South Beach Miami

Best Hotel Pools in South Beach

The best pools in South Beach can all be found in one place.  The Setai, in Miami Beach, has three pools, and each one is fabulously different from the rest.  There’s a pool with very cool water – 75 F to be exact!  If you want to work out and do laps, this unique pool will suit you perfectly.  If you happen to visit South Beach, Miami in summertime, well this is also the pool for you because the chilling water will fell amazing.

There’s also a pool that’s ultra warm…for those of us who just want to show off our bikinis and loll about in the water.  It’s 95 degrees, which will not cool you off, but you can stay in for hours and net get a chill.  The third pool is somewhere between the other two, for those of us who want just a regular ol’ pool temperature.

The Setai is a historical landmark that’s been converted into a posh, modern hotel.  The designer is Michel Gathy.  Rooms start at over $1000 a night.

Tags: setai south beach, south beach art deco, South Beach Hotels, South Beach oceanfront hotels

South Beach Miami South of Fifth

South Beach Miami is one of the trendiest places in the country, but even South Beach has its ultra trendy spots of the moment. Right now, South of Fifth, or the area of South Beach Miami that lies south of Fifth Street, the very southern tip of the island, is hot hot hot. There are some good reasons for this, not the least of which is the fact that there is more Art Deco per square inch here than anywhere else. That means developers and renovators alive love the area for its potential, and as you walk down the street you can see evidence of this. One by one, buildings in this part of South Beach Miami are sprouting new coats of paint, renovated lobbies, and some are becoming condos as well. There’s even new construction, which can be seen from anywhere in South Beach Miami, the high-rises going up near South Pointe Park overlooking Government Cut.

There are also new nightclubs and the Sanford L. Ziff Jewish Museum of Florida: Home of MOSAIC. This attraction is housed in a building that used to be a synagogue which was built in 1936. It’s listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The art deco chandeliers are wonderful to see, as are the stained glass windows. The exhibition is permanent and you can learn all about the history of the Florida Jewish community in here, which goes back more than 235 ears. There are also changing exhibits and a museum store is you want to take something home with you aside from memories and a sense of history.

Tags: South Beach Miami, Things to do in South Beach

South Beach Miami Islands

If you drove to South Beach Miami from Miami International Airport, you probably got to South Beach via the MacArthur Causeway. This is the stretch of road that takes drivers over the water from Miami to the strip of land known as Miami Beach. Jutting off the MacArthur Caseway are several small islands, which may have caught your eye because of the unbelievably fabulous luxury homes lining the shores.

You may not have seen the extravagant homes, however, because they may have been obscured by the even more fabulous yachts pulled up to the docks alongside the mansions. Yes, these islands off the MacArthur Causeway are homes to the rich and famous. You can actually take a left turn off the MacArthur Causeway and drive onto the islands for a look around if you want. There are three of them: Palm Island, Hibiscus Island and Star Island. Al Capone lived here in the 1920s and this is where Gloria Estefan lives now.

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South Beach Miami Galleries

South Beach art has never suffered from lack of attention and enthusiasm, but in 2001 it was granted a giant bolt of energy when an annual fair decided to call Miami Beach its home. Art Basel, its’ called, and it’s an internationally-known prestigious art fair that draws crowds from all over the world. A whole series of events and exhibits revolve around Art Basel each year, and it’s a major boon to the South Beach art scene.

As Latin American culture takes hold of the United States and making an impression on South Beach art,artists from Latin American countries are getting more and more attention. This is also good news for the arts community of South Beach Miami, since many of the galleries here feature Latin American artists. In fact, South Beach art is dominated by Latin American artists. Gallery Walk on Lincoln Road, which is South Beach Miami’s pedestrian mall, occurs the second Saturday of each month. Galleries along the Mall open up their doors, serve wine and cheese, and invite passersby in to examine the art on display. In the same vain,Second Thursdays opens up museums and galleries free to the public. Second Thursdays opens up the galleries and museums not only in South Beach, but also all of Miami Beach so you can make a whole day of the event if you like. If you work during the day, it’s a good chance to visit galleries or museums that usually aren’t open at night, because on Second Thursdays they’ll be open for you. Some places will have meet the artist events or other special events like wine and cheese receptions or special performances. It’s one of the most popular South Beach art events.

ArtCenter-South Florida

ArtCenter-South Florida is in the Lincoln Road Mall, in three locations. You get to see artists at work if you visit their Bakehouse Art Complex. ArtCenter-South Florida is really an entire campus, covering over 60,000 square feet. There are artists’ studios (over fifty of them), exhibition galleries, and classrooms for art education programs. The gallery at 800 Lincoln Road is the flagship space, partly responsible for the revival of South Beach arts. Here, they have month-long exhibits by local as well as outside artists. You can also see works in progress here, since studios are open to the public. It’s open every day of the week. The other two locations on Lincoln Road are at 924 Lincoln Rd and 810 Lincoln Rd. All three spaces are open every day, although for limited hours only so check their schedule before making plans to visit.

Bettcher Gallery

A pioneer in the South Beach arts scene, Bettcher Gallery is full of contemporary art by artists around the world, including Cuban artists. They are artists from any media, at every level of their career, from emerging to mid-career to established. The Gallery was created in 1995 and opened a second branch in 2000, in Miami proper. The Gallery started out on Lincoln Road, where so many galleries flourish, then moved to Collins Avenue where it’s located inside a Spa/Resort.

