Is Miami Expensive to Visit in 2025?
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Miami is a city renowned for its luxurious lifestyle and abundance of celebrities, business people and rich residents.
But is Miami expensive to visit?
This is a question many people have before visiting the Floridian city, and it’s a question that’s important to ask too. You want to know how much to budget for a trip, right?
Luckily for you, I’m a full-time traveller so I’ve developed a pretty good judgment of whether somewhere is expensive or not.
I’ve also been to Florida many times and spent time in Miami, so I’m here to provide a complete guide as to whether Miami is expensive or not.
So let’s just get straight into it.
🇺🇸 When planning a trip to Florida, I recommend using:
✈️ Flights: Skyscanner
🏨 Hotels: Booking.com
💵 Hostels: Hostelworld
🗺 Tours & Activities: Viator and GetYourGuide
🚗 Car Rental: Discover Cars
🚌 Transport: Flixbus
🏥 Travel Insurance: Safetywing
📱E-SIM: Airalo
💻 VPN: Surfshark
Is Miami Expensive?
To put it bluntly, yes, Miami is very expensive to visit.
The life of luxury Miami offers comes at a high price, and this makes it expensive for tourists too. Personally, I’ve found Miami to be one of the most expensive places I’ve visited. Even Copenhagen is cheaper than Miami, and it’s known for being expensive.
But don’t just take my word for it. If you’re statistically minded like me, you might be interested to learn that Miami has a cost of living of 21% higher than the national average.
To put that into a real-world example, if something costs $5 in every single city in the US, it costs $6 in Miami.
That being said, most people’s average salary in Miami is higher than in the rest of the US.
The biggest difference is in finding a Miami home. The real estate and housing market is 47% higher than the national average.
As a result of this high cost of accommodation, this makes it more expensive for tourists to find somewhere to stay in Miami without paying an arm and a leg. Even the cost of hotels in Vegas is cheaper than in Miami.
But generally speaking, things in Miami are just expensive, and there’s not really any other way to put it.
So to answer the question “Is Miami expensive?“, the answer is yes, Miami is very expensive.
How Expensive is Miami?
Your budget in Miami depends pretty much on three main things: accommodation, things you do, and food.
Whether you stay in a hostel or a 5-star hotel will make or break your budget. As well as doing free activities or $200 tours. Or eating from a food van or a Michelin-star restaurant.
Thankfully, there is a tool to calculate your Miami budget which takes into account the length of your stay, how you like to travel, accommodation options and more. It’s useful to get an idea of a budget for a trip before booking it.
On average, for 2 weeks in Miami, these are the average budgets per person:
| Type of Traveller | 2 week Miami budget |
|---|---|
| Low budget backpacker | $2300 |
| Average traveller | $4700 |
| High budget traveller | $8000 |
As you can see, the budgets are pretty insane. Two weeks in Miami, on average costs $4700…that’s crazy money.
Even for a backpacker, 2 weeks in Miami costs more than 2 MONTHS backpacking in Thailand. Miami isn’t designed to be visited on a budget, that’s for sure.
So if you plan a trip to Miami, perhaps consider not spending the full duration of your trip in the heart of Miami, and perhaps spend some time elsewhere in Florida. Either that or make sure you save up a heck of a lot of money.
Even though it’s so so expensive, Miami is still an amazing place to visit. Is it worth nearly five thousand dollars for two weeks? I’m not sure, but it’s still incredible. Miami is a special place.
But to summarise, Miami isn’t just expensive, it’s very very expensive to visit.
How much is Accommodation in Miami?
As I said above, the type of accommodation you choose to stay in will massively impact your daily budget. Whether you stay in a hostel or a luxury resort is night or day for your budget.
Obviously there’s quite a big gap between the two, and in my opinion, somewhere in the middle is a nice balance for Miami.
For me, the best mid-range hotel in Miami is the Eurostars Langford Hotel. It’s located right in the heart of Downtown Miami. That’s the city centre of Miami for us Europeans 😉. It’s really highly rated on Booking and is good value for money. You can see from the photos just how nice the rooms are! The perfect hotel in the perfect location.
Or, if you do prefer to stay in a hostel, I recommend the Beds&Drinks hostel. The US isn’t exactly known for its hostels so it’s not the best hostel you will ever stay in, but it does the job. It’s a traditional hostel and that’s about it. But it’s clean, safe, somewhere to meet new people, and most importantly, a cheap place to stay while exploring Miami.
➡️ Best hotel in Miami: Eurostars Langford Hotel
➡️ Best budget-friendly hostel in Miami: Beds&Drinks
How much are Tourist Attractions in Miami?
Some of the most popular things to do in Miami are actually free, which is an unexpected but welcomed fact when visiting Miami.
Relaxing and sunbathing on South Beach, for example, doesn’t cost anything to visit. Neither does spending an afternoon in Bayfront Park.
That being said, most other things to do in Miami do cost money. I would say that most things cost $20-30 per person.
Visiting the Everglades, for example, costs $30 per car.
Miami Zoo costs $22.95 per adult.
So the prices for doing things aren’t actually too bad, it only becomes expensive when you start paying for meals in these places, which will cost more than the entry ticket itself.
And then buying things in Miami is obviously extremely expensive too.
How Expensive is Food in Miami?
As I said, the food in Miami is pretty damn expensive. Of course, it depends on where you have your meals. Getting a burger from a food van might cost around $7-8, for example.
Eating in a sit-down restaurant means that prices, of course, go up. An average meal would cost more than $20-30 per person in a decent restaurant. And then add more for a starter or dessert. And any fancy drinks you may want too.
And remember that tipping is expected in Miami, and a 20% tip is expected to be added to your bill.
So having 2 meals out per day in Miami can quickly add up over the course of a week or two long trips.
Is Miami Expensive: FAQ
Below are some questions related to “Is Miami expensive?” along with my answers.
Yes, Miami is very expensive for tourists. The luxury lifestyle Miami offers makes it an expensive destination to visit, and average budgets over 2 weeks are over $4000 per person.
Yes, Miami is significantly more expensive than London. London is expensive compared to the rest of the UK, but Miami is a completely different kettle of fish. It’s one of the most expensive places in the world to visit.
The price of a pint of draft beer in Miami is between $6-8, which is pretty expensive for a pint.
Miami is the most expensive city in Florida by a long margin, but it’s still not on the same level as New York. New York City is incredibly expensive, and few places in the world are as expensive as New York. So NYC wins the battle in this case.
Final Thoughts: Is Miami Expensive?
And there you have it, a complete guide to “Is Miami expensive?”
The answer is yes, Miami is very expensive.
It costs so much to visit Miami due to the life of glam and luxury which the city offers.
So if you’re planning a trip to Florida and Miami, make sure you start saving sooner rather than later, ’cause it’s gonna cost a fortune.
