Things to do in Miami Beach: top attractions in South, Mid and North Beach

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Those who do not know their geography well, tend to identify Miami with Miami Beach, also due to the rather common idea linked to luxurious city beach life that is sold to us by the media and popular culture. In reality, although very close, the two cities are quite distinct.

Moreover, this is not the only mistake that is made: when we talk about Miami Beach, we often refer exclusively to its most famous and touristic area, South Beach. This too is not accurate, because Miami Beach is actually composed of three different municipalities: in addition to South Beach, there are also Mid Beach (better known as Central Beach or Middle Beach) and North Beach. These two areas are not as interesting as South Beach, but they still deserve to be mentioned and discovered for what they have to offer.

While we have spoken extensively about the neighborhoods of Miami with various insights, this article is designed to give a complete overview of what to see in Miami Beach, this long strip of island that goes from South Pointe Park Pier to Bal Harbour, stretching for about 10 miles just in front of Biscayne Bay and the city of Miami itself.

Contents

South Beach
Things to do in Mid Beach (Central Beach)
Things to do in North Beach

South Beach

Let’s start with South Beach, the part of the island that most obviously shines its own light, and the main reason why it’s worth visiting Miami Beach. There is much to say about it, starting with the history of this place, which began as a fruit plantation and in a short time became one of the world’s landmarks for luxury tourism, thanks to its vocation for hotels and the irresistible charm of its beaches.

Things to do in South Beach

There are so many attractions to visit and things to do that we thought it best to dedicate a specific article to the topic: things to do in South Beach. However, for a short summary, we can point to the following points:

The beach: as you read in the article dedicated to all the beaches in Miami, South Beach is home to the most representative of the city, Lummus Park Beach. White sand, calm, warm and crystal-clear sea, the iconic colorful lifeguard huts, girls in bikinis and tanned guys showing their muscles on the beach, palm trees waving framed by Ocean Drive … in short, Lummus Park Beach is a must for those who come to South Beach;
Ocean Drive: the parade of palm trees and colorful Art Deco hotels that characterizes this short stretch of road overlooking the waterfront is a sight not easily forgotten. Whether it’s day or night, there’s always a reason to take a stroll down Ocean Drive. If it’s not to spend a few hours in bars, it’s to watch the quirky people walking on the sidewalk or the guys behind the wheel of luxury cars speeding down the street;
Art Deco Historic District: the Art Deco hotels are not just on Ocean Drive, but are scattered around the surrounding streets as well, especially Collins Avenue and Washington Avenue. This is why South Beach is referred to as the Art Deco Historic District, an entire neighborhood recognizable by its unique architectural style. The historic buildings – built in the late 1930s in the European style that was so much in vogue at the Exposition Internationale des Artes Décoratifs in Paris – in most cases have been restored and now appear to our eyes in all their tropical splendor. There are so many that we have created a guide with a map so that you don’t miss the best ones: you can find it in our article on Art Deco in Miami.
Lincoln Road: South Beach is also one of Miami’s (and Miami Beach’s) shopping hotspots. The number of stores is endless, but those who want to plunder the best shelves should go to Lincoln Road, where the flow of people passing from store to restaurant to another store is never-ending!

These 4 are the main reasons why it is worth visiting South Beach. Of course, they are not the only ones: if you leave the main tourist circuits you will also find the dramatic monuments to the memory of the victims of the Holocaust (Holocaust Memorial and Memorial Wall), museums, and art galleries (Bass Museum, The Wolfsonian-Florida International University, etc..) and a pleasant Hispanic-Mediterranean oasis (Espanola Way): in short, South Beach is a place to be discovered!

Our tips for visiting South Beach

How to get there

A visit to South Beach is facilitated by its location: in fact, thanks to the MacArthur Causeway – the bridge that crosses the canals of Biscayne Bay – this is the easiest area of Miami Beach to reach from Miami, more precisely from the north end of Miami Downtown. If you don’t have a car, as you can read here, you can always use public transport, but in my opinion, it is not the most convenient way to get around.

Places to stay

For specific advice on accommodation in this area of Miami Beach, read our in-depth article on the best places to stay in South Beach.

Things to do in Mid Beach (Central Beach)

Collins Avenue, in South Beach, preserves some beautiful historic hotels. The avenue is not limited to this part of Miami Beach but cuts the entire island in half. At 23rd Street, shortly after Collins Park (which, with its Bass Museum, marks the end of South Beach), you enter Mid Beach, the central part of the island and the narrowest.

At the height of 26th Street, the road branches off: while the outer part (Indian Creek Road, the one that runs along the canal) is more intended for the flow of cars, the inner part of Collins Avenue is more suitable for walking around to see the hotels and luxury apartments that characterize the area.

Although to a lesser extent than in the southern part of the island, the main reasons for interest in Mid Beach are once again the luxury hotels, although here the architecture changes. Miami’s social life in the years of the Second World War took place here and the splendor of the villas and residences that are hidden among the tall buildings testifies to this.

Just along the inner stretch of Collins Avenue, between 26th and 44th Street, before the street narrows again, are the most interesting attractions, namely the futuristic buildings of the Faena District.

In addition to this, there is another historic district with very specific characteristics: the Morris Lapidus District that, as we will see, takes its name from an important architect active in Miami, the interpreter of MiMo (Miami Modern), an architectural style from the fifties that reworked certain stylistic elements of Art Deco.

Faena District

In my opinion, although a bit sterile, this is the most charming area of Mid Beach. The Faena District covers a rather small area of Collins Avenue, from 32nd to 36th Street, but is able to strike anyone with its ultra-contemporary tasteful concept, conceived by hotel industry giant Alan Faena, an Argentine entrepreneur of Jewish descent.

