New hotels in South Beach, Miami

Most of the hotels on this guide sit inside a rectangle you can cross on foot in twenty minutes. Ocean Drive runs along the sand, Collins Avenue one block inland, Washington Avenue one block beyond that, and Lincoln Road cuts across all of them. We follow three hotels here. The Goodtime Hotel opened in April 2021, Casa Cañita on 24 April 2026, and The Dean Miami is planned for late 2026. South Beach is part of Miami for the purposes of this guide, though it belongs to the separate city of Miami Beach, and the bay crossing matters more than the map suggests.

What to do in South Beach

The Art Deco blocks

The Miami Design Preservation League was founded in 1976 by Barbara Baer Capitman and her son John, who set out to find a concentration of 1930s buildings worth saving. On 14 May 1979 the Miami Beach Architectural District became the first urban twentieth-century district on the National Register of Historic Places. Listing did not stop demolitions, and the city only created its first two local preservation districts in 1986, covering Española Way and most of Ocean Drive and Collins Avenue. Sources count the buildings differently, from more than 800 to around 960 built between 1923 and 1943, in Art Deco, Mediterranean Revival and MiMo styles.

The league's walking tours cover the area between 5th and 23rd Streets along Ocean Drive, Collins and Washington. Doing a loop in the morning, before the beach fills, is the quickest way to read the neighborhood.

Ocean Drive and Lummus Park

Lummus Park lies on the Atlantic side of Ocean Drive, roughly between 5th and 15th Streets according to most accounts, with a wavy pedestrian promenade separating the lawn from the beach. It was redesigned in the mid-1980s as part of the district's redevelopment. Palm trees, volleyball courts and pull-up bars fill the grass, and the hotel facades across the road serve as the backdrop for countless film shoots.

The street has a reputation as a tourist trap, one the Bernstein family says it wants to change at 1200 Ocean Drive, on the corner of 12th Street, where Casa Cañita opened this spring.

Lincoln Road

Lincoln Road was a failing commercial street in the 1950s when property owners hired Morris Lapidus, the architect of the Fontainebleau and the Eden Roc, to redesign it. His pedestrian mall opened in late 1960, with a black and white paved spine, planters, water features and small architectural follies. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2011.

A $29 million upgrade began with a groundbreaking in September 2025, in a first phase around Drexel and Meridian Avenues that adds seating, wider pedestrian space, new sidewalks, lighting and landscaping. Construction was expected to take about a year and the city said businesses would stay open. The stated aim is better access to The Fillmore Miami Beach, the New World Center and the Miami Beach Convention Center, so expect some of the road to look unfinished on a visit this autumn.

Española Way

Between 14th and 15th Streets, from Collins to Jefferson Avenue, Española Way is a short Mediterranean Revival lane built in the 1920s. The preservation league dates it to Whitman's Spanish Colony of 1922 and to the purchase by N.B.T. Roney in 1925, who wanted an artists' colony modeled on villages in Spain and on Biarritz and Cannes. It has three hotels from 1925 and 1926. The street declined in the 1970s, was revived in the 1980s and was designated in 1986. Today it is pedestrian and known for late salsa nights.

Collins Park

Farther north, at 2100 Collins Avenue, the Bass museum occupies a 1930s Art Deco building by Russell Pancoast, built of Florida keystone, and has been expanded in a renovation that added about 50 percent more space. It sits in the Collins Park cultural cluster with the Miami City Ballet and the Miami Beach Regional Library. The Holocaust Memorial, by Kenneth Treister, stands at Meridian Avenue and Dade Boulevard, with a bronze outstretched arm as its centerpiece, free from 9:30 a.m. until sunset.

Where to stay in South Beach

Washington Avenue

Washington was the neighborhood's original commercial spine, and it is the less photographed of the three avenues. The Goodtime Hotel took a full city block here, at 601 Washington Avenue between 6th and 7th Streets, where single-story Art Deco storefronts had stood in disrepair for decades and had never been a hotel.

The Goodtime Hotel opened in April 2021 with 266 rooms, the first hospitality project from David Grutman of Groot Hospitality and Pharrell Williams, developed by Imperial Companies and now flying Marriott's Tribute Portfolio flag. Morris Adjmi designed the new structure behind the preserved storefronts, Ken Fulk the interiors and Raymond Jungles the landscape. Fulk's brief, as the press described it, was a reimagined Art Deco drawn from mid-century resort towns in the Caribbean and Central America: pastel tile, scalloped bar seating, leopard-print fabric. Reported room sizes run from about 200 to 1,000 square feet, and many face west toward Biscayne Bay or east toward the Atlantic. The Strawberry Moon restaurant and pool club, also Grutman's, has a 30,000-square-foot pool deck, and there is a bar called the Library and about 45,000 square feet of ground-floor retail. Rates start from $100 according to our listing.

