These earn us a commission through Viator. Same price for you, and the commission had no hand in the order.
Park
Last updated
Fifteen minutes south of the Ocean Drive crowd, the island stops at a shipping channel and everything gets quieter.
Photo: Bohao ZhaoCC BY 3.0
Walk south along the beach from 10th Street and something changes at about 5th. The hotels stop, the crowd thins, the noise drops away behind you, and the last half mile of Miami Beach turns into something closer to a residential neighbourhood with a very good park at the end of it.
That is the point of South Pointe. It is the antidote to the deco strip, fifteen minutes on foot from the middle of it, and the single best move available to anyone who has had enough of Ocean Drive without wanting to leave the island.
The park itself is about seventeen acres, rebuilt and reopened in 2009 with a landscape design that works with the ground rather than flattening it: serpentine walkways rising over low limestone outcrops, sea grape and palm, raised lookouts, a splash pad, wide lawns and a functioning navigational light that doubles as sculpture. After a week of straight streets on a grid it is a relief simply as a shape.
The island ends here because of Government Cut, the shipping channel dredged in 1905 to give ocean-going vessels a direct route into the Port of Miami. The channel is why there is a jetty, why there is a surf break, why the current near the rocks is dangerous, and why the strip of land you can see across the water — Fisher Island, reachable only by ferry — is separate at all.
Behind the park sits South of Fifth, the neighbourhood locals call SoFi. It is the quietest and most expensive part of South Beach: low-rise streets, a serious restaurant district, no clubs, and a beach that most visitors never reach because it is ten blocks past where the guidebooks stop.
Bring shoes you can walk in and plan the trip one way. The walk down is the good part; the walk back at the end of a long day is not.
South Pointe Park is at the southern tip of the island, where Ocean Drive, Collins and Washington all run out of land.
On foot from the deco district is the natural approach and takes twenty to thirty minutes from around 10th Street: along the sand, along the Lummus Park path and Ocean Drive, or straight down Washington Avenue. Whichever you choose, 5th Street is four lanes of causeway traffic and the least pedestrian-friendly crossing in South Beach.
By trolley and bus. The free Miami Beach trolley and the South Beach Local both serve South of Fifth, which makes them the sensible way back at the end of the afternoon.
Rideshare works well here because the streets around the park are quiet, unlike pick-ups on Ocean Drive.
Driving. Street parking in South of Fifth is metered, strictly enforced and expensive, and the streets are narrow. The 7th Street municipal garage is the nearest large option and is a ten-minute walk north.
From mainland Miami, take the MacArthur Causeway east, turn south on Washington Avenue or Alton Road and keep going to the end. Fifteen minutes without traffic, more on a cruise turnaround morning when port traffic backs onto the causeway.
All three start around 10th Street and take twenty to thirty minutes. They are genuinely different walks.
Along the sand. The most pleasant and the slowest. From any beach entrance, turn right and keep the water on your left. The crowd thins block by block and by 3rd Street you will have a lot of sand to yourself. Barefoot is fine on wet sand and hard work on dry. Come back up this way at the end of the afternoon rather than down it in the middle of the day.
Along the Lummus Park path and Ocean Drive. Flat, paved, shaded in patches, and it delivers you onto the quiet residential stretch of Ocean Drive below 5th Street, which almost nobody walks. This is the route with a pushchair or a wheelchair. About twenty-five minutes at an easy pace.
Down Washington Avenue. The fastest and the least scenic, but it takes you through the everyday South Beach that the beachfront hides — laundries, groceries, counter-service food — and past the Jewish Museum of Florida at 301. Twenty minutes, and the one to use if you want lunch on the way.
Crossing 5th Street. Whichever route you take, 5th Street is four lanes of causeway traffic heading for the MacArthur, and it is the least pedestrian-friendly crossing in South Beach. Use the signals and do not improvise.
Coming back. Consider not walking. The free Miami Beach trolley and the South Beach Local both serve South of Fifth, and rideshare from the park is straightforward because the streets around it are quiet.
