City Layout
Miami seems confusing at first, but quickly becomes easy to navigate. The small cluster of buildings that make up the downtown area is at the geographical heart of the city. In relation to downtown, the airport is northwest, the beaches are east, Coconut Grove is south, Coral Gables is west, and the rest of the city is north.
Finding an Address -- Miami is divided into dozens of areas with official and unofficial boundaries. Street numbering in the city of Miami is fairly straightforward, but you must first be familiar with the numbering system. The mainland is divided into four sections (NE, NW, SE, and SW) by the intersection of Flagler Street and Miami Avenue. Flagler Street divides Miami from north to south, and Miami Avenue divides the city from east to west. It’s helpful to remember that avenues generally run north-south, while streets go east-west. Street numbers (1st St., 2nd St., and so forth) start from here and increase as you go farther out from this intersection, as do numbers of avenues, places, courts, terraces, and lanes. Streets in Hialeah are the exceptions to this pattern; they are listed separately in map indexes.
Getting around the barrier islands that make up Miami Beach is easier than moving around the mainland. Street numbering starts with 1st Street, near Miami Beach’s southern tip, and goes up to 192nd Street, in the northern part of Sunny Isles. As in the city of Miami, some streets in Miami Beach have numbers as well as names. When those are listed in this book, both name and number are given.
The numbered streets in Miami Beach are not the geographical equivalents of those on the mainland, but they are close. For example, the 79th Street Causeway runs into 71st Street on Miami Beach.
The Neighborhoods in Brief
South Beach-The Art Deco District Long known as a Caribbean-chic cafe society with a sexually charged, tragically hip nightlife, people-watching on South Beach (1st St.–23rd St., roughly 10 miles of beach) remains an amusing pastime, but the crowds have changed. Gone are the supermodels and A-list stars. In their place are a motley crew of characters, from eccentric locals, seniors, snowbirds, college students and curiosity seekers. On the plus side, individuality is still as widely accepted on South Beach as Visa, MasterCard and Apple Pay. But the crowds these days are into gigantic, sugary-sweet cocktails in oversized glasses and, whereas it used to be a Milan-caliber fashion show on Ocean Drive, well, today it’s more like OnlyFans.
Of course the reason why South Beach exists at all are its stunning buildings, the largest concentration of Art Deco architecture in the world (in 1979, much of South Beach was listed in the National Register of Historic Places). The pastel-hued structures are stalwart supermodels in their own right, dealing with the effects of age, gravity, disinterested TikTok addicts, and climate change.
Miami Beach -- In the fabulous '50s, Miami Beach was America's true Riviera. The stomping ground of choice for the Rat Pack and notorious mobsters such as Al Capone, its huge self-contained resort hotels were vacations unto themselves, providing a full day's worth of meals, activities, and entertainment. Then in the 1960s and 1970s, people who fell in love with Miami began to buy apartments rather than rent hotel rooms. Tourism declined, and many area hotels fell into disrepair.
However, since the late 1980s and South Beach's renaissance, Miami Beach has experienced a tide of revitalization. Huge beach hotels, such as the recently renovated and Vegas-esque Fontainebleau and Eden Roc, are finding their niche with new international tourist markets and are attracting large convention crowds. New generations of Americans are quickly rediscovering the qualities that originally made Miami Beach so popular, and they are finding out that the sand and surf now come with a thriving international city -- a technologically savvy city complete with free Wi-Fi with 95% coverage outside, which means on the sand, and 70% indoors up to the second floor of any building.
Before Miami Beach turns into Surfside, there's North Beach, where there are uncrowded beaches, some restaurants, and examples of Miami Modernism architecture. For information on North Beach and its slow renaissance, go to www.gonorthbeach.com.
Surfside, Bal Harbour, and Sunny Isles make up the north part of the beach (island). Hotels, motels, restaurants, and beaches line Collins Avenue and, with some outstanding exceptions, the farther north one goes, the cheaper lodging become before you hit haute Bal Harbour—with a few luxe exceptions. Excellent prices, location, and facilities make Surfside and Sunny Isles attractive places to stay, although, they are still a little rough around the edges.
