7 Best Hotels in South Beach, Miami and Miami Beach

This snazzy eco-minded hotel delivers a picturesque, nature-inspired aesthetic throughout the common spaces and room interiors (think heavy use of repurposed wood, living walls, preserved moss, and glassware from recycled wine bottles) and offers a choice of four swimming pools (including the best rooftop one in Florida), a luxurious beach club featuring Wave, a sea-to-table restaurant, and an excellent swath of beach. The 1’s famed 110-foot rooftop pool is laced with palm trees and loungers and remains adults-only day and night, when it transforms into one of the city’s coolest bars. The lobby, with its triple floor-to-ceiling moss art and driftwood lighting fixtures, is one of Miami’s most Instagrammed locales.

At this enclave of old and new South Beach, a contemporary, 85-room tower with a rooftop pool neighbors several 1930s-era villas and modern low-rise units, together capturing the feel of a sophisticated private villa community. The secluded, landscaped setting makes it easy to forget that the hotel is on busy Washington Avenue, two blocks from the beach. New tower rooms are done in neutral tones with accents in shades of blue. Each has its own balcony. The resort fee here includes towels and foldable umbrellas to take to the beach, but the sixth-floor sun deck and rooftop pool beckon if you don't feel like walking five minutes to the beach. Consider kicking off your evenings downstairs at the stylish Minnow Bar, where clear spirits are blank canvases for cocktail creativity.

This opulent, all-suites hotel feels like an Asian museum: serene and beautiful, with heavy granite furniture lifted by orange accents, warm candlelight, and the soft bubble of seemingly endless ponds complemented by three oceanfront infinity pools (heated to different temperatures) that further spill onto the beach's velvety sands. Suites are a minimum of 550 square feet and are divided between the hotel's art deco building and its residential tower. The colossal Ocean Suites range from one-bedroom to a 10,000-square-foot, four-bedroom suite, all with special amenities like a private VIP entrance, a dedicated concierge, round-trip private airport transfers, complimentary spa treatment, and access to the house cars. Even if you can't afford a stay at one of Miami's priciest hotels, take time to visit this most beautifully designed space. Its restaurants and bar— Jaya, Ocean Grill, Japón, and The Bar & Courtyard—are open to nonguests, as is the fabulous Valmont for The Spa at The Setai. The oceanfront gardens are lush and painstakingly manicured, and rooms are as expansive as the premises and furnished in an Asian style that is at once minimalist and cozy. The beach lounges and beachside service are pure bliss.

Fun, fresh, and funky, the W South Beach flaunts some of the nicest rooms in South Beach—even the entry category evokes a wow factor—each with its own kitchen and balcony with ocean views. The textured walls, whimsical accessories, and clean symmetries play out like a spread from Architectural Digest. Overall, the property represents the brand's evolution toward young sophistication, which means less club music in the lobby, more lighting, and more attention to the multimillion-dollar art collection lining the lobby's expansive walls (look for high-end contemporary art from famous names like Andy Warhol, Julian Schnabel, and Kenny Scharf). That said, the pool scene is everything and anything one could want from South Beach and the W brand—tight bodies, cabanas, and a gorgeous crowd sipping mojitos. The beach is just steps behind with a private area for W South Beach guests. Although the hotel does not boast an art deco facade, its interiors are far more eclectic and superior to neighboring hotels.

This two-tower megahotel has 790 rooms with a soothing, sea-inspired motif, top-tier amenities, a massive spa, a great pool, and direct beachfront access, making it a great choice for families, businesspeople, groups, and pet lovers. When it was built in 1998, Loews managed not only to snag 99 feet of beach but also to take over the vacant St. Moritz next door and restore it to its original 1939 art deco beauty. The entire complex combines boutique charm with updated opulence. How big is it? The Loews has 85,000 square feet of meeting space and an enormous ocean-view grand ballroom. A three-story spa has 15 treatment rooms and a state-of-the-art fitness center. In the grand lobby you'll find a dozen black-suited staffers behind the counter and a half dozen other bellboys and valets. Rooms are great: contemporary and very comfortable, with flat-screen TVs and high-end amenities. But the best part is the pool area, just steps from the beach and equipped with cooling misters.

This supersleek, all-white, all-suites hotel in the middle of the action looks and feels like an edgy art gallery, filled with brilliant contemporary works, the perfect complement to the posh, gargantuan, 500-square-foot crash pads. With all the mind-bending hipness, you might expect South Beach pretentiousness, but there's none here. In fact, the service is excellent. All suites have some kind of kitchen component, with at least a microwave and mini-refrigerator, sometimes a full refrigerator and stove. What else? How about huge flat-screen TVs and whirlpool baths? As you might expect of such an arty place, hallways are lined with noted artists' quotes, and public restrooms feature avant-garde video installations. The 500-square-foot terrace overlooking the ocean is great for spa parties.

Housed in a restored 1939 art deco building, SLS South Beach exudes beachfront sophistication over a commingling of Latin and Asian inspiration in its common areas, plus dining outposts The Bazaar South Beach, Katsuya South Beach, and Hyde Beach Miami—an 8,000-square-foot masterpiece of pool, beach, and cabanas attracting glitterati daily. Rooms exude a design that's remarkably Philippe Starck. Think predominantly white-on-white panache, with sexy chandeliers and even sexier (or kinkier) ceiling mirrors, and sketchbook-style wall drapings. Starck also designed the two pools, which feature a 10-foot-tall, silver rubber ducky as their focal point. Cabanas are available for rental, or you can lounge on a daybed with a cocktail.