15 Best Hotels in Miami and Miami Beach, Florida

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.

A former home to World War II air force cadets, this gem has been reimagined as an oasis in South Beach, offering the antithesis of the sometimes maddening jet-set scene, with 34 distinctive rooms exuding understated luxury. All rooms implement art deco style and feature beautiful antiques hand chosen by the hotel's proprietor. Vintage touches, like iron lighting fixtures or steamer trunks, add nice accent notes. If you're looking for loud music and wild times, go elsewhere. Cadet is more about enjoying a good read on the patio and discovering elusive serenity in the heart of South Beach. Little touches, like candles in the lobby, fresh flowers all around, high-thread-count sheets, and small pouches filled with fresh lavender or seashells, depending on the season, show care and sophistication. This intimate hideaway is one block away from Lincoln Road, two blocks from the beach, and two blocks from the New World Center. Clark Gable stayed in Room 224 during his time training with the Army Air Corps in the 1940s.

The Catalina is a fun, budget party spot in the heart of South Beach, attracting plenty of early twentysomethings who value freebies like a nightly drink hour, airport shuttles, fitness classes, two fun pools, and beach chairs over posh digs. It's across the street from the beach, but nobody seems to mind the short walk. Each of the Catalina's three buildings has a distinct feel: the original Catalina (with the smallest, most inexpensive rooms) is an exercise in camp, with red-shag carpets, two-story glass windows, and monumental sheer drapes. The midrange rooms are in the old Maxine Hotel, decorated in rock baroque and featuring a karaoke machine in the lobby. Room 400 here is one of the beach's best values, with a private sundeck overlooking the strip. The most luxurious part of the Catalina is the Dorset Hotel, which now houses the hotel's biggest rooms. Its outdoor restaurant, Maxine's Bistro, overlooks the passersby on this very sexy strip of Collins Avenue, making the Catalina an entertainment complex in its own right.

Though it’s not directly on the beach—it’s across the street—this boutique hotel offers fabulous, style- and value-conscious accommodations in the heart of South Beach with plenty of art deco history to boot. Originally designed by noted architect L. Murray Dixon as sister hotels, the Gale and the Regent, debuting in 1941, the hotel was resurrected in 2012 by Menin Hospitality. Sun worshippers looking for a scene can hang out on the pool deck in their best skimpy swimsuits or chill on the rooftop with a cocktail. Hotel guests have complimentary beach club access at the Shelborne Hotel, also managed by Menin Hospitality.

Not to be confused with the budget Bentley Hotel down the street, the Hilton Bentley Miami is a contemporary, design-driven, and artsy boutique hotel in the emerging and trendy SoFi (South of Fifth) district, offering families just the right mix of South Beach flavor and wholesome fun while still providing couples a romantic base without any party madness. Occupying two 10-story buildings with a prime beachfront location, rooms and suites (collectively called "studios") range from snug to colossal, each adorned with a perfect mix of art deco redux and modern bling. They feature Italian-marble flooring, kitchenettes, and balconies facing either the ocean or Miami skyline. It happens to be one of the area's few kid-friendly boutique hotels, and, as such, for the little ones there are child-size beach chairs and umbrellas as well as a bunch of other kids' amenities on request.

At the sleek Hotel Victor, guest rooms are equipped with Yabu Pushelberg–designed interiors invoking a post-century beach cabana vibe, and a sexy infinity-edge pool overlooks Ocean Drive and the beach. The property first rose to fame thanks to Parisian designer Jacques Garcia; Yabu Pushelberg has since replaced Garcia's jellyfish motif with a newer incarnation of bold modernism. The lobby features a stunning midcentury-modern vibe and is an oasis from Miami Beach's famed Ocean Drive—just outside the door. A large patio overlooks the action from a calmer viewpoint. Rooms face either the pool or the ocean. Many are compact but highly functional and even house oversize bathrooms. Each room comes with a set of foldable beach chairs for guests to take onto the nearby sands.