Tags: South Beach Art, South Beach art galleries, South Beach Miami Galleries, Things to do in South Beach

South Beach Miami Cardozo

This is another Art Deco attraction in South Beach Miami, but it stands out from the rest, which is to say it’s truly spectacular. It’s a 1939 Hohauser design, an immaculately restored hotel owned by Gloria Estefan. It was one of the first of the old Art Deco beauties to be renovated, and Ms. Estefan should be proud. She spared no expense nor overlooked any detail with this project, because it’s museum-quality both inside and out. This explains why it’s one of the most-photograhed hotel on the beach these days. Who can resist a picture, with the eyebrows over the windows, the wrought-iron furniture and hardwood floors? The good news is that it’s a hotel, and you can stay here. It’s located at 1300 Ocean Drive, which is at 13th Street, on the ocean.

Tags: South Beach architecture, south beach art deco, South beach Miami cardozo

Royal Palm Resort

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Britto Central

Romero Britto is a world reknowned artist from Brazil who gained fame working on the Absolut Vodka advertising campaign. Since then he’s worked on internationally-known brands like Apple Computers and Disney. His style is colorful pop art, and you can see his work all around South Beach Miami, not just at the Britto Central Gallery. Look for his work on billboards, walls, sculpture, and on gifts in gift shops. Britto Central is located at 818 Lincoln Road.

Tags: Britto Central, Romero Britto, South Beach Galleries

South Beach Miami South Pointe Park

At the end of South Beach Miami is South Pointe Park, one of the best places in South Beach to hang out outdoors. There’s Sunshine Pier here, and a jetty made of boulders that you can walk out on, if you trust your ankles. The end of the beach here at the mile-long jetty is sometimes quieter, and makes for a more peaceful South Beach experience. If you curl around the sidewalk that parallels the beach, at the point where the beach ends, you can walk north along Government Cut.

The high-rise condos here at South Pointe Park must have the most interesting views in all of South Beach Miami, because they overlook Government Cut. This is where all the ships come in to the Port of Miami, the main thoroughfare for a very very busy port! At any given moment you might see a city-block-sized cruise ship heading out to sea, accompanied by the coast guard out of the channel, or giant freighters from all over the world carrying who knows what in large containers. For anyone interested in ships, this is mecca, since they pass by all day long. There are even rest rooms here, and two observation towers, as volleyball nets. There’s a fountain area near the base of the condos, and the famous steak house Smith and Wollensky is right here facing Government Cut as well.

Tags: South Beach Miami, Things to do in South Beach

Mondrian Miami

The Mondrian Miami is the Newest Designer Hotel in South Beach

The Droog Design Collective has given us the brilliance of designer Marcel Wanders’s newest project: Mondrian Miami.   He’s famous for Lute Suites, near Amsterdam as well has his interiors at the restaurant Thor in New York or the Hotel on Rivington in that same city.  This is a much much bigger hotel than Lute Suites, which has only seven rooms.  Mondrian Miami has 304 rooms, and has more of a focus on the skyline and poolside area than Hotel on Rivington’s urban NYC concept.

South Beach hotels tend to have a more whimsical design factor, and Mondrian Miami incorporates the baroque with the fantastic, almost Alice in Wonderland style of crazy colors, Victorian shapes, and oversize scale set against a fantastic backdrop.  Picture stylized antiques, enlarged furniture and a night forest backdrop and you’ve got the hottest new cocktail spot in South Beach.

The idea behind Mondrian Miami is to transport guests to a fantasmigorical place where guests enter the flip side of reality to expand their horizons.  Sort of like wearing a costume, you can step outside of yourself and step into a fairy tale for a short time.

Mondrian Miami is located at 1100 West Avenue, close to South Beach beaches and nightlife.

Tags: Miami Hotels, Miami luxury hotels, South Beach designer hotels, South Beach Hotels, South Beach luxury hotels

South Beach Miami Wolfsonian Florida

Wolfsonian-Florida International University is a research center and depository of propaganda arts items collected over the years by Mitchell Wolfson Jr. He’s a world travelers extraordinaire, having collected over 70,000 items, including modern design pieces. They’re all here in this former 1927-built storage facility that’s been renovated with world-class style.

Visitors can view the collection, which has a permanent display as well as traveling exhibits. Things you can view include:

• art nouveau items
• art moderne items
• art deco items
• Arts & Crafts items
• 8,000 matchbooks collected by King Farouk of Egypt
• displays depicting 19th and 20th century industrialization

The Building

Mitchell Wolfson, Jr. was the heir to a fortune made in the movie theater business in Miami. He spent his money collecting furniture, Propaganda art, and all sorts of objects from the late 1800s up to around the 1950s. He collected so much stuff he made a museum out of it and gave it to Florida International University in the late 1990s. The building itself is an architectural point of interest. It was built in 1927 in the Mediterranean Revival style, and in 1992 it was renovated and also made larger. It’s now seven stories tall and covers 56,000 square feet. The renovation was completed by architects Billy Kearns and Mark Hampton. Inside the museum, you’ll find not only Mitchell’s fabulous collections, but also a library, an auditorium, and gift shop that also sells lots of books, and administrative offices. At another location in South Beach Miami, there’s a lab for conserving art as well as a historic warehouse, 28,000 square feet in all.

Architectural details of the Wolfsonian building include restored terra-cotta facade decoration at the main entrance. It’s originally from the Norris Theater of Morristown, PA. It was mande in 1929 by Conkling Armstrong and taken from the old theater in 1983, when the theater was demolished. Also at the building are hand-painted ceilings, as well as and original stained-glass windows in the conference room.

Tags: South Beach museums, Things to do in South Beach