North America · United States
Miami & Miami Beach
Atlantic light, Latin pulse, and a luxury scene that has finally caught up to its setting.
- Suggested stay
- from 3 · 5 ideal · up to 7 nights
- Currency
- USD
- Language
- English, Spanish, Haitian Creole, Portuguese
- Best season
- December through April, when the air turns dry and warm and humidity recedes; January and February are the social peak (Art Week's afterglow, the season's galas), while late March and April offer the same clear skies with marginally thinner crowds. May is a quiet, warm shoulder month before the June–November wet season and Atlantic hurricane window.
Miami spent decades as a place people came to for the beach and the weather, with the luxury treated as an afterthought. That is no longer true. Over the last ten years the city has assembled the infrastructure of a serious destination — a Michelin guide that now hands out sixteen stars, a Design District that has pulled the great European maisons north from Bal Harbour, and a clutch of hotels, from the restored Surf Club to the operatic Faena, that would hold their own in any global capital. The light and the water that drew everyone in the first place are still the point; what has changed is everything built around them.
The geography rewards a little planning. South Beach and its Art Deco grid is the loud, walkable heart, best for first-timers and for the Setai’s particular brand of calm within the noise. Mid-Beach, anchored by the Faena District and the EDITION, is where the design ambition concentrates, with Aman’s residences-led arrival reshaping the strip further. Surfside, just north, holds the single most polished address in the Four Seasons at The Surf Club. Across the causeways, Brickell and the Design District supply the city-side counterpoint — banking towers, galleries and the hardest restaurant reservations in Florida.
Dining is where the transformation is most visible. L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon remains the state’s only two-star table, but the more telling story is the depth beneath it: Thomas Keller’s continental theatre at the Surf Club, Cote’s live-fire Korean steakhouse, and a tier of intensely personal neighbourhood rooms — Boia De, Ariete, Stubborn Seed — that have made the city’s reputation. Several carry Green Stars, a sign the kitchens are sourcing as seriously as they cook.
Arrival is straightforward for those who travel well. Miami International handles the long-haul and Latin American traffic; Opa-Locka, one of the busiest private fields in the country, handles the rest, with full FBO service from Signature and Fontainebleau. From there it is a short transfer — by chauffeur, by helicopter, or by boat to Fisher Island — to a city that has, at last, grown into its setting.
Ideal for
Beach-and-design connoisseurs who want a city behind the sand · Serious diners tracking a fast-rising Michelin scene · Collectors and gallery-goers timing Art Week · Wellness and yacht-minded travellers seeking discreet island enclaves
Where to stay
The Houses
Four Seasons Hotel at The Surf Club
Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts · Beachfront landmark resort · Surfside
A restoration of Russell Pancoast's 1930 Surf Club, where Winston Churchill and Elizabeth Taylor once held court, paired with a discreet Richard Meier tower of just 77 rooms. The hotel occupies several acres of Atlantic frontage with cabanas, two restaurants of genuine pedigree, and a sense of low-key membership-club privacy unusual for Miami Beach.
Why The single most polished luxury address in greater Miami, marrying real history to Four Seasons service and two destination kitchens.
Dining: The Surf Club Restaurant by Thomas Keller — one Michelin star (2025)
Visit hotel →Faena Hotel Miami Beach
Faena · Maximalist oceanfront grand hotel · Mid-Beach (Faena District)
Alan Faena and Baz Luhrmann's theatrical reimagining of the 1947 Saxony, anchoring a self-contained cultural district with its own theatre, arts dome and Gehry-adjacent commissions. Floor-by-floor butler service, a gilded Damien Hirst mammoth in the garden, and a cabaret programme give it a sense of occasion no other hotel here matches.
Why Miami Beach at its most operatic, and consistently rated the city's top hotel — for travellers who want spectacle delivered with real craft.
The Setai, Miami Beach
The Setai (independent) · Asian-influenced beachfront residence-hotel · South Beach
An Art Deco tower and contemporary residence wing united by a serene, brick-and-teak Asian aesthetic that deliberately turns its back on South Beach noise. Three temperature-graduated pools step down to the sand, and suites run to vast bayfront and oceanfront layouts.
Why The quietest, most adult choice in South Beach proper — privacy and calm within walking distance of the Deco strip.
1 Hotel South Beach
SH Hotels & Resorts · Sustainable design beach resort · South Beach
A reclaimed-wood, living-wall expression of biophilic luxury spread across an oceanfront block, with four pools including a members-style rooftop. The wellness and sustainability programming is genuine rather than cosmetic, and the suites and branded residences are among the most spacious on the beach.
Why The benchmark for wellness-minded luxury on South Beach, with a design ethos that feels current rather than dated.
