trvl to South Beach and looking into staying at the Nassau Suite Hotel on Collins St - has anyone stayed at this hotel.

also any recommendations for sushi, thai or italian

oh yah - almost forgot about shopping - any outlet malls in and around miami

thank you

Outlet Malls: Sawgrass Mills or Dolphin Mall

I avoid outlet malls, can't return, usually filled with defective items, discontinued or lesser quality for the same price as a good sale in a regular store. Miami has plenty of great malls with national stores.

Dadeland - big mall in suburb neighborhood of Kendall.
Falls - pretty outdoor tropical mall just south of Kendall
Aventura in North Miami Beach area - also big, south New York type of mall.
International, Dolphin, Westland are all very Hispanic

smaller scale shopping can be found in South Miami streets and Sunset Place (gotta park though).

Coconut Grove also has street side shopping (parking is a hassle though - fun at night).

Gables - not yet, big luxury malls opening later this year.

Bal Harbor - the luxury mall

Sawgrass is north in Broward County about 45 minutes away in non-traffic time from South Beach.

There are also outlet malls in Homestead. I still think a good sale at Macy's is better.

!!!!International, Dolphin, Westland are all very Hispanic!!!!
Ok so you are coming here to Miami and you dont want hispanics? You better stay in your farmhouse back home cuz Hispanics are in every major city in this county, especially MIAMI. Keep running from hispanics and you will run right out of the country. good riddance.

I'm Cuban and not the won coming to visit I just thought the visitor should know that these malls are predominantely Hispanic, much more than the others....I would hate for him/her to go to Westland and return saying that no one in Miami speaks English. She/he may want total culture emersion but if not than I wanted to let them know. We're hear for the real scoop on things, not necessary the politically correct, marketing brochure blurb. Why did you take offense with my referring to these malls as being Hispanic?

I'm way too tired that I'm spelling horribly....Oops!

I am Venezuelan and I would not recommend Westland Mall in Hialeah either, but not because its Hispanic. It just is not worth visiting. I do agree with you about people coming here and saying that no one speaks english. It is not that no one here speaks english, but many of us, at times, prefer not to because we do know two languages and you don't want to get rusty in either. And a Sale at Macy's Aventura is always better than an outlet mall.

I'd suggest Aventura mall, which is about 10 miles north of Miami. Big Barnes and Noble so that you can get some cheap books for reading material at the beach.

i don't care what kind of people are at these malls - i'm just looking to shop

one shouldn't judge a location because of the people that frequent - miami is made up of so many different cultures, that's what makes it more interesting

you're young and idealistic..that's nice. It does make a difference because the styles are different according to the culture of the customers that spend money there. While I'm not totally sterotyping there is a little more JLo style dressing in the more Hispanic malls than you would find in the more ....forget it I'm definitely going to offend people. There's a difference but it you want to see the different socioeconomic classes then try some of these malls. Aventura, Bal Harbor, Falls, Gables would be a little more upscale. Then again Ann Taylor, Gap, Old Navy, Macy's, etcc are pretty similar everywhere. I usually look in the phone book for the Ann Taylor store and then know that will be the mall I would probably want to visit. I also love Target so I can be diverse..and in North Carolina, Walmart is a dream. I just don't trust outlet malls.

There's a lot of crime in Miami so be alittle careful about where you go...see the culture but don't put yourself in a dangerous environment.

Just a clarification to a post above: Barnes and Noble is not in the Aventura Mall. It is south of the mall along Biscayne Blvd in the vicinity, but is not walkable. Also a Borders north of the mall, but again not walkable, especially in the heat.