These are the locations in Miami to bookmark right now, from opulent hotels to wild day parties and everything in between.
For me, Miami is like the neighborhood bakery with the ventanita, where my family has been ordering café con Leche on Sunday mornings for decades, and it never changes. Yet every time I've returned home after moving away, some areas of the city have changed significantly. I never return to Miami. That is, until I visit Miami Twice, a bustling South Miami vintage apparel shop where I once purchased my prom dress. Bird Bowl, a wonderful bowling alley, and Playthings, an outrageous adult store that replaced Ultrazone, a laser-tag establishment, are located on that street. My adolescence was characterized by these places because, when I was a teenager, my friends and I pew-pew-pe-wed and gutter-balled our weekends away before we were old enough to be allowed into the city's legendary nightclubs.
Baked dessert from the restaurant of The Goodtime Hotel
As someone who was born and raised in the county of Dade, I'll concur with rapper Trick Daddy, a fellow Miami native, in saying that anyplace else is a notch or five too silent. Friends I've brought home have described Miami as loud. When you've grown up with the cacophony of passing automobiles blaring stereos so loudly that the windows of your childhood bedroom rattled, Miami's bass-bumped lullaby soothes you to sleep every night.
I've always felt very fortunate to have been born and grown up in Miami, fortunate to have left. I just discovered how much my hometown has influenced me and how I view the rest of the world after leaving. I used to blame being Cuban for my predilection for loudness in all facets of my life. I'll admit that my conception of Miami is mostly a Cuban-American fabrication. In contrast to my wake-up alarm, which is set to blast a revolving soundtrack of Otto Von Schirach, Afrobeta, and old-school Gloria Estefan, my husband, who is also Cuban, grew up in New Hampshire, and his preference for grey sweatshirts and quiet mornings (as opposed to my wake-up alarm, which is set to blast a revolving soundtrack of Otto Von Schirach, Afrobeta, and old-school Gloria Estefan)
A beverage at dusk in a pool cabana at The Goodtime Hotels
Living in Miami also gave me strong ideas on tropical fruits, beaches, ocean water temperature (just below a warm bath, preferably), and the number of accessories permissible to wear pretty much any place (answer: there is no limit). I've never encountered a stiletto too high, a teal too vivid, or a traffic situation too terrible thanks to Miami.
Palm Beach
Another trait I recognize in myself that I can directly attribute to Miami is a penchant for attachment. I give out loose embraces, possibly motivated by the humidity that welcomes me back home with a warm embrace the moment I walk off the aircraft or exit my car. Even now, I still have the sensation of the air's capacity for intimacy in my dreams. In Miami, everyone greets you with a kiss on the cheek and a word of affection, such as "mamita," "mi Amor," or "mi Cielo," which are lovely nicknames given to me even when the speaker is a total stranger. more so if they are an unfamiliar person. Who wouldn't miss living in a place where you were constantly referred to as someone's love or their heaven? Capo Crucet, Jennine
Locations for art
Miami has developed into a genuine cultural center to compete with New York and Los Angeles, spurred on by more accessible art places, cutting-edge technology, and cryptocurrency money. Dan Rubinstein, a design editor, and podcast host lists the newest must-see locations.
Wynwood Arts Area
Superblue
This enormous immersive gallery, which debuted a year ago in the Allapattah neighborhood, which is predominately Latin American, blends a fun-house ambiance with installations by top-tier artists and similarly top-tier support from New York mega gallery Pace. In New York, it would be hard to locate a space with this much square footage, but it is available here. Visitors may eat at the rainbow-hued café designed by famous British-Nigerian designer Yinka Ilori after strolling through a cloud of smoke or marvel at a James Turrell light installation, which is also a permanent work well worth a visit.
Address: Superblue Miami, 1101 NW 23rd Street, Miami, FL 33127, USA
URL: superblue.com
The Rubell Museum
The splashy Rubell Museum opens in 2019 in a disused industrial site converted by gallery architect Annabelle Selldorf across the street from Superblue. It is a shining example of what the art world refers to as the Miami Model: private museums constructed by high rollers to display their collections, in this case, more than 7,000 works by just about every figure in contemporary art, from enormous early Basquiats to a mirror room filled with Yayoi Kusama's steel balls via works by Hirst, Koons, and the rest.
