Best Miami Hotels on the Beach

If you’re planning a vacation getaway, you might consider spending it at one of the many fine Miami Beach hotels located directly on the beach. These beachfront hotels on Collins Avenue tend to be somewhat larger and include more amenities than the smaller hotels that line Ocean Drive in South Beach. To assist in your planning, we’ve selected a number of fine oceanfront hotels in Miami Beach to help you make your decision.

Fontainebleau Miami Beach

4441 Collins Avenue

Over the last fifty years the Fontainebleau Miami Beach has once again become Miami’s most iconic travel destination. Thanks to the legendary Morris Lapidus and former owner Ben Novack, the flowing hotel design asserts its rich history of glamour.

Prior to the sidewalk cafes and torrid nightlife scene erupting in South Beach, the Fontainebleau was a haven for entertainers such as Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack, Bob Hope and Elvis Presley, and was the shooting location for many films, including “Goldfinger,” “The Bodyguard” and “Scarface.”

Situated on 20 lush, tropical oceanfront acres the Fontainebleau has 1,504 new guestrooms and suites outfitted with iMacs offering views of the Atlantic Ocean or the Intercoastal Waterway.

The resort has been completely redone and includes more gorgeous pools, spas and exercise facilities than you could visit in a week including the Lapis spa which is over 40,000-square-feet of mineral-rich water therapies and co-ed swimming pools, not to mention a dramatic oceanfront pool-scape. Its 11 restaurants and lounge selections include Hakkasan, Scarpetta and Gotham Steak –all world class dining locations.

The Fontainebleau is perfect for a night the town – without ever leaving your hotel. In addition to the now world famous LIV nightclub, the Fontainebleau has just opened ArKadia, a new poolside lounge/nightclub in the former Blade space.

Frankie Sinatra, Sammy Davis, Jr. and Dean Martin are long gone, but the glamour they once represented still lives on at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach Hotel

Loews Miami Beach Hotel

1601 Collins Avenue

When the Loews Miami Beach Hotel was built in the mid-1990s, it was the largest hotel to be constructed in South Beach in 30 years.

The main part of the hotel is located in an 18-story tower, but 100 additional rooms are located in the former St. Moritz Hotel, an Art Deco landmark originally constructed in 1939.

The Loews Miami Beach is probably the most family-friendly of all hotels in South Beach, in that they offer a supervised kids program and Generation G (for grandparents and grandkids traveling together).

The hotel offers much in the way of amenities sophisticated travelers would expect to find, including two-level presidential suites which are situated at the very top with beautiful views. They feature glass-sided spiral staircases, Art Deco décor, mini bars and complimentary bathrobes.

Guests can also reserve a private cabana with a personal butler to service their needs, or make a personal request with the “Home Sweet Loews” service which provides esoteric items such as in-room putting greens.

Restaurants at the Loews also provide an outstanding dining experience. Preston’s gives oceanfront seating with American/New World cuisine, and Emeril’s Miami Beach has the freshest seafood and very best wine lists around. The Hemisphere Lounge offers signature martinis, and you can enjoy lunch at the Nautilus poolside grill.

Whether sitting on your balcony enjoying your view of the Atlantic Ocean, taking salsa lessons or enjoying Dive In Movies by the swimming pool, the Loews is an excellent oceanfront hotel in Miami Beach.

Sagamore Hotel

1671 Collins Avenue

The Sagamore Hotel is an Art Deco oceanfront hotel located just a few steps north of Lincoln Road, and offers 92 luxurious all-suite rooms, eight rooftop penthouse suites and 16 two-story garden bungalows.

The hotel has fully equipped kitchens, porcelain tile flooring (marble inside the penthouses), high-speed web connections, DVD players, stereos and two cable TVs in each room.

Where the Sagamore hotel really shines is with its on-site collection for fine art. Throughout the hotel you’ll see paintings, photography and sculpture by such well-known international artists as Massimo Vitali, Tina Dietz, Udo Noger and Dan Peterson.

While the hotel’s lobby rivals many art galleries, you’ll find parts of the collections in all public spaces of the hotel including the pool area’s oceanview gallery.

The Sagamore has an infinity pool where guests can receive poolside spa treatments, a second-story sundeck for sunning in the buff and a beautifully manicured lawn that reaches all the way to the Atlantic.

The hotel is within easy walking distance of Lincoln Road, the botanical gardens, the Miami Beach Convention Center.

