January 26, 2006 at 06:48am by Gus
In the land of hotel strips, the Miami Beach hotel strip rules over that other hotel strip in Las Vegas. I’m not saying our hotels are better. Vegas hotels can offer services that Miami Beach hotels can not. They are bigger. We are limited by the lack of square feet. But here is why our hotel strip rules—most Miami Beach hotels are oceanfront. Vegas hotels usually border a parking garage. I would much rather open my hotel window and feel an ocean breeze. In Vegas, when you open your hotel window, you just want to close it and go downstairs to gamble.
Okay, enough Vegas bashing. The purpose of this article is for you to better understand hotels here in Miami Beach. Our hotel strip is 4 miles (6.50 km) long and is divided into three sections:
Hotels on Ocean Drive
Almost all of the hotels on Ocean Drive are located on the west side of the street. On the east side of Ocean Drive is Lummus Park, along with a 48-block (paved and wooden) boardwalk. Although these hotels are not oceanfront, they do have an unobstructed view of the park and sand dunes that lead up to the beach.
The Ocean Drive hotel section starts at 5th Street with the Wave and continues north 9-blocks up to the Betsy Ross.
It takes about 15 minutes to walk from one end to the other. If you do, some noteworthy hotels you pass include: Avalon, Clevelander, Colony, and Gloria Estefan’s Cardozo.
Hotels on Collins Avenue
Collins Avenue is the main area of the hotel strip. Here you will find small boutique hotels located in restored art deco buildings and large oceanfront resorts. This section starts at 8th Street with Shelly and continues north up Collins Avenue 54-blocks to the Alexander.
With light traffic, it will take about 15 minutes to drive from one end to the other. I say light traffic beacuse during a busy weekend, it can take you an hour.
Some of the classic Art Deco boutique hotels include: Nash, Whitelaw, and Sherbrooke, which is the birthplace of MiamiBeach411. I lived at the Sherbrooke when I started this site.
Miami Beach Oceanfront Hotels
When you think of oceanfront hotels in Miami Beach names like Delano and Fontainebleau come to mind. These are both landmark resorts. The pool at Fontainebleau is where they filmed the movie “Scarface”. And visiting Rose Bar, or the pool at the Delano is a must for everyone.
You can find 21 more oceanfront hotels in MiamiBeach411. Michelle asked me to mention Surfcomber, National, and Royal Palm for their customer service, and her favorite hotel South Seas.
Although oceanfront hotels are more expensive, they are usually resort-quality and offer a full package of amenities that the smaller hotels don’t have. NOTE: Resort hotels will often add a $10 per day resort fee.
This covers the Miami Beach hotel strip. Hope it answers some questions for you. Feel free to comment or write a review.
 | Gus Moore heads up Miami Beach 411 as site administrator, where he has been helping people understand how Miami works for over a decade. See more articles by Gus > |
DO you think I can find any of those Miami hotels on Last Minute travel? I love using their site- cause its so simple:) I guess if not I can always just search them online.