Location: Rubell Museum, 1100 NW 23rd Street, Miami, Florida 33127, USA
Online at rubellmuseum.org
Wynwood's café
Oolite Arts
This cultural organization is getting ready to move into a new space near the Little River, north of the hip Wynwood neighborhood, where it now hosts exhibits, courses, public programs, and studio residencies. The institution will use the £78 million it received from the sale of its previous South Beach location to fund the opening of the space in 2024. It will help expand visitor activities through printing, painting, and photography workshops; local talent shows like its most recent one featuring photographer Roscoé B Thickè III; and a collection that only features Miami artists.
Address: 924 Lincoln Road, Miami Beach, Florida 33139, United States, Oolite Arts
URL: oolitearts.org
The most popular lodging
The hotel scene in Miami features everything from A-list hedonism to enormous artworks by Damien Hirst and lacquered nautical beauty. Dan Rubinstein discusses where the action is.
Faena Hotel Miami Beach
Few locations better exemplify the concept of the hotel-as-gallery than the Faena Hotel given how popular art has grown in Miami. With frequent cabaret performances in the red-velvet theatre, the Art Deco-inspired hotel, managed by guru-like, Panama-hat-wearing Argentine hotelier Alan Faena, feels delightfully theatrical. Additionally, there is art everywhere, including a huge skeleton sculpture by Damien Hirst on the path to the beach and ongoing exhibits in the different Faena-branded locations around the hotel. The Faena Art Project Room recently featured sultry, saturated photographs of Miami Beach by photographer Tony Kelly.
Address: 3201 Collins Avenue, Miami Beach, FL 33140, United States, Faena Hotel Miami Beach.
The hotel's balcony and pool
The Goodtime Hotel
The 266-room Goodtime Hotel seems like a South Beach party staple even though it only recently debuted in 2021. The Fontainebleau Hotel's money-making nightclub Liv and local magnate David Grutman jointly own the venue, which hosts weekend pool parties that are among the most popular events in town. Even the great and the good line up to listen to DJs like Steve Aoki spin around the water surrounded by vintage pink cabanas. The entire design, by San Francisco maximalist Ken Fulk, amplifies the feeling of flamboyant adolescent hedonism and features a workspace-library fit for Wes Anderson.
Location: The Goodtime Hotel, 601 Washington Avenue, Miami Beach, Florida 33139, USA
South Beach's Ritz-Calton Hotel
The Ritz-Carlton, a sharp South Beach icon created in 1953 by Miami Modern master Morris Lapidus, had a significant white-and-cerulean makeover right before the epidemic and today feels more vibrant than ever. The opening of a branch of St. Tropez stalwart Bagatelle, where opulent French meals are interrupted by exploding Champagne corks, sparklers, and tables dance, has contributed to the hype.
Address: 1 Lincoln Road, Miami Beach, FL 33139, United States, The Ritz-Carlton, South Beach.
Accommodations at The Goodtime Hotel
Mr. C. in Miami Coconut Grove
While Miami's more-is-more show might be overwhelming, a recent player in the scene rushes gleefully in the opposite way. The Mr. C hotel is located in the mostly residential Coconut Grove neighborhood and was created by the ever-elegant Martin Brudnizki in collaboration with the local architecture company Arquitectonica. It mixes traditional maritime elements with a certain lacquered beauty.
Address: Mr. C Miami - Coconut Grove, 2988 McFarlane Road, Miami, Florida 33133, USA
Some new restaurants
Miami, which was formerly known for its Cuban specialties and foreign culinary trends, is now establishing a vibrant and varied local food culture that has flourished with the city's art and design communities. Nila Do Simon, a local writer, lists the top fresh talent.
Restaurant El Salvador in the neighborhood of Little Havana
Itamae
Nando, Valerie, and Fernando Chang (a brother, sister, and father) are Peruvian natives who first began selling popular Nikkei cuisine at a small kiosk in a Design District food hall. The family has since developed the idea into a simple, primarily outdoor 58-seat restaurant in the same location, where they discreetly prepare wonderful meals like sea urchin with Peruvian aj Amarillo pepper and bronze fennel behind the terrazzo bar.
Location: Itamae, 140 NE 39th Street, Suite 136, Miami, FL 33137, USA
URL: itamaemiami.com
Boia De
Before founding their unique 27-seat eatery Boia De in the artistic Buena Vista neighborhood, young guns Luciana Giangrandi and Alex Meyer operated a taco cart. The pair uses air quotes when describing their cuisine as Italian. They tinker with classic Italian meals to produce inventive combinations like lamb ribs served with a classic fra Diavolo sauce with spicy yogurt and pickled cucumbers. Their improvements are subtle but unforgettable.