Mandarin Oriental, Miami at Brickell Key
Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group · Bayfront urban resort (relocating) · Brickell
Mandarin Oriental's long-standing Miami flagship on Brickell Key, prized for its private beach and Biscayne Bay panorama, with the brand's signature spa and quietly precise service. It is the city address for travellers who prefer Brickell's banking-district polish to the beach.
Why Mandarin Oriental service and an island-calm Brickell position for those who want the city rather than the sand.
The Miami Beach EDITION
EDITION Hotels (Marriott International) · Design hotel with entertainment complex · Mid-Beach
Ian Schrager's restoration of the 1955 Seville turns a Morris Lapidus shell into a restrained, light-filled hotel concealing a subterranean playground — a bowling alley, ice rink and basement nightclub. Above ground it is calm and beach-focused; below, it is one of the more theatrical nights out in the city.
Why Schrager pedigree and a hidden entertainment complex make it the most characterful design hotel in Mid-Beach.
Where to dine
The Tables
L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon Miami
2 Michelin starsModern French · Counter-and-tasting fine dining
The state's lone two-star table: Robuchon's signature counter theatre, rosewood and red lacquer, executed at the highest level in the Design District.
The Surf Club Restaurant by Thomas Keller
1 Michelin starContinental American · Grand-hotel dining room
Keller's tableside Beef Wellington and Lobster Thermidor in a glamorous restored 1930 room — old-world ceremony done with technical rigour.
Cote Miami
1 Michelin starKorean steakhouse · Live-fire steakhouse
The 'Steak Omakase' of dry-aged American and Japanese A5 beef over tableside coals, set in the Design District with one of the city's deepest wine lists.
Stubborn Seed
1 Michelin starContemporary American · Chef-driven tasting and à la carte
Miami Beach's most accomplished modern-American kitchen, much of it sourced from the team's own Redland farm — ambition matched by sustainability.
Boia De
1 Michelin starItalian-leaning contemporary · Intimate neighbourhood restaurant
A tiny Buena Vista strip-mall room turning out some of the most precise, ingredient-led cooking in the city — and one of its hardest tables.
Ariete
1 Michelin starNew American with French and Cuban accents · Neighbourhood fine dining
Beltran's Coconut Grove flagship threads Cuban memory through French technique — the most personal expression of Miami's culinary identity.
Le Sirenusé Miami
Amalfi-coast Italian · Hotel restaurant and Champagne bar
The Sersale family's Positano cooking and Champagne bar transplanted to the Atlantic — the most romantic Italian table on the beach.
Los Félix
Heritage Mexican · Masa-driven neighbourhood restaurant
A Coconut Grove room built on nixtamalised heirloom corn and regenerative sourcing — refined Mexican cooking with a serious mezcal list.
What to do
Experiences
Vizcaya Museum and Gardens, private after-hours access
By arrangement / after-hoursCultural / private access
James Deering's 1916 Italianate villa on Biscayne Bay, with formal gardens, a stone barge breakwater and European decorative arts. Private and after-hours visits can be arranged for the house and grounds away from the daytime crowds.
Why Miami's most beautiful interior, best experienced privately when the gardens empty and the bay light softens.
Pérez Art Museum Miami and the Rubell Museum, curator-led
By appointment / curator-ledCultural / private access
PAMM's Herzog & de Meuron building over the bay and the Rubell family's vast contemporary collection in Allapattah both offer private and curator-guided viewings, particularly worthwhile around December's Art Basel week.
Why Two of the strongest contemporary collections in the southern US, seen with the context only a curator provides.
Private yacht charter on Biscayne Bay
Private crewed charterMarine / private experience
Crewed motor-yacht charters depart from Miami Beach and Sea Isle marinas for Stiltsville, the Venetian Islands and the sandbars off Key Biscayne, with tenders for swimming and on-board chef service.
Why The city reads best from the water — the skyline, the islands and the sandbars are a single afternoon by private boat.
Helicopter flight over the beaches and the bay
Private charterAerial / private experience
Private rotor charters lift from Opa-Locka and downtown helipads over South Beach, Fisher Island, Stiltsville and Key Biscayne, with bespoke routing and doors-off photography options.
Why Twenty minutes aloft makes sense of the whole archipelago of beaches, causeways and private islands.
ZZ's Club, Miami Design District
Members onlyPrivate members' club
Major Food Group's invitation-only club above the Design District, designed by Ken Fulk, with a Japanese restaurant pouring Toyosu-market fish, a cigar terrace and a music-driven lounge.
Why The hardest door in Miami dining — access (typically via a member or hotel concierge) is the point.
