu freundlich = Masche“ Das ist wirklich mein persönliches Highlight. Jemand ist freundlich → also verdächtig → also inkompetent. Das ist schon eine… sagen wir mal… kreative Denkweise. 👏 Wir geben das intern weiter: „Bitte ab sofort unfreundlicher sein, wirkt kompetenter.“ 😄 💰 Trinkgeld-Drama Trinkgeld ist freiwillig – korrekt. Wenn euch eine Nachricht danach gestört hat, kann man das sachlich klären. Aber daraus gleich ein „Belästigungs-Level-Event“ zu machen, passt ziemlich gut zum Rest der Bewertung. 📱 „So etwas haben wir noch nie erlebt“ Und wir können ehrlich sagen: Solche Bewertungen erleben wir auch nicht oft. Aber hey – heutzutage kann jeder online alles schreiben. Das Internet ist groß. 🌍
Christian was a very good guide and gave us lots of information about Miami Beach and Miami City.
Very informative, educational tour/history of MIA, its relation to Cuba, and insight into Cuba’s plight, today (we asked, at tour’s end). Since we’ve stayed in Little Havana three times and visited once before, we asked to see other sites, allowing us to see The Miami Circle, among others. We were disappointed by the Biscayne Bay Market, but really enjoyed a Cuban Flatbread at Margaritaville! Our tour inspired us to visit the Miami Museum, The Museum of the Cuban Diaspora, and we’ve just ordered books on Miami’s archeaology and a history of Cuba. Highly recommend Christian Morgado, our wonderful guide!
The tour was MEGAAA I was even very lucky that I had a private tour because I was the only one out there Tourguide Ruslán is the best he showed me and explained everything and you could tell him everything questions you need that he loves his job as a tourguide
In a good 4-hour tour, tour guide Ruslan gave us a perfect impression of Miami. Besides the numerous photo stops, his detailed explanations also contributed to this. We can highly recommend Banana Joe with tour guide Ruslan.
Ruslan gave us wonderful insights into the different districts of the city, history and countless information about the country and people. I can highly recommend him and the tour!
We had a very nice day, I can only recommend. We were lucky and there were only two of us and our tour guide Ruslan did really well, he is funny and could tell us a lot. Thank you so much
It was an absolute amazing experience! Cris was an excellent tour guide, friendly, knowledgeable and pleasant. It is totally worth your money and time.
This fabulous. Russ was so knowledgeable. It was an informative beautiful tour. I highly recommend. We saw so much of Miami in a comfortable van. Very personalized.
Thank you so much for this amazing review! 🌴🍌 We’re truly happy to hear that you loved the tour and that Russ made the experience so special. That’s exactly what we aim for. Our tours are very different from typical hop-on hop-off buses. We focus on small groups, hotel pickup, and a live local guide who adapts the tour in real time. Instead of a fixed script and recorded audio, you get real stories, local insight, and the flexibility to stop, explore, and ask questions. Traveling in a comfortable van allows us to show you much more of Miami—neighborhoods, viewpoints, and hidden spots that big buses simply can’t reach. That’s what makes the experience more personal, relaxed, and authentic. Thank you again for the strong recommendation. Reviews like yours mean a lot to us, and we hope to welcome you back in Miami soon! 🌴🚐



