Get to know Miami Beach

South Beach is the boisterous all-hours party that has given Miami Beach its reputation. That’s been true since the 1950s, even if the area was maybe less stylish then. Led by a few architectural preservationists, the city made efforts to protect its iconic Art Deco architecture—including textbook examples of Miami Modern. This celebration of urbanism makes for a lively scene full of shops and cafés that spill onto the streets. Museums, galleries, and concert venues are everywhere you turn, and the area becomes a mecca of the art world during Art Basel. You’re bound to see Rolls-Royces and Lamborghinis on its narrow streets, but cars are not mandatory to experience the best of Miami Beach. In fact, you’ll have a much better time experiencing this diverse cultural wonder from a pair of flip-flops or some six-inch platform wedges.

In Miami Beach, a fashionable international crowd fills Art Deco buildings that house chic cafés and fashion-forward boutiques. There’s a buzz here unlike anyplace else in the world, and it’s not just because of the fresh coffees and curated cocktail lists. Pedestrian-centered Lincoln Road is a people-watching paradise bustling with restaurants and shops, while Collins and Washington avenues add world-famous stores and galleries to the mix. And though it caters primarily to tourists, Ocean Drive is the Miami Beach experience distilled. South Beach is full of fabulous places to dine, from ultra-chic restaurant-nightclubs to hole-in-the-wall eateries that seem to represent every corner of the culinary world. In the Mid-Beach area, landmark hotels and more refined shopping are the order of the day, while the night plays host to glamorous throngs of people that pack establishments helmed by some of the great chefs in the Western Hemisphere.