Located in Mid Beach Miami, just a short walk from the instagrammable lifeguard towers, this boutique hotel offered all the essentials to make our stay comfortable. The check-in process was seamless, the bilingual staff was super friendly, and the room itself was the perfect size for just David and me (and all the luggage I brought along 😂).
Why we chose Circa 39
We chose Circa 39 for two reasons. One was its location. It sits right along Collins Avenue which is the only street you have to cross before getting to the beach. Before booking, I made sure to look around Maps to see its surroundings. There seemed to be plenty of restaurants, shops, and convenience stores within walking distance so it was perfect for what we were looking for.
The second reason was it was the most affordable option when looking at what Costco Travel had to offer. We always look to Costco Travel first when booking a trip since it bundles flights, hotels, transportation, and sometimes activities. We also like to take advantage of our Costco Membership and get additional perks through Costco Travel such as cashback, gift cards, and discounts on services at the hotels.
The Cost
The purpose of our trip was to celebrate our two-year wedding anniversary so we wanted to go somewhere on the beach to relax and have fun, but we didn’t want the guilt that comes along after overspending on a trip. We knew we would spend most of our time outside of the hotel exploring Miami so we also budgeted for that.
If you’re curious about how much a trip like this costs, here are the details! For reference, we left home on a Friday and returned on a Wednesday. Since different days of the week can affect travel prices, it’s also important to note we went during Memorial Day weekend.
The Costco Travel package we purchased came out to under $2,200, including roundtrip flights for David and me, the 5-night hotel stay, and transportation to/from the hotel.
Before this trip, we had only vacationed at all-inclusive resorts so we weren’t sure how much we’d be spending additionally, especially on food and drinks. During our whole trip, I took note of everywhere we went and how much we spent at each place. Between eating out, convenience store runs for snacks and drinks, tips, the Big Bus Tour, souvenirs (a magnet and some t-shirts), and 2 Lyft rides, we spent around $850 during our 5-day trip, making our grand total about $3,000.
To read about some of the all-inclusive trips we’ve taken, click here.
Now, for some of the more fun details about the hotel! 🙂
The Lobby / Jules Kitchen
When you first walk up the entryway, you’ll find this cute sitting area that looks even cozier at night! If you order from Jules Kitchen, you can also go out here to eat.
Speaking of Jules Kitchen below is the main sitting area inside the hotel. You can order food and drinks and enjoy them either inside or out by the pool. They also have a Happy Hour from 4 pm to 6 pm.
When we first arrived at the hotel, we were absolutely tired and hungry. The most obvious thing to do was to just eat breakfast at Jules Kitchen. We both ordered the American Breakfast, but it was honestly a huge letdown. I forgot to take pictures of it, but when we went back a couple of days later for happy hour, I made sure to take pictures of our food then.
For happy hour, I ordered a chicken caesar salad and David ordered bbq wings. The salad was ok, but the chicken on it was barely edible. The texture was super rubbery and hard to eat. Some of the other menu items looked good, judging by what other peoples’ plates looked like, but we decided to stick with just the mixed drinks after that. Luckily, the bbq wings David ordered were pretty good.
The Room
We stayed in the Standard King Bed Non-Smoking room. Honestly, it was a bit smaller than we expected but it ended up working out perfectly. There was enough space to spread out both our suitcases and enough drawers and closet space to unpack a few outfits. Everything felt and looked clean and the design of the room was bright and unique.
I’m the type of person that likes to unpack all my stuff for easy access during my stay. Believe it or not, the counter space in the bathroom was big enough to fit all my hair and beauty products, plus more!
The room also had a TV and some water available for purchase.
The Breakfast
If you’re anything like me, you hate skipping breakfast (or waiting too long to eat after you wake up)! I was surprised to see that they were actually doing some type of breakfast service given a lot of places have stopped because of Covid. I really liked the way they handled it and how convenient it was to just go downstairs and grab a ready-to-go breakfast bag for 2. These were available from 7 am to 10 am and included plastic utensils, a croissant, jelly/cream cheese, a small container of fruit, and orange juice. If I had to change anything about it, I would’ve just liked more variety each day. By the fourth morning, we were pretty tired of the same thing and decided to grab some milk and breakfast foods from the convenience store next door.
Summary
If we had to do it all over, I think we’d be more than happy to stay at Circa 39 again. Not only for its location and easy access to everything, but the value of the room and a relaxing stay was worth it. Different than with a chain hotel, Circa 39 offered unique surroundings within the rooms and throughout the hotel. I still regret not being able to get a picture in one of the cabanas by the pool! 😫 But that’s okay, maybe we’ll be back some day. 🙂
[…] taking some time to relax. We stayed close to the beach at Circa 39, which you can read all about, here. Some days we went all over town and others we just stayed by the pool or binge-watched Shark Tank. […]