Hotel tips: Our favorite 12 hotels in Miami Beach

Hotels in Miami Beach © The Setai, Miami Beach

Miami Beach is a uniquely American, uniquely Florida situation: an island composed solely of beaches and recreation awaits just off the coast from mainland Miami connected by a series of bridges. The beautiful island city is separated into three equally beautiful beach areas, North Beach, Mid Beach, and South Beach. Beyond the sun and sand is a cool culture of art galleries, happening nightlife, an architectural style unique to this chunk of the world, and a whole suite of world-class hotels.

Where to stay at a hotel on Miami Beach?

South Beach: Undeniable beachy class

© The Plymouth Miami Beach South Beach is the most popular holiday destination on Miami Beach. The hotels here are oft situated right on one of the famous streets in the US, Ocean Drive, setting you up for a holiday that’s sure to come up all Miami and all fun. South Beach also plays host to some of the area’s most famous restaurants, serving up the very best of Southern, European, and Floribbean cuisine with a penchant, of course, for fish fresh from the Atlantic. These establishments are often populated with celebrities and billionaires. The beaches themselves are total dreamscapes, dusted with perfectly white sand, blessed with some seriously beautiful sunsets, lined with beach bars, and shone on all year long with bright sun. A hotel on South Beach promises to be one of the classier establishments you’ll ever step foot in — boasting modern design concepts with clean lines and black & white color schemes, fine dining restaurants with a view onto the beach or the spacious pool, and über comfortable rooms with private balconies or jacuzzi tubs. While in South Beach, make sure to take advantage of the lively nightlife scene in all the many cocktail bars and clubs filled with celebrities, as well as the cultural offerings like at The Bass contemporary art museum.

Mid Beach: Family-friendly fun

Mid Beach, while still cutting no corners when it comes to luxury and class and fun, is a great place to spend a holiday with the whole family — here you can end a lazy day on the beach with a wander around Port Everglades to catch a boat tour with reef bottom fishing or a tour of the Everglades by bus. After the kids have gone to sleep, Mid Beach is replete with trendy bars typical of the Miami area. Some of the hotels on this particularly pretty stretch of land come equipped with lavish spa centers, ensuring you’ll leave Miami Beach feeling totally rejuvenated and taken care of. The hotels also host seriously beautiful lounges and dining halls and bars fit for the rich and famous, with whom you may be sharing a hallway. Elsewhere on Mid Beach is the Miami Beach Boardwalk, worth a wander to soak up the iconic oceanside energy. PortMiami is the largest passenger port in the world, welcoming more than 5.5 million cruise passengers each year. This is a great place to sit for an afternoon and watch the massive boats come in, imagining their route and their histories.

North Beach: Laidback coastal energy

North Beach is the perfect place to be for those after all the glitz and glam of Miami Beach but with a quieter place to return home to. This residential neighborhood is blessed with a particularly wide and beautiful strip of white sand leading into the perfect waters of the Atlantic. Radiating a sort of “local’s only” vibe, North Beach is also home to great shopping opportunities — spend a day wandering the series of upscale malls that speckle the area. The hotels are remarkably well-equipped here, decked out in mid-century design and host to yoga studios, super modern workout rooms, spa areas, massive pools hemmed in by palm trees, and more. The North Beach Oceanside Park is a great place to take the little ones and take advantage of the wide-open space for grilling and chilling. This sprawling park is also a wonderful location for solo travelers to traverse winding paths and hang out with a book in the shade of a tree. A short walk from your beachside hotel, the North Beach Bandshell open-air amphitheater is renowned for its program of performances by international and local musicians. If it’s some good old-fashioned recreation you’re after, the Normandy Shores Golf Club offers a world-class golfing experience.

Good to know

Getting there: The Miami Airport (MIA) is located just nine miles from Miami Beach, making it quite easy to get to your hotel. There are even nonstop flights from the UK to MIA. From the airport, you can catch a cab or take a shuttle bus. Miami is one of the few cities in the US that does offer some public transportation, making it possible to stay in the city without renting a car.