South Beach Miami Florida

South Beach Guide

South Beach (or simply SoBe) is Miami’s most exciting, lively and trendy locale with an almost 24-hour lifestyle centred around the world-famous and often photographed Ocean Drive. Stretching from South Pointe Park to around 23rd Street, this glamorous district of Miami Beach is also full of art galleries, Art Deco architecture, excellent restaurants and diners, glorious beaches and top nightclubs.

Guide to Miami South Beach

The place to start your stay in South Beach is, of course, its beautiful, wide beach. Here you will find all the usual facilities to make your day a comfortable one – food and drink stalls, beach chairs and umbrellas, toilets and shower facilities, walking trails, volleyball, water sports, and lifeguards and beach patrols.

Facing the beach is Ocean Drive, SoBe's most famous and archetypal street. Running alongside the length of the beach, Ocean Drive houses a collection of funky boutiques as well as Casa Casuarina, a private hotel that was formerly Gianni Versace’s ocean-front home. The Drive also has a large collection of nightclubs, including the famous Pearl and Nikki Beach night spots, and many major restaurants. The Art Deco District is just off Ocean Drive and is, as the name suggests, an area resplendent with Art Deco architecture.

South Beach is also home to a variety of art, culture, sport and leisure facilities. Miami Beach Cultural Campus, also known as the museum district, has the Miami City ballet building, the Bass Museum, Miami Beach Regional Library and Collins Park, and the Wolfsonian-FIU Museum, which focuses on American and Miami history, is considered one of Miami's must-see museums. The Jewish Holocaust Memorial, which was set up by Miami citizens who were Holocaust survivors and has 11 areas, is also well worth a visit.

Miami Beach Botanical Garden comprises a collection of subtropical palms and plants and includes a Japanese Garden, orchid collection and many other exotic plants. Flamingo Park has facilities including tennis, basketball and racketball courts, while Lummus Park has a large grass area with volleyball courts and an outdoor gym space. South Pointe Park is a good place to sit and watch the cruise ships pass by, whilst Miami Beach Golf Club offers some of the best golf courses to go with the fine Floridian weather.

SoBe Shopping
South Beach is full of beautiful people and beautiful people like to shop, so everything from fashion chain stores to unique boutiques and from art galleries to jewellery shops – as well as quirkier boutiques – is here. Collins Avenue and Washington Avenue are home to Miami Beach’s designer district, with big fashion names such as Armani, Nicole Miller and Versace nestled close to smaller, unique and independent boutiques.

Lincoln Road stretches for seven blocks and is closed to traffic, making the pedestrian mall a place to be seen with a range of outdoor cafés and shopping opportunities. Independent boutiques mix with the more well-known stores and offer some eclectic choices – for instance, the Dog Bar will sell you a bling spiked dog collar or a kitty condo, or get your hands on some bargain vintage fashions at the Fly Boutique. The Sunday market is worth a visit and is packed with stalls selling food, antiques, jewellery and just about everything else.

The tiny Espanola Way pedestrian mall houses galleries, shops and al fresco cafés in Spanish-style architecture, and on Sundays the street turns into a market selling everything from flowers to handmade dresses. Marcel Gallery is located here – the owner, Pierre Marcel, paints scenes from the Florida Everglades and sells reasonably-priced prints and reproductions.
Miami Shopping Guide »

In the Evening
South Beach has a fantastic club scene and is the place to head for in Miami if clubbing the night away alongside the rich, famous and beautiful is your thing. As well as the more famous beach-front nightclubs, SoBe also has its fair share of all-night clubs and drag bars just off Ocean Drive. Dining is also an essential experience in Miami, and South Beach has the best reputation in southern Florida for well-known international restaurants – see the Nightlife section for more information on Miami’s clubbing and dining scene.
 
For a change from the nightclubs South Beach has a wide range of extremely good and more casual bars, as well as more upscale bars and cocktail lounges where you can drink and relax alongside the beautiful people. The Prive Lounge is a stylish celebrity haunt which has four bars serving more than 100 varieties of spirits. For something a little more out of the ordinary, the Tantra restaurant and bar serves food and drinks that are all prepared with aphrodisiac elements. The ultra-glamorous Skybar is filled with beautiful people and the Rose Bar, situated inside the Delano Hotel, is a classy spot to drink and people-watch.
Miami Nightlife Guide »