Miami

Getting there

Miami is, fair warning, not a transit city. It has transit — the Metrorail works, the Metromover downtown is free and charming, and Brightline now runs all the way to Orlando — but none of that gets you to Hard Rock Stadium on a match day. The stadium is 15 miles north of South Beach in Miami Gardens, on the edge of the county, and it was built for cars. Plan around that and you'll be fine.

Flying in: Miami International (MIA) is the obvious move and the closest major hub for Latin American fans coming up from Buenos Aires, Bogotá, Caracas, São Paulo, and Mexico City — the airport's entire international terminal will feel like a pre-match mixer. Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood (FLL) is often cheaper out of Dallas and is actually closer to Hard Rock. Palm Beach (PBI) is the under-the-radar third option if you're staying up the coast.

To the stadium: Rideshare or drive. FIFA is running express bus shuttles from designated park-and-ride lots across the county (Dolphin Mall, the Metrorail Dadeland South station, a couple of lots in Broward). Take one. Prices surge brutally on match days, and the one road into the stadium — NW 199th Street — becomes a long slow parking lot an hour before kickoff. Budget two hours door-to-door from South Beach.

Base yourself smart: For one match, stay in South Beach or Brickell and eat the commute. For three or more, consider Aventura or Sunny Isles Beach — fifteen minutes to the stadium and still on the water. Downtown Miami (Brickell, specifically) if you want the restaurant scene and a Metromover-walkable base for the Fan Festival.

The fan zone

The FIFA Fan Festival Miami at Bayfront Park runs June 13 through July 5 — 23 days, 436,000 square feet of waterfront park on Biscayne Bay, a 10,000-capacity main stage, big screens for every match, 30,000 expected per day, and — yes — scheduled water-powered jet pack performances over the bay between matches. Free admission. Brickell Metromover drops you a block away. This is the best outdoor fan zone on the tournament map: the view is the city and the water, the crowd skews ferociously international, and by 10 p.m. on a good match night the sound of drums and air horns will reach your hotel eight blocks inland.

Go at least once. Go on an Argentina, Colombia, or Brazil match day if you want to understand something about what soccer means in this city.

Where to watch without tickets

Miami's soccer-bar scene is organized by nationality more than by neighborhood. Pick your country, find the right room.

• Manny's Steakhouse (Sunny Isles Beach, 17100 Collins Ave) — The Argentine diaspora's unofficial embassy. Parrilla, Malbec, every Argentina and Boca/River match on every screen. You will be outnumbered by people in blue and white, and they will be happy to explain what's happening.
• El Rinconcito Latino (Doral, 9786 NW 41st St) — Colombian. The Doral neighborhood is essentially a second Bogotá; El Rinconcito is where the crowd watches La Tricolor. Bandeja paisa at halftime.
• American Social (Brickell, 690 SW 1st Ct) — The big, pretty, downtown sports bar that everyone ends up at for a big match when their country's bar is too small. Patio on the river, a wall of screens, and the kind of crowd that will chant any anthem on demand.
• Sunset Tavern (Coral Gables, 7230 SW 59th Ct) — Neighborhood pub, soccer-first, old-school Miami. Gets a steady mix of British, Irish, and CONCACAF fans. No one is there to be seen.
• The Abbey Brewing Co. (Miami Beach, 1115 16th St) — If you're staying in South Beach and need a bar that isn't a club, this is the quiet, beer-serious, soccer-respectful move. Tiny. Show up early.
• Finka Table & Tap (West Kendall, 14690 SW 26th St) — Cuban-Peruvian-Korean fusion, which sounds absurd and is great. They show every match; the bar will be packed on a Peru or Venezuela day.

Eat & drink

You are in the best Latin American restaurant city in the United States. Eat accordingly.

Cuban: Versailles on Calle Ocho — 8 a.m. Cuban coffee at the outside window, ropa vieja and plantains inside, a politically dense crowd that has been arguing at the same tables since 1971. Sanguich de Miami for the platonic Cuban sandwich. La Carreta if Versailles is a two-hour wait.

Peruvian and South American: CVI.CHE 105 downtown for ceviche. Pollos & Jarras in Brickell for Peruvian chicken. Fiorito in Edgewater for the best Argentine milanesa outside Buenos Aires.

Stone crab and seafood: Joe's Stone Crab is the Miami institution. Stone crab season runs Oct 15 to May 1, so during the tournament the crabs themselves are out of season — but contrary to the old assumption, the main dining room stays open in summer on a reduced weekly schedule (currently dinner Wed–Sun, lunch Fri–Sun; closed Mon/Tue), and Joe's Take Away next door runs daily. For summer seafood beyond Joe's: Garcia's Seafood Grille & Fish Market on the Miami River, Mignonette downtown for oysters, Truluck's in Brickell if you want stone crab flown in out of season.

Wynwood: Take an afternoon. Zak the Baker for sourdough, 1-800-Lucky for the Asian food hall, Kush for burgers. Walk the Wynwood Walls after. Bring water — there's no shade.

Things to do

• South Beach — Obviously. Go at sunrise for the empty sand and the Art Deco pastels, not at 2 p.m. when it's 95 degrees and crowded.
• Little Havana and Calle Ocho — Walk it. Hit Versailles or Ball & Chain, stop at the Domino Park to watch the old guys play, eat a pastelito. An hour and a half, no more.
• Wynwood Walls — Paid now, still worth it. The unpaid street-art tour is the surrounding twelve blocks.
• Vizcaya Museum & Gardens — An Italian Renaissance villa on Biscayne Bay, built by an early-20th-century industrialist, now a public museum. Feels like a different country. Cool off in the gardens.
• Everglades half-day — Airboat ride out of Shark Valley or Everglades Safari Park. Sunrise is better than midday; alligators are more active and you won't melt. Uber out, but arrange a return first — cell service is spotty.
• Key Biscayne — Fifteen minutes from downtown, a different planet. Bill Baggs State Park at the south end has a lighthouse, a quiet beach, and the best sunrise view in South Florida.

Weather, thunderstorms, and the hurricane question

Miami in June and July is 88°F, 80% humidity, and afternoon thunderstorms nearly every day between roughly 3 and 6 p.m. The storms are short, violent, and clear out within an hour. Plan indoor activities for the mid-afternoon window. Hard Rock Stadium has a canopy — not a retractable roof, but a cover over the seating bowl — that keeps most of the rain off most of the seats, but it does not make the stadium air-conditioned. For a 4 p.m. kickoff, the bowl is going to be a sauna. Hydrate all day before, not just at the match. Bring a hat. Reapply sunscreen.

Hurricane season technically starts June 1, but a named storm in June that affects South Florida would be unusual and early. A tournament-disrupting hurricane is a low-probability event with a catastrophic tail — FIFA has contingency plans, the stadium operators have contingency plans, and travel insurance is not a bad idea.