Miami - UMF, March 2012 - Advice Required!

K

Kierz

New Member
Evening all. Hope everyone is fantastic! After a bit of freebie advice :p

I know from browsing on here a fair bit and the odd post that there are a fair few well seasoned travellers out there!

I'm planning to go to Miami for UMF next year and enjoy Miami for a few days also (Specific dates 17-27th March) with two friends.

Anyone been before to both A) Miami and B) Ultra-MF?
What were your thoughts? Is it worth attending?

Also, anyone rented Condo's out there and have any decent links or know of any hotels that are good for 3 - Really struggling for finding places that do triple rooms! Budget isn't unlimited, looking to not really spend more than £3000 for the ten days (wont be going hard at it every night!)

Any advice would be really appreciated :D

Thanking you!

x
 
Ultra is a huge amount of fun. This past March was my first time there, but I'm definitely planning to go again in 2012. The main festival is 3 days, but there's a lot of acts performing in the various nightclubs as part of "Miami Music Week." The Winter Music Conference may also be going on; in past years it has been associated with UMF, although there was some controversy this year because they scheduled for different weeks in March. There are a lot of artists at Ultra, which is great, but that also means their sets aren't as long as you'd see in a club.

I'd recommend getting a place to stay in Miami Beach if you can. The main festival is over on the mainland, but a lot of the afterparties were in Miami Beach (Ultra ends around midnight). I stayed in Downtown Miami this past Ultra and had to abandon tickets I had to a party after spending a hour looking for a taxi to get over there.

For flying in you should look at both Miami International (MIA) and Fort Lauderdale (FLL); both are relatively close to Miami. MIA would be where your direct flights from the UK would probably go, but FLL would work if you connect in the States.

I can't speak to finding triple friendly hotels unfortunately. I typically get my own hotel room and suck it up on the cost.

Buy the tickets when they first pop up on sale if you can. They're significantly cheaper when they first go on sale plus Ultra this year sold out over a month prior to the event.
 
Thanks for the info! Appreciate it. What are drink prices / entry to clubs etc. like over there? If it's similar to NYC I will have a rough idea of how much I will need.
 
Mixed drink prices were $8-$10 as I recall, plus tip. With tip often helping to determine how strong they were, at least if you keep using the same bartender. Ultra doesn't allow re-entry, so you're also stuck with their food as well.

Clubs with headliners were generally $30-$60, with some going for twice that depending on how long the party was going for (there were a few all day/night ones) and how big a name was involved.

If you check out http://ultraweek.blogspot.com/ and click on the various days you'll see what parties went on during Music Week 2011 and how much they went for.
 
Fly into Miami Airport, not Ft. Lauderdale. Stay in South Beach....Ultra is downtown Miami but you don't wanna stay there. South Beach is where the beach is and all the fun day pool parties. It's basically an Ibiza summer squashed into 1 week. A lot of great parties and djs....A LOT. Information will start rolling out the end of September and into October. Ultra and "Miami Music Week" is together for 2012....WMC is still up in the air. But the WMC week will be dead if it's away from Ultra and Miami Music Week. Drink prices are a few bucks cheaper than NYC. Use google for condos and maybe craigslist too. Still a little early to look tho so you might not find much.
 
Been to Miami/UMF 3 years in a row and going again next year.

As the person above me stated - it's like the whole Ibiza season squashed into 1 week.

Use this blog to see what went on there last year, and it'll probably be updated with next year's parties in a few months:

http://ultraweek.blogspot.com/
 
Neo95gt said:
Fly into Miami Airport, not Ft. Lauderdale.
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Definitely Miami if there isn't a price difference. Ft. Lauderdale is a 25-mile $20 shuttle ride away from Miami Beach/Downtown Miami, so not a huge pain if it's decently cheaper. It usually is worth it to fly into FLL for me, but that's from flying a direct flight within the US (and from a hub city for an airline that isn't American Airlines, who uses MIA as a hub). From the UK I'd fully expect a direct flight would be cheaper and more convenient, just saying check pricing to FLL as well.

Although not clearing customs in MIA might be worth something; I have yet to have that happen in a timeframe not measured in hours when connecting from the Caribbean. Maybe I'm just unlucky...
 
Booked it.....not quite packed and f*cked off yet but I will be come March.
Really can't wait for this, had the time booked of since last March in the hope i would get to go but didn't really think it would happen.

Thought if i don't do it this year i probably never will. roll on the 20th March...touchdown Miami :D
 
Evolution said:
Booked it.....not quite packed and f*cked off yet but I will be come March.
Really can't wait for this, had the time booked of since last March in the hope i would get to go but didn't really think it would happen.

Thought if i don't do it this year i probably never will. roll on the 20th March...touchdown Miami :D
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Somewhat Jealous :lol:
 
Stay as close to South Beach (as near to 1st street) as your budget allows.

Years ago i made the mistake of (not listening to advice i'd been given!) and staying north of the Golf Club - the taxi / car / traffic situation was a nightmare :evil: - waiting hours sometimes for taxis to come that far up and then when you're in the taxi the roads are blocked with traffic.
 
Bones said:
Really wanna do this one year! 2013 maybe?
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I definitely think it's worth doing if you can afford it. Wait until the end of March and i will confirm this :lol:


When looking at flights for this i checked out all of the nearest airports to see which had the best times / prices / least changes etc.

From Liverpool for a mere £2614 return this is the flights they offered.

Liverpool > Isle of Man > Gatwick > Then make your own way to Heathrow > Miami.

Could you imagine how horrendous doing that would be.
 
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Flights were just under £400, I'm fortunate enough to have a friend I'm staying with over there so no hotel costs. Bought tickets for UMF and A&B Group Therapy for far which came in at $350.
 
Umf 2013

It's been announced that they will be having two weekends worth of events.
15th-17th & 22nd -24th March.

I'm guessing like Coachella where it's pretty much the same lineups, don't think anything other than the fact it is 2 weekends has been announced though.
 
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