Miami's Best Beaches

Lummus Park Beach

Want glitz and glamour? On South Beach's Ocean Drive from 6th to 14th streets, this beach is crowded with beautiful people working hard on their tans, muscle tone, and social lives. It's also the place for golden sands, blue water, and gentle waves. However, as this place is all about seeing and being seen, the less perfect among us may feel intimidated or bored.

Matheson Hammock Park Beach

Kids will thrill to the tender waves and warm water of the beach at 4000 Crandon Boulevard in Key Biscayne. The golden sands of this 3-mi beach are only part of the attraction: the park includes children's rides and a playground, picnic areas—even a golf course. The man-made lagoon is perfect for inexperienced swimmers, and it's the best place in Miami for a picnic. But the water can be a bit murky, and with the emphasis on families, it's not the best place for singles.

Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park

All the way at the end of Key Biscayne, at 1200 S. Crandon Boulevard, is a wide peachy-brown beach with usually gentle waves. The picnic area is popular with local families on the weekends, but the beach itself never feels crowded. The park also includes miles of nature trails; bike, boat, beach chair, and umbrella rentals; and casual dining at the Lighthouse Café. You can fish off the piers by the marina, too. Come here for an escape from city madness.

Hollywood Beach

Halfway between Miami and Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood Beach is a perfect retreat. Sun yourself on the pristine golden-white sands, join a volleyball game, take a tai chi or yoga lesson, then walk along the 2-mi boardwalk and visit its small shops, cafés, and restaurants. Head north on the boardwalk and you'll find North Beach Park's sea turtle hatchery, part of the Endangered Sea Turtle Protection Program (kids love it); it's open Thursday through Monday. Meander south and you end up at the Ocean Walk Mall.

Haulover Beach

Want to bare it all? Just north of Bal Harbour, at 10800 Collins Avenue in Sunny Isles, sits the only legal clothing-optional beach in the area. Haulover has more claims to fame than its casual attitude toward swimwear—it's also the best beach in the area for body-boarding and surfing as it gets what passes for impressive swells in these parts. Plus the sand here is fine-grain white, unusual for the Atlantic coast.