South Beach/Miami Beach questions
 

Hi

Apologies; I seem to be doing a lousy job searching the forums, because no doubt this gets asked all the time. If someone wants to point me to an existing thread, it will be much appreciated.

Couple pushing 50, 14-year-old boy, and mother-in-law with a day and night after a cruise out of Miami. Never been to Miami Beach. Any tips are very welcome, but mostly:

• In which area do we want to stay? What do we want to look out for in picking a hotel? First thought is that we could just barely swing the Mondrian, and then I saw that it's on the west ... uh, coast? Sorry, total newbie here. I'd thought the cool thing would be staying on the beach, and walking along it like we were in the hotel zone in Cancun or something. Was I on the right track, or would we be about as happy staying at the Mondrian or even north of South Beach? We won't be in and out of the room all day, fwiw. But I do love the idea of stepping out onto the beach, and of seeing it from the room.
• What should we consider doing? We are walk-around people. My uninformed plan would be to walk around Lincoln Road/Ocean Drive/Espaniola Way, popping into whatever looks interesting. What don't I know about?

Again, sorry I didn't find a thread on this, I'm sure it gets asked all the time.

Thanks for any suggestions
troy

Take a look at the Kimpton Surfcomber on Collins... on Beach, walkway and a great pool, a perfect location for the area...

Thanks very much, gary, but looks like no availability for our date.

Try Loew's South Beach or Royal Palm South Beach... both in the same area..

Thanks again, gary, I appreciate it. Any suggestions for areas/things to see/do?

With only 1day and night, there's plenty to see right outside the hotel... the Beach, walkway, Lincoln, and Ocean Drive, with dozens of restaurants, galleries, shops, and people... the hotel pools, and look up South Beach events.... there's always some kind of festival at the beach park.

There are some great resort hotels north of south beach... like the Fontainebleau, the Eden Roc, the Faena. Those will
probably run similar to the Mondrian - which is a very cool place, btw, on the bay and at night you will see the downtown miami skyline feom
the pool.
There is also the Grand Beach Hotel which may be cheaper but also very nice.
if you don’t have a car it’s very easy to cab or Uber.

In just a day you can walk around south beach - there are also a few museums and the botanical gardens - if that interests you.

Ocean Drive is fun to check out. There are a number of food halls near Lincoln road that are fairly new.

Wynwood is always a popular place to check out - (it’s a 15 minute car ride)
Lots or great food and art in the area.