Happenin’
Places › Florida › Miami › South Beach
South Beach, photo 1 of 3

Photo: Radomianin / CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Beaches

South Beach

Miami Beach, FL · MiamiFreeFree; no fee to use the beach between 5th and 15th streets

About

Florida's busiest beach has Art Deco lifeguard towers painted candy colors, and the Atlantic comes in warm. The people-watching on Ocean Drive, a block back from the sand, is as much the point as the swim. The boardwalk starts at the inlet and runs up to the Setai. Every January, Ocean Drive shuts to cars for the three days of Art Deco Weekend. On Memorial Day weekend, military jets and parachute teams fly over the water for the Air & Sea Show, free to watch from the beach.

Highlights

Candy-colored Art Deco lifeguard towersOcean Drive cafes and neon a block off the sandBeachfront boardwalk and promenadeWide pale sand with warm Atlantic surfPrime people-watching and sunbathing

Getting there

Coming up in Miami Beach

Dated events in the same town, soonest first.

Art Basel Miami Beach Arts & CultureFeatured

Art Basel Miami Beach

Friday, Dec 4 to Sunday, Dec 6 Miami Beach Convention Center, Miami Beach
$92
Miami Jewish Film Festival Arts & Culture

Miami Jewish Film Festival

Wednesday, Jan 13 to Thursday, Jan 28 Miami Beach Bandshell (opening and closing films) and seven other Miami-Dade venues, Miami Beach
$16

Related places

Fort Lauderdale Beach Beaches

Fort Lauderdale Beach

Fort Lauderdale, FL · MiamiFree

Lifeguards staff 20 towers along about three miles of Fort Lauderdale's beach, from Fort Lauderdale Beach Park north to NE 18th Street, every day of the year. Restaurants and…

Hollywood Beach Beaches

Hollywood Beach

Hollywood, FL · MiamiFree

You can snorkel artificial reefs straight from the sand at Hollywood Beach, about halfway between Miami and Fort Lauderdale. They lie about 10 feet down off Harry Berry Park…

Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park Beaches

Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park

Key Biscayne, FL · Miami

The 1825 Cape Florida Lighthouse anchors the southern tip of Key Biscayne, and you can climb its 109 steps to a wraparound balcony that looks out over Biscayne Bay and the open…

More in Miami

Others worth the drive in this corner of Florida.

All of Miami →
Vizcaya Museum and Gardens Attractions

Vizcaya Museum and Gardens

Miami, FL · Miami$$

James Deering built this Italian Renaissance villa on Biscayne Bay in the 1910s and filled its seventy-some rooms with European antiques, then set it behind ten acres of formal…

Perez Art Museum Miami Attractions

Perez Art Museum Miami

Miami, FL · Miami$$

Herzog and de Meuron wrapped this Biscayne Bay museum in a slatted canopy where Patrick Blanc's hanging garden columns spill down the pillars and broad terraces catch the breeze…

Phillip and Patricia Frost Museum of Science Attractions

Phillip and Patricia Frost Museum of Science

Miami, FL · Miami$$

Three glass towers, a planetarium, and a 500,000-gallon aquarium sit together on Biscayne Bay, and the whole place is built to be walked up through. Stand under the cone-shaped…

Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden Gardens & wildlife

Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden

Coral Gables, FL · Miami$$

On Old Cutler Road in Miami, Fairchild's 83 acres have 2.1 miles of paved paths and a free narrated tram that starts at 11 a.m. The Montgomery Palmetum alone holds more than 500…

Wynwood Walls Attractions

Wynwood Walls

Miami, FL · Miami$

Tony Goldman turned a cluster of windowless warehouse facades into an open-air canvas in 2009, and the courtyard has been repainted by artists from dozens of countries ever…

Part of these collections

The Best Florida Beaches20 places

The Best Florida Beaches

Start here if you haven't picked a coast yet. The wild beaches and the busy ones are mixed together on purpose; the separate Gulf and Atlantic lists split them out once you know which you want.

Beach Towns on Florida's East Coast13 places

Beach Towns on Florida's East Coast

Every one of these has a town right behind the sand. Bring the friend who gets bored on a beach.