Collins Avenue runs the length of Miami Beach, and it is the line that divides the money. On the eastern side the hotels back directly onto the sand, with a pool deck, a boardwalk gate and the ocean thirty seconds away. On the western side, sometimes directly opposite, are hotels charging two thirds as much where getting to the beach means crossing four lanes of traffic with towels.
Both sides advertise themselves as beachfront. Only one side is.
Why crossing the road changes the holiday
It sounds trivial and it is not, for the same reason the Rio front row matters: frequency. Guests on the ocean side go down to the sand three or four times a day, in short bursts, between other things. Guests across the road commit to an outing, take everything they need, and go once.
There is a second, less obvious factor. The ocean-side hotels control a private stretch of sand with loungers, umbrella service and towels. The public beach is fine, but the difference between walking out to a set-up lounger and dragging your own is what people are actually paying for.
Miami Beach also runs a long way north. South Beach, from roughly 5th to 23rd, is the art deco district and the busiest. Mid-Beach, from 23rd to 63rd, is quieter and has the big historic resorts. Surfside and Bal Harbour further north are residential and calm.
The fourteen below are all on the ocean side of Collins, grouped by stretch.
South Beach, the deco district
Loudest, most walkable, closest to the restaurants of Ocean Drive and the Lincoln Road area.
Faena Miami Beach is the most complete hotel in Miami Beach: a red-and-white deco block with a gilded mammoth skeleton in the courtyard, a serious spa and the best beach service on the island. It is expensive and it is worth it.
Faena Miami Beach
Mid-Beach south end · 5★ · $$$$
Best beach service and the most interesting building
Check availabilityThe Setai occupies a run of restored deco buildings with a colonnade of palms leading to the ocean, and it is the quietest of the South Beach group by design. The rooms are the largest down here.
The Setai
South Beach · 5★ · $$$$
Palm colonnade to the ocean, largest rooms down here
Check availability1 Hotel South Beach sits on the sand with a farm-to-table, reclaimed-wood interior and one of the better rooftop pools in the city. It is the most family-tolerant of the high-end South Beach hotels.
1 Hotel South Beach
South Beach · 5★ · $$$$
Rooftop pool and the most family-tolerant of the group
Check availabilityPrivate Home Hotel W South Beach By LMC is the party option, with a large pool scene, a beach club and rooms above it. Ask for a high floor away from the pool unless the pool is why you booked.
Private Home Hotel W South Beach By LMC
South Beach · 5★ · $$$$
The pool scene, with rooms above it
Check availabilityThe Miami Beach EDITION occupies a deco building with a bowling alley and an ice rink in the basement and a very good beach club, and it is the most self-contained hotel on the island.
The Miami Beach EDITION
Mid-Beach · 5★ · $$$$
Bowling alley and ice rink under the beach club
Check availabilityNobu Hotel Miami Beach sits on the sand at the northern end of South Beach with a quiet pool and a Japanese restaurant that is a genuine destination.
Nobu Hotel Miami Beach
Mid-Beach · 5★ · $$$$
Quiet pool with a destination restaurant attached
Check availabilityThe Ritz-Carlton, South Beach is the boutique deco option, small and low-key, with a good beach setup and rooms that are more residential than the rest.
The Ritz-Carlton, South Beach
South Beach · 5★ · $$$
Restored deco with a residential tone
Check availabilityThe Betsy Hotel, South Beach sits on Ocean Drive with a poet's-house extension and a rooftop pool, and it is the most literary and least loud property on the strip.
The Betsy Hotel, South Beach
Ocean Drive · 4★ · $$$
Rooftop pool and the least loud address on the strip
Check availabilityKimpton Surfcomber Hotel is the best value on the ocean side in South Beach, a mid-century property with a lively pool and rooms that are simple and clean.
Kimpton Surfcomber Hotel
South Beach · 4★ · $$
Best value on the ocean side of Collins
Check availabilityMid-Beach, the historic resorts
Quieter, larger properties, twenty minutes' drive from South Beach and considerably more space.
Fontainebleau Miami Beach is the enormous curved 1954 resort that defined Miami glamour, with a pool complex, twelve restaurants and a scale that is either impressive or exhausting. Ask for the Chateau or Versailles towers for the ocean.
Fontainebleau Miami Beach
Mid-Beach · 5★ · $$$
The 1954 curve, twelve restaurants and a pool complex
Check availabilityEden Roc Miami Beach sits beside it in the other great mid-century building, smaller and calmer, with a spa and a beach club that is easier to use.
Eden Roc Miami Beach
Mid-Beach · 5★ · $$$
The calmer of the two great mid-century buildings
Check availabilityLoews Miami Beach Hotel occupies a restored mid-century property with a small pool, a good restaurant and the most understated tone in Mid-Beach.
Loews Miami Beach Hotel
South Beach · 5★ · $$$
Large ocean-side resort with the biggest pool deck
Check availabilitySurfside and Bal Harbour
The northern end. Residential, quiet, and where the best rooms on the island are.
Four Seasons Hotel at The Surf Club is built around a 1930s beach club with a restored cabana courtyard and the best rooms in greater Miami, plus a beach that is genuinely quiet. It is a twenty-minute drive from South Beach, which is the trade.
Four Seasons Hotel at The Surf Club
Surfside · 5★ · $$$$
1930s beach club cabanas and the best rooms in Miami
Check availabilityCarillon Miami Wellness Resort sits in Surfside with a wellness programme built into the property, a large spa and the calmest beach stretch on this list.
Carillon Miami Wellness Resort
North Beach · 5★ · $$$
Calmest beach stretch with a serious spa
Check availabilityWhat we have left off
The mainland hotels in Brickell and the Design District are excluded. They have the better restaurants, the better art and lower rates, and they are across a causeway from the sand.
What to do besides the sand
Walk the deco district in the morning with the Miami Design Preservation League tour, which is the best two hours available and explains the entire island.
Cross to the mainland. Wynwood for the murals and the galleries, the Design District for the architecture, Little Havana for the food and the cigars, and the Perez Art Museum on the bay.
Eat Cuban. A cortadito and a media noche at a counter is the correct Miami breakfast, and the Cuban restaurants on the mainland are better than anything on the beach.
Get on the water. The Biscayne Bay boat tours are worth it once, and the Everglades are ninety minutes west.
Practical notes
Miami International is around 30 minutes from the beach, Fort Lauderdale about 45. Parking on the beach is difficult and expensive; skip the rental car unless you are exploring the mainland, and use ride shares.
December to April is high season with perfect weather and the highest rates. May and November are the best value. June to October is hot, humid and inside hurricane season. Art Basel in early December fills the island at multiples of normal prices.
Resort fees are near universal here and often 40 dollars a night or more; check the total, not the nightly rate.
Explore 4 & 5 Star Miami Beach Hotels
Questions people actually ask
Is the ocean side really worth the difference?
Yes. It is the difference between using the beach constantly and using it once a day, and it includes the lounger service you are otherwise dragging around.
South Beach or Mid-Beach?
South Beach for walkability, restaurants and nightlife. Mid-Beach for space, quiet and the classic resorts. They are twenty minutes apart.
Is Miami Beach worth it in summer?
It is hot, humid and cheap. If you will spend the day between the pool and the sea it works. If you plan to walk, it does not.
How many nights?
Four. Three on the beach and one day on the mainland, which is the part most visitors skip and the part that makes Miami interesting.