Address: 5205 NE 2nd Avenue, Suite 5205, Miami, FL 33137, USA
URL: boiaderestaurant.com
Korean cuisine is served at Cote Miami
El Bagel
Following a similar path, El Bagel's 30-year-old owner Matteson Koche started by driving around Wynwood distributing hand-rolled bagels. To accommodate demand in MiMo, he launched a full-fledged bageleria a few years ago after upgrading to a food truck in 2018. (the Miami Modern area northeast of the Design District). The prospect of a chewy sesame bagel topped with cream cheese and guava jam makes the never-ending line more than acceptable.
Location: 6910 Biscayne Boulevard, Miami, Florida 33138, USA
URL: elbagel.com
The Big Names
More seasoned players have taken notice of these small-scale restaurateurs' success. Today, unconventional partnerships like chef Akino West's upcoming brunch at flashy Italian Osteria Morini Miami Beach, part of the Altamarea Group, which owns New York's Marea, are popular. Other well-known imports are still opening locations in Miami, like Carbone, Red Rooster, and Cote Korean Steakhouse, but they are now doing so with a stronger focus on Miami's style, flavor, and atmosphere.
Locations to Party
After being dominated by South Beach and subsequently Mid-Beach, Miami's nightlife has branched out to new areas including Downtown and the Wynwood Art District. Paul Rubio, a city resident, names some of his all-time favorites.
Dante's HiFi's DJ Rich Medina
Dante's Hifi
The lounge-like Dante's HiFi, with its wall of vinyl, stands out amid a new breed of Wynwood hangouts and can hold no more than 50 people. Everyone enjoys sipping mezcal drinks and listening to DJ Rich Medina spin records from his 8,500 album collection in an intimate, private-party setting.
Location: Dante's HiFi, 519 NW 26th Street, Miami, Florida 33127, USA
URL: danteshifi.com
Freehand Miami
The "luxury hostel" the Freehand Miami has played a significant role in the Mid-Beach revival that started in the early 2010s, along with the adjacent Edition and Faena hotels. The Broken Shaker, a lively bar with popular drinks, a sizable patio, and a performance venue all cater to entertainment.
Address: 2727 Indian Creek Drive, Miami Beach, FL 33140, United States, Broken Shaker at Freehand Miami.
URL: brokenshaker.com
Sexy Fish
Sexy Fish
Miami is known for its hybrid restaurants and clubs that provide elegant dining and all-out brawls till the small hours. Sexy Fish in Downtown is the pinnacle of these establishments with contradictory personalities and the hottest table in the 305 since it is even more dazzlingly over-the-top than the brand's original London location. The Miami location's design is marine-themed and seafood-focused, and it has mosaics made of glass with aquatic themes and works of art by Damien Hirst and Frank Gehry that go well with dramatic drinks. Mermaid dancers appear costumed performers shake it, and the crowd joins in as the DJs turn up the noise. Overall, it seems like one huge, glamorous party under the water that strangely feels very Miami.
Address: 1001 S Miami Avenue, Miami, Florida 33130, Sexy Fish
Online resource: sexyfishmiami.com
Twist South Beach
This famous South Beach hangout is the longest-running homosexual club in the city and will celebrate 30 years in 2023. Visitation is a trip through time to the city's LGBTQ+ heyday in the 1990s. The place is constantly crowded with shirtless muscular dudes, tall drag queens, and curious admirers with no cover (and nearly no dress code).
Address: Miami Beach, Florida 33139, USA, 1057 Washington Avenue, Twist
URL: twistsobe.com
The Goodtime Hotel's lobby
Mac's Club Deuce
There's always the smokey, neon-lit Mac's Club Deuce, a true dive club with a palpable soul if all the glittery, doof-doof fabulousness of South Beach becomes too much. Mac Klein, who acquired the tavern in 1964 and lasted over 100, ran it until his recent death. From the storied happy hours at the curving, cash-only bar to the neon signs that were left over from a Miami Vice wrap party, it still has a retro vibe. macsclubdeuce.com
The address of Mac's Club Deuce is 222 14th Street in Miami Beach, Florida 33139, USA.
URL: macsclubdeuce.com