In exclusive and ritzy Bal Harbour, few hotels besides the swanky The Ritz-Carlton and The St. Regis remain amid the many beachfront condominium towers. Instead, fancy homes, tucked away on the bay, hide behind gated communities, and the Rodeo Drive of Miami (known as the Bal Harbour Shops) attracts shoppers who don’t flinch at four-, five-, and six-figure price tags.
Note that North Miami Beach, a residential area near the Dade-Broward County line (north of 163rd St.; part of North Dade County), is a misnomer. It is actually northwest of Miami Beach, on the mainland, and has no beaches, though it does have some of Miami’s better restaurants and shops. Located within North Miami Beach is the posh residential community of Aventura, best known for its high-priced condos, the JW Marriott Turnberry Resort & Spa, and the Aventura Mall.
Key Biscayne -- Miami's forested and secluded Key Biscayne is technically a barrier island and is not part of the Florida Keys. This island is nothing like its southern neighbors. Located south of Miami Beach, off the shores of Coconut Grove, Key Biscayne is protected from the troubles of the mainland by the long Rickenbacker Causeway and its $3 toll.
Largely an exclusive residential community with million-dollar homes and sweeping water views, Key Biscayne also offers visitors great public beaches, a top (read: pricey) resort hotel, world-class tennis facilities, and a few decent restaurants. Hobie Beach, adjacent to the causeway, is the city's premier spot for windsurfing, sailboarding, and jet-skiing. On the island's southern tip, Bill Baggs State Park has great beaches, bike paths, and dense forests for picnicking and partying.
Downtown -- Miami’s downtown boasts one of the world’s most beautiful cityscapes and, over the last decade, it has finally emerged as an actual ‘downtown’ of a major city with daylife—and nightlife. During the day, a vibrant community of students, businesspeople, and merchants make their way through the bustling streets. At night—especially in the areas of Brickell Ave. and NE 11th St., where there are bustling nightlife scenes—the city comes alive. The downtown area still has the somewhat schlocky, touristy outdoor mall, Bayside Marketplace, where many cruise passengers come to browse, but there’s much better shopping in the Brickell business district. As for the culture—wow, has Miami evolved with the emergence of the sprawling bayfront Perez Art Museum and Frost Science Museum. It also has a few great restaurants, as well as the arena (whose name is constantly changing) that’s home to concerts and the Miami Heat. Add to all that an assortment of hip boutiques, eateries, and bars, and downtown Miami has been brought back to a life it never really had. The Downtown Miami Partnership offers guided historic walking tours daily at 10:30am (tel. 305/379-7070).
Design District --With restaurants and luxury shopping springing up between galleries and furniture stores galore, this once sleepy, seedy district, like downtown Miami, has finally come into its own. Still a hotbed for furniture-import companies, interior designers, and architects, it has also become a player in Miami’s ever-changing fashion and dining landscapes. Hipsters beware however: the shopping here is more 5th Avenue, glossy magazine luxe—the kind of place Jennifer Lopez comes with her security to shut down Gucci, or where a Kardashian picks up a new pair of red-soles at Louboutin. But if you’re not shopping, browsing is free, and it’s always fabulous. There are often very arty events and concerts at night here, many free. An up-to-date website, www.miamidesigndistrict.com, includes a calendar of events, such as the internationally lauded Art Basel, which attracts the who’s who of the art world. The district is loosely defined as the area bounded by NE 2nd Avenue, NE 5th Avenue East and West, and NW 36th Street to the south.
Midtown/Wynwood -- What used to be called El Barrio is now one of Miami’s trendiest, coolest areas or, as the kids say, the ‘hood with the most rizz. But again, not for long. As the area is still burgeoning, what’s going up are pricey condos, pushing out the arty folk once again. It’s a vicious cycle of urbanization Miami can’t seem to avoid. But hurry while that, uh, rizz is still rising.