Delano Hotel

1685 Collins Avenue

After its re-opening in 1995, Ian Schrager dubbed the Delano Hotel’s new design as “undersigned,” a notion that up until that point, wasn’t typical of Miami Beach ostentatiousness.

The Delano Hotel is hidden from street-view by a wall of greenery, and just behind that wall is the majestic front terrace where guests first enter lobby. Once guests pass through the flowing white curtains that line the entrance, they are greeted by oversized white couches and inviting chairs suggesting that there may be no true distinction between formal and casual, or for that matter, fantasy and reality..

Brazilian-cherrywood floors and 18,000 feet of white gossamer curtains set the stage for a mix of surreal furniture that pays homage to the likes of Salvador Dali.

The lobby’s Rose bar is just the aperitif for The Blue Door (an eatery that has seen a lot controversy through the years as to whether or not Madonna was among the restaurant’s investors)!

Terra-cotta stairs lead from the restaurant towards the courtyard where guests play chess with life-size chess pieces set against the many full-length mirrors propped against ficus trees.

A fully-equipped roof-top spa that embodies what sitting on a cloud should be like one more reason why visitors find the Delano Hotel an enchanting haven of relaxation.

National Hotel

1677 Collins Avenue

When you first enter the National Hotel, you realize you could very well be on the set of a 1930s movie. With its vaulted ceilings and Art Deco furnishings — many of which are holdovers from the original hotel — the National Hotel is one of the finest Art Deco restorations on Miami Beach.

The striking lobby has a concierge desk, which is an exact replica of the original front desk that served the hotel in the 1930s. The eleven-story main building towers over its neighbors and offers gorgeous views of the beachfront and the ocean.

The hotel underwent $3 million renovation in 2003, and as a result, all rooms display plush accommodations, with the most luxurious being the 32 poolside cabana rooms that come with flat-screen TVs, European linens and private terraces which overlook the hotel’s beautiful infinity pool. For you big-senders, the National has Miami’s only three-floor penthouse suite.

The National Hotel’s crown jewel is the infinity pool. It’s Miami’s longest pool at 205 feet and has been dubbed the “supermodel” of pools among Miami Beach’s hotels, as it is often request by photographers and film crews for shooting. Of course, it’s also the perfect place for guests to do some sun worshiping and people watching, which is always a treat in South Beach.

Tamara, the National’s elegant restaurant, is named after famed Art Deco artist Tamara de Lempicka whose artwork is featured all throughout the hotel. Tamara serves French fusion fare and offers both indoor seating and outdoor dining in the hotel’s garden overlooking the infinity pool.

Late-night fun in the National Hotel’s Zee Lounge has live entertainment most weekends, and a wine connoisseur club and happy hours to keep guests busy during the week.

If it’s Old Hollywood glamour and a slightly hipper crowd is what you’re after, give the National Hotel a shout.

Palms Hotel

3025 Collins Avenue

Your immersion into the tropical oasis that is the Palms Hotel begins with the hotel’s signature drink, the O’Mango Infusion upon arrival, and it only gets better from there.

A multi-million dollar renovation turned this oceanfront property into a resort where East Coast sophistication meets quaint southern hospitality. Located in the heart of Miami Beach and only a short cab ride from South Beach, the Palms is equipped with modern amenities and all the allure of a lush Caribbean resort, which comes as welcome relief from the hustle and bustle of South Beach a few blocks away.

All 241 guestrooms and suites including 144 city view rooms, 88 oceanfront rooms and 15 superior oceanfront rooms, have been completely redesigned with new spa-inspired bathrooms and come totally outfitted having a stocked private bar and Spa Collections toiletries.

Furnishings have a color scheme that evokes the soft hues of the sand and sea. Inviting hammocks in thatched-roof huts, a poolside bar within a lush tropical garden, set the scene surrounding the outdoor pool. The beautiful pool faces a busy boardwalk for joggers and those wishing to stroll up and down the beach all the way to South Pointe Park.

Another fantastic feature of the Palms Hotel is that it has the only oceanfront cove inlet along Miami Beach. Inside the small rock jetty, water is calmer and more shallow than some of the other part of the beach.

The Palms Hotel offers “Yoga Under the Palms” classes (complimentary Yoga sessions taking place the hotel’s garden) offered Thursday through Saturday.

The hotel’s new signature restaurant and lounge Essensia along with chef Frank Jeannetti offers both indoor and outdoor dining, and serves Mediterranean-style cuisine along with a selection of fresh seafood. On Sundays, the hotel offers an excellent brunch.