I will be in Miami on October 5th through the 10th. I have never been and wanted to know if anyone can help me with the following questions:

1) Is there a tower that has an observatory on the top floor to get a nice bird's eye view of the city?

2) Where is the best place for shopping? Any Garment District? Flee Market? High-End shopping?

3) Any "must see" things to do in Miami for tourists?

4) Most happening night club?

I am staying in South Beach at the Doubletree Surfcomber hotel... so I am not sure as to how far I will be from all the "action". Hopefully the weather is not too bad.

Thanks!!!

1. No, But there is a great restaurant on the 25th floor of the beautiful Espirito Santo Building on Brickell with fantastic views (Its Called Atrio, Its good and expensive, there is also a Bar up there...).
2. The shops at Bal Harbor and The Village of Merrick Park are the two top high end malls in the city...Other notable Malls: Dadeland, Aventura, Lincoln Road
3. South Beach, Vizcaya, Venetian Pool, Play Golf in Doral, Visit the Everglades, MetroZoo, Many small art Galleries in the design district, Take a Duck Tour...
4. Mansion (Saturday Nights), Space, CroBar, Opium, Tantra, Metropolis, …Just go down Washington Ave after 11 on any given night and you will see where the parties are...

Considering where you are staying I would say Lincoln Rd for shopping since you will be right there.

Cool... thanks for the feedback~!

Touc has you covered...a couple additions though1) Is there a tower that has an observatory on the top floor to get a nice bird's eye view of the city? Espirto Santo is great! In addition if you look like you belong there, you can take the elevators Miami City Club in the daytime (the 55th floor of the Wachovia Building) not sure of the address.
2) Where is the best place for shopping? Any Garment District? Flee Market? High-End shopping?There is a garment district on Nw 29th District and about 6th avenue. Sunday afternoons on Lincoln Road have a farmers market/antique furniture and deco trinkets. Also head over to Espanola way on Sunday.
3) Any "must see" things to do in Miami for tourists? Touc has nailed it....The best and cheesiest is the Duck Boat...you start at Bayside Marketplace and take an amphibious car/boat down Biscayne Blvd, then you "jump" into the water and the boat takes you around Star Island/Hibiscus etc. Then up again for the South Beach tour. The garden at the Setai is a must see too.
4) Most happening night club?Thursday night at the Victor can't be beat. Also, check out Skybar at the Shore Club.

I am staying in South Beach at the Doubletree Surfcomber hotel... you are in the action my friend! Thank your travel agent in advance.

club space is pretty good... one of my favorites

Roark, thanks. I was worried that my hotel wasn't close to the "action". Thanks for the advice... that duck boat tour thing sounds like a blast, as cheesy as it sounds.

I have heard a lot about Mansion and B.E.D... I hear that the clubs don't start until around 11 pm.... and dinner doesn't start until around 9'ish... so I have to get out of the LA mentality where everything starts early and ends early....

Oh another couple thoughts...if you are in the mood to chill a little bit and go to a locals kind of happy hour on Friday, go to Monty's(6pm -9 ish)...it is in the Miami Beach Marina, is pretty casual (flip flops/boating/island attire all over the place) and a great place to see the sunset...back to the hotel, take a disco nap and head out for the night.
If you are running hard from Thursday through Sat, you might choose to wind down on Sunday afternoon at Smith & Wollensky's at South Pointe...around 5pm or so, you can relax by the water and a parade of about 6 of the largest cruise ships in the world will head out to see...a nice compliment to the sunset and the natural beauty.

sometimes i think we miamians don't appreciate what we have,i used to go to monty's atleast once a month but haven't done that in so long....its such a good place-----the baby back ribs and the the bbq chicken is great............anyways another great thing to do would be to go to the news cafe,on south beach. just sit there for lunch and watch the pretty people go by.

Oh man, now I'm getting hungry! That Monty's place sounds like a great place... I'm going there for sure... thank's for the recommendation.

How is the weather right now in Miami?

the weather has been wierd,right now mostly cloudy,windy and isloated showers.

its rained atleast once a day over the last 4 days.but the temperature is only 89

someone mentioned that there is this place where you can do laundry and also order drinks??? is that true?

someone mentioned that there is this place where you can do laundry and also order drinks??? is that true?
if its on the beach i wouldn't be surprised lol

laundry bar on lincoln lane north (behind lincoln road just east of meridian avenue) its cool has specials and is known for its local gay and lesbian nights as well as its regular everybody crowd days. expensive to wash/dry compared to your average joes laundry mat but definitely worth seeing.

someone mentioned that there is this place where you can do laundry and also order drinks??? is that true?Yeah...it's great...if you meet the owner...ask her who she buys her best pre-construction condo investments from...it's the same guy that she beats at golf...tell her I send my love!!