25 Miami Hotels, Deco and Beyond
The 1954 Fontainebleau of Sinatra and the Rat Pack, the 1930 Versace mansion on Ocean Drive, the 1926 Biltmore with its Capone suite, and the Coconut Grove hotel behind Scarface.
Miami kept its Art Deco hotels along Ocean Drive and Collins Avenue, added the Morris Lapidus grand dames of the 1950s, and holds a few landmarks beyond the beach in Coral Gables and Coconut Grove. This list has the 1954 Fontainebleau, where Sinatra and the Rat Pack played, the 1930 Versace mansion that is now Villa Casa Casuarina, the 1926 Biltmore with its Al Capone suite, and the Coconut Grove hotel behind Scarface.
The list is grouped by character, not ranked. Where a hotel’s own site could be confirmed, its name links there; the rest are listed without one.
The Grand Dames
Fontainebleau Miami Beach · Mid-Beach / Collins Ave
The Fontainebleau opened in 1954 to a Morris Lapidus design, on the old Firestone estate, and its curved Collins Avenue sweep became the image of Miami Beach glamour. It appeared in Goldfinger and Scarface, and Sinatra and the Rat Pack played its rooms.
Eden Roc Miami Beach · Mid-Beach / Collins Ave
The Eden Roc opened in 1956, Morris Lapidus’s second Miami Beach resort, for Harry Mufson. Mufson’s feud with the Fontainebleau next door produced the ‘spite wall’ that threw a shadow across Eden Roc’s pool. It drew Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr. and Elizabeth Taylor in its heyday.
The Biltmore Hotel · Coral Gables
The Biltmore opened in Coral Gables in 1926, its tower modeled on the Giralda of Seville by the architects Schultze and Weaver. It served as a military and then a veterans’ hospital from the Second World War until 1968 before returning to a hotel. Guides still point out the ‘Al Capone suite’ and tell the ghost story of the gangster Thomas ‘Fatty’ Walsh.
Faena Hotel Miami Beach · Mid-Beach / Faena District
The Faena was built from the 1948 Saxony, one of Miami Beach’s first big postwar resorts. Alan Faena reimagined it with interiors by Baz Luhrmann and Catherine Martin, opening in 2015, and its pool courtyard holds Damien Hirst’s gilded woolly-mammoth skeleton.
The Setai Miami Beach · South Beach / Collins Ave
The Setai joins a restored 1930s Art Deco building to a 40-storey oceanfront tower, in an Asian-inspired design. It has long had some of the highest room rates in Miami Beach.
Ocean Drive Art Deco
The Colony Hotel · South Beach / Ocean Drive
The Colony opened in 1935 to a Henry Hohauser design, a textbook Ocean Drive deco hotel. Its blue neon COLONY sign is among the most photographed on South Beach, and has turned up in Scarface and Miami Vice.
The Tides South Beach · South Beach / Ocean Drive
The Tides opened in 1936 to a design by L. Murray Dixon, the tallest hotel on Ocean Drive when it was built. Chris Blackwell’s Island Outpost restored it in the 1990s.
Cardozo South Beach · South Beach / Ocean Drive
The Cardozo opened in 1939, designed by Henry Hohauser and named for the Supreme Court justice Benjamin Cardozo. Gloria and Emilio Estefan have owned it since 1992. It was a focus of Barbara Capitman’s 1980s campaign to save the Art Deco district.
Villa Casa Casuarina · South Beach / Ocean Drive
Villa Casa Casuarina was built in 1930 as the Amsterdam Palace by Alden Freeman. Gianni Versace bought it in 1992 and was shot dead on its front steps in 1997. It now runs as a boutique hotel and restaurant in the former Versace mansion.
Avalon Hotel · South Beach / Ocean Drive
The Avalon is a 1941 Ocean Drive deco hotel designed by Albert Anis. The vintage car parked at its door is a long-running South Beach photo stop.
The Betsy Hotel · South Beach / Ocean Drive
The Betsy opened in 1942 as the Betsy Ross Hotel, an unusual Florida-Georgian design by L. Murray Dixon. It reopened as the Betsy with a literary and arts program, including a Writer’s Room.
Collins Avenue Towers and Pools
The National Hotel · South Beach / Collins Ave
The National opened in 1939, an Art Deco tower by Roy France. Its long cabana pool is said to be the longest in Miami Beach.