Providing understated luxury in the middle of the Collins Avenue action, this small, sophisticated hotel occupies a beautifully renovated art deco building (formerly the historic Peter Miller Hotel) and is a block from the beach. Rooms by Argentinian interior designer Juan Ciavarella are simple but chic and sustainable, with natural elements such as light woods and upcycled materials. Some rooms overlook or open to a narrow courtyard pool area with a bar, while others have balconies overlooking the neighborhood. A cool bar lounge just inside the entrance makes it a joy to linger and admire the building's original architectural details.

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.

Located along the beach's lesser-known western perimeter and overlooking the bay, this hotel recently underwent a multimillion-dollar transformation; the focal points are a new beach club, a spa, and a happening pool scene. The standout feature, Baia Beach Club, is an open-air living room space where members can drift through to dine or lounge as they please. The pool scene here is always a place to be. Tropical and handmade macramé artwork set the stage for fresh and simple guest rooms, each curated with a sleek kitchen area. The West Avenue location affords picture-perfect sunsets, but it's a 10- to 15-minute trek to the beach.

The adults-only National Hotel is a glorious time capsule that honors its distinct art deco heritage (the building itself and wood pieces in the lobby date from 1939, and new chocolate- and gold-hue furnishings look period-appropriate) while trying to keep up with SoBe's glossy newcomers (rotating art installations complement the throwback glamour). Safari-chic guest rooms, draped in leopard, zebra, and giraffe prints, are found within the historic art deco tower; the poolside cabana wing has larger suites. The hotel serves as a bastion of calm in the sea of white-on-white mod decor and raucous reveling typical of most other beachfront properties lining this stretch of Collins Avenue. The most spectacular feature is Miami Beach's longest infinity-edge pool (a whopping 203 feet long), which stretches from the tower, past a series of comfy striped cabanas and poolside tables, to a tropical tiki bar and the beach.

The Royal Palm South Beach Miami, now part of Marriott's individualistic Tribute Portfolio, is a daily celebration of art deco, modernity, and design detail. Laura Rottet of Rottet Studios was charged with reinventing South Beach's original 1939 Royal Palm and Shorecrest buildings alongside the Royal Palm's younger annexes to create a seamless design masterpiece. Rooms assume a classic South Beach identity with blends of whites and pops of tropical colors. Double-door minibars open to a world of local Florida products, while colossal, wood-framed mirrors function as sliding doors for the oversize bathrooms. Beyond design brilliance, The Royal Palm is an endless indulgence of the best of South Beach, including plenty of beachside and poolside bliss, excellent eating at its in-house restaurant, Byblos, and fabulous people-watching. The hotel's location at 15th and Collins places the Royal Palm in the heart of the South Beach action.

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.

This value-conscious art deco property inhabits the historic Tiffany building on Collins Avenue as well as a second building along Ocean Drive with interiors by fashion designer Todd Oldham. The name "Tiffany" spelled out vertically in eye-popping neon on the venue’s iconic aluminum spire is evidence of the hotel’s original identity. When the L. Murray Dixon–designed Tiffany Hotel was erected in 1939, neon was still a novelty. Its use, coupled with the spire’s rocketlike shape, combined to create a futuristic look influenced by the sci-fi themes then pervasive in popular culture. Nowadays you can walk through a large porch—a remnant of when Miami Beach hotels had no air-conditioning and guests cooled off outdoors—and enter the lobby, furnished with comfortable chairs and porthole windows. Rooms have blond-wood furnishings, accented by bright window treatments, pillows, and bedding in primary colors.

The recently renovated Ritz-Carlton is a trendy beachfront bombshell, with a dynamite staff, a snazzy Club Lounge, and a long pool deck that leads right out to the beach. There are all the usual high-level draws the Ritz is known for and more. Expect attentive service, a kids' club, property experiences like a shark-tagging boat excursion with the University of Miami, and high-end food and beverage offerings. The spa has exclusive brands of scrubs and creams. New dining includes a sultry bar, Lapidus, and a bright, airy pool-view restaurant, Fuego Y Mar, serving Mexican, Cuban, Venezuelan, and Colombian fusion dishes. The wonderful DiLido Beach Club restaurant is, believe it or not, one of the very few places in Miami where you can get a beachside meal. The ocean is on one side and the pedestrian Lincoln Road begins on the other: the locale is tops. Overall, this landmarked 1953 hotel, designed by Morris Lapidus, has never been hotter.

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, six packs, 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.