South Beach has long been a weekend hotspot with its sparking sands and electric nightlife. It’s also a great destination for a long weekend away with your gal pals.  Spend sun-kissed afternoons lounging on the powdery sands, sipping Caipirinhas and watching the waves dance on the turquoise waters. Stroll the night away dipping into the vintage inspired cocktail lounges of Ocean Drive’s Rat-Pack era neon-lit hotels.

At closer glance,  South Beach is also a fantastical art-filled haven and architectural marvel.  At every turn, you’ll find fanciful murals, larger than life pop art and some of the nation’s most iconic Art Deco architecture.

Here is our insider’s guide to discovering some of the South Beach’s hidden gems.

Stroll back in time

The architecture in South Beach is simply spectacular, with many of the buildings dating back to the 1940s and 50s.  If you’re an architecture buff or just longing for anecdotes of days gone by, join The Miami Design Preservation League on one of their daily 90 minute strolls of the city it discover a treasure trove of Art Deco and MiMo (Miami Modern) buildings sprinkled around the Historic District. At the end of the tour, wander through the League’s campy shop to pick up some vintage bling of your very own.

Lincoln Road’s Antique Fair

Every Sunday morning from October to May, Lincoln Road becomes an fantastical open air market, featuring everything from bakelite jewelry and kitschy cocktail glasses to large Birdseye maple deco armoires and oversized velvet paintings.  It’s a fun stroll down memory lane and a great place to buy a one-of-a-kind keepsake of your vintage adventure.

Look for hidden Easter Eggs (literally!)

Art is sprinkled all over South Beach and you can find it in the most unlikely of places. In stairwells, hotel lobbies, dangling from rooftops and even down unassuming back alleys.  What’s better is that the collections change frequently and new artists of all ages, genders and ethnicities are continually featured. One our favorite permanent structures is the Betsy Orb, a giant egg concealing the passageway between the ultra-literary Betsy Hotel and newly re-opened Carlton Hotel.

 

Hotel Hop

South Beach is one of our favorite places to hotel hop. The hotels of South Beach easily transport you to martini-fueled, dimly-lit lounge nights of the 50s listening to the soulful, jazzy tunes of the Rat Pack.  Today, with the fierce competition from Airbnb, hotels are competing to honor their iconic history while offering uniquely modern twists. Three of our favorites are:

• The Sagamore, now dubbed the Art Hotel, with its whimsical and eclectic collections sprinkled around the property (even featuring an impressive street art collection in their stairwell)
• The Royal Palm, step down into its sunken lobby with oak colored walls and large round nautical windows looking out to grass green foliage. The space is full of green glass accents and a green hued bar.  It feels as though you are 10,000 leagues under the sea or that perhaps you may have mistakenly stepped onto a Wes Anderson film set.
• …and lastly, The Raleigh, although it’s currently closed.  After significant damage from Hurricane Irma, it closed in late 2017 for extensive renovations.  At the time of writing this post (May 2019), the opening is still unknown.  This is my personal favorite for a so many reasons.  It is located next to the bigger, much more popular Delano Hotel, but over time, it remained true to its authentic roots as a timeless classic.  The lobby featured b/w photos of the Rat Pack and spilled out to a secret terrace, canopied with mature palms and heavily calloused sea grape trees, all strung with rattan lanterns.  It was magical. It’s where Esther Williams filmed a number of movies from the diving platform of the iconic Art Deco swimming pool.  For years, we would brunch on on the terrace during the South Beach Food & Wine Festival and without fail, we always saw the late Anthony Bourdain playing in the pool with his young daughter. We are highly anticipating the reopening and can’t wait to see the reveal!

 

The Sagamore Hotel

The Iconic Lifeguard stands

South Beach is recognizable for its snow white sands and and crystal clear blue waters, but also for its famed lifeguard stands.  Architect William Lane built the whimsical colorful structures to honor the beach’s retro Art Deco style.  Each stand pops with a wildly vibrant color pallette and features its own unique design style.  Take a stroll down the beach and discover them for yourself.

 

Hasta luego for now, heading out for a sunset stroll on South Beach!