Delano Miami Beach · South Beach / Collins Ave
The Delano opened in 1947 to a Robert Swartburg design, its finned tower briefly the tallest in Miami Beach. Ian Schrager and Philippe Starck’s 1995 redesign helped launch South Beach’s boutique-hotel era. It is closed for a full renovation, to relaunch under new ownership.
The Raleigh Miami Beach · South Beach / Collins Ave
The Raleigh opened in 1940, designed by L. Murray Dixon, its fleur-de-lis pool long counted among the most beautiful in America, photographed by LIFE and loved by Karl Lagerfeld. It is under redevelopment by SHVO, to reopen as the Rosewood The Raleigh.
Sagamore Hotel South Beach · South Beach / Collins Ave
The Sagamore is a 1940s Collins Avenue deco hotel known as ‘the Art Hotel’ for its contemporary-art collection, and a regular venue during Art Basel Miami Beach.
The Shelborne by Proper · South Beach / Collins Ave
The Shelborne opened in 1940 to a design by Igor Polevitzky. It is relaunching as the Shelborne by Proper after a major restoration.
Cadillac Hotel & Beach Club, Autograph Collection · Mid-Beach / Collins Ave
The Cadillac is a 1940 oceanfront Art Deco hotel designed by Roy France. It reopened as the Cadillac Hotel and Beach Club, Autograph Collection, after a major restoration.
Deco Boutiques With a Backstory
The Tony Hotel South Beach · South Beach / Collins Ave
This hotel opened in 1939 as the Tiffany, an L. Murray Dixon design with a rooftop spire. It dropped the Tiffany name after the jeweler objected, ran for years as the Hotel of South Beach with Todd Oldham interiors, and now trades as the Tony Hotel South Beach.
The Marlin Hotel · South Beach / Collins Ave
The Marlin is a 1939 L. Murray Dixon deco hotel that joined Chris Blackwell’s Island Outpost. It housed South Beach Studios, where acts from U2 to Aerosmith recorded.
Essex House Hotel · South Beach / Collins Ave
The Essex House opened in 1938 to a nautical Streamline Moderne design by Henry Hohauser. Its lobby mural and vertical neon sign are fixtures of the Art Deco district.
Freehand Miami · South Beach / Indian Creek
The Freehand occupies the restored 1936 Indian Creek Hotel, set back from the beach. Its bar, the Broken Shaker, won a James Beard Award.
Beyond the Beach
The Mutiny Hotel · Coconut Grove
The Mutiny’s club was the notorious hangout of Miami’s cocaine-cowboys era in the 1970s and 80s. That scene fed the book Hotel Scarface and the film Scarface. It runs today as an all-suite hotel in Coconut Grove.
Mayfair House Hotel & Garden · Coconut Grove
The Mayfair House is a 1980s Coconut Grove landmark by the architect Kenneth Treister, covered in ornate, organic detailing. It reopened as the Mayfair House Hotel and Garden after a major renovation.
Hotel St. Michel · Coral Gables
Hotel St. Michel is a 1926 Coral Gables boutique hotel from George Merrick’s founding era of the city. It has run under several names over the years, among them the Seville and La Palma.
The Vagabond Hotel · MiMo / Biscayne Boulevard
The Vagabond was built in 1953 as a MiMo motel, its design attributed to Robert Swartburg. It is on the National Register of Historic Places, restored as a showpiece of the Biscayne Boulevard MiMo strip.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are these hotels ranked?
No. The groups sort them by character, and the order within each group carries no meaning.
What made a hotel interesting enough for this list?
A story. Every entry was an Art Deco landmark, a grand mid-century resort, or a building with a real past. Comfort alone did not qualify.
Why are there no prices?
Rates change daily and a priced list goes stale in a month. Where a hotel runs its own site, its name links there, so you see the current rate and book direct.
Which hotel puts me closest to the day trips on this site?
Most day trips from Miami run down to the Florida Keys, west into the Everglades, or up the coast to Fort Lauderdale and Palm Beach. The South Beach hotels sit closest to the Art Deco district and the ocean.
Do the small hotels book out faster than the grand ones?
Usually. The small Ocean Drive deco hotels, the Colony, the Avalon, the Cardozo, hold few rooms and fill first, especially over Art Basel and the winter season. Book those ahead.