Just north of downtown and roughly divided by I-395 to the south, I-195 to the north, I-95 to the west, and Biscayne Boulevard to the east, Wynwood actually includes the Miami Design District, but has developed an identity of its own thanks to an exploding, albeit still very rough and gritty, arts scene made popular by cheap rents and major exposure during Art Basel Miami Beach. It has a painfully hip collection of bars and restaurants alongside Midtown Miami, a mall-like town-center complex of apartment buildings surrounded by shops—namely Target—and restaurants.
Biscayne Corridor -- From downtown, near Bayside, to the 70s (affectionately known as the Upper East Side), where funky curio shops and upscale restaurants close as fast as they open, Biscayne Boulevard is aspiring to reclaim itself as a safe thoroughfare where tourists can wine, dine, and shop. Once known for sketchy, dilapidated 1950s- and 1960s-era hotels, this boulevard is getting a boost from residents fleeing the high prices of the beaches. They’re renovating Biscayne block by block, trying to make this famous boulevard worthy of a Sunday drive. It’s still a work in progress, one which many locals are pleased about because it has yet to be fully commercialized.
Little Havana -- If you've never been to Cuba, just visit this small section of Miami and you'll come pretty close. The sounds, tastes, and rhythms are very reminiscent of Cuba's capital city, and some say you don't have to speak a word of English to live an independent life here -- even street signs are in Spanish and English.
Cuban coffee shops, tailor and furniture stores, and inexpensive restaurants line Calle Ocho (pronounced Ka-yey O-choh), SW Eighth Street, the region's main thoroughfare. In Little Havana, salsa and merengue beats ring loudly from old record stores while old men in guayaberas (loose-fitting cotton short-sleeved shirts) smoke cigars over their daily game of dominoes. The area was always noted for the groups of artists and nocturnal types who had moved their galleries and performance spaces here, sparking culturally charged neo-bohemian nightlife that is thriving today.
Coral Gables -- "The City Beautiful," created by George Merrick in the early 1920s, is one of Miami's first planned developments. Houses here were built in a Mediterranean style along lush, tree-lined streets that open onto beautifully carved plazas, many with centerpiece fountains. The best architectural examples of the era have Spanish-style tiled roofs and are built from Miami oolite, native limestone commonly called "coral rock." The Gables's European-flaired shopping and commerce center is home to many thriving corporations. Coral Gables also has landmark hotels, great golfing, upscale shopping to rival Bal Harbour, and some of the city's best restaurants, headed by renowned chefs.
Coconut Grove -- An arty, hippie hangout in the psychedelic '60s, Coconut Grove once had residents who dressed in swirling tie-dyed garb. Nowadays, they prefer the uniform color schemes of the Gap. Chain stores, theme restaurants, a megaplex, and bars galore make Coconut Grove a commercial success, but this gentrification has pushed most alternative types out. Ritzier types have also surfaced here, thanks, in part, to the Ritz-Carlton Coconut Grove, Mr. C Miami, and seriously pricey dining spots. The intersection of Grand Avenue, Main Highway, and McFarlane Road pierces the area’s heart. Right in the center of it all is CocoWalk, once sad and empty and now re-filled with boutiques, eateries, and bars. Sidewalks here are often crowded, especially at night, when University of Miami students come out to play.
Southern Miami-Dade County -- To locals, South Miami is both a specific area, southwest of Coral Gables, and a general region that encompasses all of southern Dade County, including Kendall, Perrine, Cutler Ridge, and Homestead. For the purposes of clarity, this guide has grouped all these southern suburbs under the rubric "Southern Miami-Dade County." The area is heavily residential and packed with strip malls amid a few remaining plots of farmland. Tourists don't usually stay in these parts, unless they are on their way to the Everglades or the Keys. However, Southern Miami-Dade County contains many of the city's top attractions, meaning that you're likely to spend at least some of your time in Miami here.
Note: This information was accurate when it was published, but can change without notice. Please be sure to confirm all rates and details directly with the companies in question before planning your trip.