The block is a short walk from Lincoln Road and the beach and keeps a more local feel than the postcard streets a few blocks east.

Ocean Drive

Casa Cañita is the smallest of the three. Chef Michelle Bernstein and her sister, the designer Nicolette Bernstein, opened it on 24 April 2026 inside a historic Art Deco building at 1200 Ocean Drive, at 12th Street. It has 24 rooms and suites and is their first hotel. The theme is Cuba's golden age, and the restaurant, La Cañita, plays music every night.

The hotel is across the street from the sand and Lummus Park. Its owners present the opening as part of an effort to win this stretch of Ocean Drive back for a slower, design-minded crowd, which is a statement of intent rather than a result. Casa Cañita is independent, with rates from $200.

Collins Avenue

The Dean Miami will take over the former Gates Hotel South Beach on Collins Avenue at 23rd Street, close to Lincoln Road. The 235 rooms already exist, so the work is a renovation and rebrand rather than a new build, backed by Lifestyle Hospitality Capital and Elliott Investment Management. Press reports of the sale put the price at about $52.5 million to $53 million and name Rockpoint Group as the seller. One outlet counted 230 rooms rather than 235, so the count may still shift.

The Dean Miami is the first US property for the Dublin-based Dean Group, which runs The Clarence, The Mayson and The Leinster in Europe. The plan includes a signature restaurant and a late-night speakeasy bar. The opening is expected in late 2026, and no rates have been published.

Which hotel in South Beach for your trip

For the street-level scene

The Goodtime. Its Washington Avenue address and its pool club put guests inside the daytime and nightlife scene, and Lincoln Road is close.

For Ocean Drive and the beach

Casa Cañita, with only 24 rooms, so book early. The hotel programs live music every night, so it suits guests who want to be near the sound rather than away from it. Anyone who wants silence should look at a hotel inland.

For the next opening

The Dean Miami, once it opens. Until then it is an announced renovation with a late 2026 target, no published rates and no confirmed restaurant details beyond the plan for a signature room and a speakeasy.

For a longer stay or a different part of the city

South Beach is a hotel district, and a week here is mostly beach and meals. The mainland neighborhoods are different in character: Wynwood for murals and galleries, Brickell for towers and restaurants, Downtown Miami for the bayfront, and the Miami Design District for shopping. The wider coast is covered under Miami Beach.

Getting around

The city of Miami Beach runs a free trolley with a South Beach loop in both directions, roughly from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m., every 15 to 20 minutes on average, though riders report longer gaps, so check the live tracker in the city's app. From the airport, Metrobus route 150, the Miami Beach Airport Express, runs from the airport Metrorail station along the Julia Tuttle Causeway to Mid Beach, then limited stops to South Beach, including Lincoln Road at Washington Avenue. The airport mover to the Metrorail station comes first.

The neighborhood itself needs no vehicle. Ocean Drive, Washington Avenue, Lincoln Road and the beach are all within a few blocks of each other, and the three hotels above lie along a line from 6th Street to 23rd, with Casa Cañita at 12th, which is about 17 blocks end to end.

Frequently asked questions

What is the newest hotel to open in South Beach?

Casa Cañita, which opened on 24 April 2026 at 1200 Ocean Drive with 24 rooms and suites. It is the first hotel from Michelle and Nicolette Bernstein.

What hotel is coming next to South Beach?

The Dean Miami, planned for late 2026 inside the former Gates Hotel South Beach on Collins Avenue at 23rd Street. It will have 235 rooms.

Is South Beach walkable?

Yes. Ocean Drive, Washington Avenue, Lincoln Road and the beach are a few blocks apart, and the free city trolley covers longer distances. From 6th Street to 23rd Street is about 17 blocks.

Which South Beach hotel is closest to the beach?

Casa Cañita, which is across Ocean Drive from Lummus Park and the sand. The Goodtime is on Washington Avenue, two blocks inland, and the Dean site on Collins Avenue sits between the two in distance from the sand.

How do I get from the airport to South Beach?

By Metrobus route 150, the Miami Beach Airport Express, from the Miami International Airport Metrorail station, or by taxi or rideshare across the Julia Tuttle Causeway. The bus stops on Lincoln Road at Washington Avenue.

How far is South Beach from Downtown Miami and Brickell?

Both are across Biscayne Bay, reached by causeway. Downtown Miami and Brickell are the nearest mainland districts.