Developed by the OMA architectural firm starting in 2011 and completed in 2016, the Faena District is one of the most innovative neighborhoods in all of Miami, and it doesn’t take long to see why. Strolling down the main street, you will see buildings in MiMo style that have been extensively redesigned in a contemporary way.

The buildings are intended for a wide variety of uses: luxurious condominiums, a giant resort, an innovative and multi-purpose cultural center, stores, a parking lot, and a commercial center, all in an urban context where the color white stands out from the rest.

Faena Forum: the huge building, by Rem Koolhaas, is divided into two sections. The one more visible from the street is cylindrical in shape and was designed for art exhibitions; behind it is another cubic section, intended for conferences and hotel accommodation. Both external walls of the building are covered with numerous windows of various shapes, which make the appearance of the forum really extravagant.
Faena Hotel Miami Beach: right in front of the forum is the magnificent Faena Hotel, which stands out on Collins Avenue with its towering white façade and aquamarine terraces. As if to confirm the luxury of its exterior, the hotel has luxurious rooms, a theater, and a secret that many people don’t know about. If you go to the sea-side of the hotel, on the Miami Beach Boardwalk, to your amazement you will notice the golden skeleton of a mammoth, visible behind a glass case, in the hotel garden. This installation, dated 2014, and the work of artist Damien Hirst bears the name Gone but not Forgotten. As is well known, the artist is no stranger to provocations in the field of art, and this one doesn’t seem any less so: if I haven’t misunderstood, those are really the bones of a mammoth!
Faena House: right next to the hotel is Faena House, a building with a completely different style of architecture and of “more modest” dimensions: according to the project, this condominium should act as an annexe to the hotel, to favor those guests who prefer the domestic comfort of a house to the luxurious atmosphere of the resort. In reality, of course, the Faena House condominiums are also prestigious, but we’ll let its exterior suffice: architect Norman Foster has created a futuristic 19-story aerodynamic building with a curved terrace as its pivotal element. A must-see!
Faena Bazaar: this building is one of the most recent and takes the place of the Atlantic Hotel, from which it takes on some Art Deco characteristics, renouncing the hyper-contemporary splendor of the buildings that surround it. Inside there are luxury stores and boutiques, galleries and exhibition spaces for artists. On the top floor is an event space. A kitschy note: the red lips in the shape of a kiss that invade the white facade.
Faena Park: in Miami Beach, even the parking lots are works of design! A bit like 1111 Lincoln Road, Faena Park also features sophisticated architecture. The boxy structure and ubiquitous texture with non-functional elements such as MiMo-style ascending cheese holes make it a building that is anything but merely functional!
Casa Faena: hidden among all these futuristic concept buildings, Casa Faena – not to be confused with Faena House – is the exception that proves the rule. The building is owned by Faena, but the style is completely different: you’ll feel a bit out of context when you see its elegant and dignified red and white façade, with decorative elements in Mediterranean Revival style and a retro look close to Art Deco. The sign of the original Claridge Hotel testifies to the fact that the architectural work here was conservative: perhaps Faena’s firm wanted to show visitors to the district what this area of Mid Beach used to look like.

Morris Lapidus/Mid-20th Century District

This area of Mid Beach (or Central Beach) extends between 44th and 53rd Street, but in fact the most famous attractions are both located in a space of just 0.2 miles, between 4441 and 4525 Collins Avenue. I’m talking once again about two hotels: the Fontainebleau and the Eden Roc, two masterpieces by Morris Lapidus, the most important of the architects who conceived and interpreted the MiMo style in the Fifties and Sixties.

Fontainebleau: before becoming a paradise for VIPs and wealthy luxury vacationers, this area was home only to the villas of wealthy Americans who came here to spend the winter. Thanks to the monumental project by Morris Lapidus, in 1954 Fontainebleau took the place of the residence of the entrepreneur Harvey Firestone, raising the bar of luxury even higher and, in a short time, becoming a point of reference for all the hotels in Miami Beach. It was in fact defined by the journalist Howard Kleinberg as “the most favored, most adored, most panned, most reviled hotel in Miami Beach“: the guest list, full of VIPs and celebrities of the time, proves it. This majestic, gigantic, semi-circular building has its back to the street and is, in essence, the culmination of MiMo style: it took up some Art Deco stylistic elements in a more ambitious and excessive fashion while enlarging the dimensions of the buildings and leaving out the eclecticism of the external decorations.
Eden Roc: the main competitor of the Fontainebleau is located practically next door to it. This hotel was also designed and built by Lapidus and became a reference point for the protagonists of the cinema and musical scenes of the fifties, especially the Rat Pack: in the luxurious interior rooms of the hotel, in the tropical garden, and by the pool, in fact, Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin ruled. The aquamarine facade of the Eden Roc is less grandiose than the Fontainebleau but more pleasant, starting with the retro-style sign.

41st Street

A relatively interesting area of Mid Beach is 41st Street, the street that runs inland from Collins Avenue and connects the waterfront with the residential part of the island across the canal. Here you’ll find stores, restaurants serving Jewish cuisine, and several austere Mediterranean Revival-style buildings. Continuing west, you reach Miami via the Julie Tuttle Causeway, coming out at the Design District, just north of Wynwood.

Beaches

Being a continuation of it, the long strip of beach in Mid Beach is not so different from the ones at Lummus Park in its naturalistic characteristics, but you must take into account that there are hotels and condominiums behind the boardwalk shaded by tropical vegetation.