Fisher Island day access
Members / resident guests onlyPrivate island / club
The car-free island off South Beach, reachable only by ferry or private boat, holds a private beach, P.B. Dye golf, a Grand-Slam-surface tennis programme and the Vanderbilt-era clubhouse. Access runs through club membership or a stay in its suites.
Why One of the most concentrated enclaves of wealth in the country, and among the few genuinely private beaches in Florida.
Shopping
The Maisons
Miami Design District
A purpose-built luxury and design quarter of more than 170 storefronts, public art and architecture commissions, which has drawn marquee maisons north from Bal Harbour over the past decade. The flagships here are among the brands' largest in the US, interleaved with design galleries and the ICA Miami.
Bal Harbour Shops
The open-air, palm-shaded centre long regarded as among the most productive retail spaces in the world, just north of Surfside. A major expansion has added new flagships even as some houses opened second Miami doors in the Design District; its core luxury roster remains formidable.
Brickell City Centre
A covered, climate-managed retail and dining complex in the downtown financial district, anchored by Saks Fifth Avenue and a mix of accessible-luxury and contemporary labels — the convenient option for a city-side stay.
By appointment
Private salon and VIP-suite appointments at Design District flagships (Hermès, Louis Vuitton, Cartier) via hotel concierge · Personal-shopping and after-hours appointments at Bal Harbour Shops houses
Arrival & departure
Coming & Going
Airports
Primary international gateway with the deepest long-haul and Latin American network; full customs and immigration.
Practical secondary gateway, often with better fares and a quieter terminal experience; useful for North Beach stays.
The region's principal private-aviation field and one of the busiest general-aviation airports in the US.
Private terminals
- No dedicated private commercial terminal at MIA comparable to PS at LAX; VIP meet-and-greet and expedited services are arranged airside through third-party providers
- Private-jet arrivals use FBO terminals at Opa-Locka (OPF) rather than the commercial concourses
Meet & greet · gate escort
- Airside VIP meet-and-greet and porter services at MIA via concierge providers
- FBO arrival lounges with curbside-to-cabin handling at OPF
First-class & arrivals lounges
- Centurion Lounge and airline flagship lounges at MIA (Concourses D/E)
- FBO crew-and-passenger lounges at Signature, Atlantic and Fontainebleau Aviation, OPF
Private transfers
- Chauffeured car and SUV transfers (S-Class, Escalade, Sprinter) arranged through hotels
- Helicopter transfer from OPF/downtown helipads to beach-side helistops
- Boat and ferry transfer to Fisher Island
Private aviation
- Signature Flight Support — Opa-Locka (OPF)
- Fontainebleau Aviation — Opa-Locka (OPF), large-cabin and BBJ/ACJ hangarage
- Atlantic Aviation — Opa-Locka (OPF)
- Additional FBO capacity at Miami Executive (TMB) to the southwest
Immigration fast-track
Expedited immigration at MIA via Global Entry and Mobile Passport Control; private airside escort and expedited screening available through VIP concierge providers.
Curator’s notes — pending verification
- Aman Miami Beach (3425 Collins Avenue, Faena District) is a residences-led development pairing the restored 1940 Versailles Hotel with a new Kengo Kuma tower; it is reported to include roughly 56 Aman-branded hotel rooms and is slated to open in 2026 — not yet bookable as of June 2026, so it is omitted from the hotel list. Verify opening date and hotel-room availability before recommending.
- Mandarin Oriental, Miami at Brickell Key: one source states the original Brickell Key hotel closed 31 May 2025 and was demolished in April 2026 ahead of a new mixed-use redevelopment. The listing reflects the brand's continuing Miami presence/relocation, but a guest-bookable property may not currently exist on the island. Confirm current operating status and address before recommending.
- Itamae AO won its first Michelin star in 2025 but is reported to have closed in July 2025; deliberately excluded from dining.
- Bal Harbour Shops: reporting notes that Louis Vuitton, Hermès and Cartier shifted flagships to the Design District; the specific maison roster listed for Bal Harbour should be re-verified against the current store directory, as luxury tenancy in Miami is fluid.
- Le Sirenusé Miami is described as the Positano house's restaurant outpost at the Four Seasons Surf Club; spelling and exact concept name (and whether it carries a Champagne-bar designation) should be confirmed against the current Four Seasons site.
- Restaurant reservation-difficulty ratings are editorial estimates based on demand and capacity, not published figures.
- Airport drive times are approximate and traffic-dependent.
- MIA has no dedicated standalone private/VIP commercial terminal equivalent to PS at LAX; the meet-and-greet and fast-track services listed are third-party/airline offerings — verify provider and current availability.
- Michelin star counts reflect the April 2025 Florida ceremony; a 2026 Florida selection may supersede these — re-verify per restaurant before publication.