Everything below 5th Street is a different Miami Beach, and the boundary is unusually sharp.
The Art Deco Historic District's southern edge is right there at 5th and 6th Streets. South of it the 1930s hotel rows give way to low-rise residential blocks and a scatter of newer buildings, the street grid gets quieter, and the density of good restaurants per block goes up considerably while the density of hosts on the pavement goes to nearly zero.
SoFi is where Miami Beach people eat when they are not working. It holds some of the most expensive dining rooms in Florida and also a couple of very good Cuban counters, on the same streets, which is a fair summary of the neighbourhood. Nothing here is a club. Almost nothing here is open at three in the morning.
For a visitor the practical uses are three. It is the calmest place in South Beach to have dinner. It has the quietest sand in the neighbourhood, between roughly 1st and 5th Streets, where the concession rows thin out and the beach entrances are used mostly by residents. And it is a demonstration of how narrow the loud part of South Beach actually is: the entire scene people travel here for occupies about eighteen blocks, and walking five blocks past the end of it puts you somewhere completely different.
One geographic oddity worth noticing from the park. Downtown Miami and the cruise port are directly across the channel and look close enough to swim to. To drive there you go north to 5th Street, west across the MacArthur Causeway, past Watson Island and into the other city — fifteen minutes without traffic and a good deal more with it.
The rock jetty running out alongside the channel is the most interesting piece of water in South Beach and the most dangerous.
The surf. The sandbank that has built up against the jetty focuses what little Atlantic swell reaches this coast, which makes the break here one of the few consistent surf spots in Miami-Dade. On a groundswell day, particularly in winter with a northeast wind, there will be a crowd on it. It is a local break with local etiquette; if you are not sure what that means, watch rather than paddle out.
The current. Government Cut is a working shipping lane and the tide runs through it hard. The water immediately beside the rocks moves considerably faster than it looks from the pier, and it moves seaward. This is not a place to swim, float or let children paddle, whatever the conditions look like.
Where to swim instead. The beach on the park's northern edge, between roughly 1st and 5th Streets, is lifeguarded during posted hours and is the quietest good swimming sand in South Beach. Stay well north of the jetty.
The pier. A public walking and fishing pier runs out along the channel edge. It is level, free, busy at sunset, and it closes in high winds and during storms. Anglers have right of way over the rail.
Ships. Vessels pass close and they displace a lot of water. Do not be in the water near the channel when one is moving through, and expect a noticeable surge along the beach for a minute or two after a large ship has passed.
Two notes on timing. The park is open late and is one of the more comfortable places in South Beach after dark, with lighting, joggers and families rather than the Ocean Drive crowd. And the sun sets behind you here, over the bay and the mainland skyline, which is the opposite of what most people expect on an ocean beach and makes this the best sunset viewpoint in the neighbourhood.
Everything entering or leaving the Port of Miami passes through the cut alongside the park, which means large ships go by at close range on a schedule you can look up.
Departures cluster in the late afternoon, heaviest on winter weekends. Arrivals are mostly early, before seven in the morning, which is the quieter and better-lit version. Cargo, pilot boats and sportfishers run at all hours.
Where to stand. From the pier you are closest and lowest, which makes the ships look enormous. From the raised lookouts in the park you get the vessel, the channel and the mainland skyline in one frame, which is the better photograph. From the beach at 1st Street you get the ship passing with the open Atlantic behind it.
The schedule is public. Port arrival and departure boards are published online and checking one before you set out turns a nice walk into a timed event. That is the difference between locals and visitors here, and it costs nothing.
Pair it with sunset. A late-afternoon departure and the sun going down over the bay happen in the same hour in winter. Arrive by four, walk the pier, take the lookouts for the ships, and be on the west side of the park for the light.
Keep an eye on the wind. The pier closes when it is strong, and the park's exposed position at the tip of the island means it feels several degrees cooler and considerably breezier than Ocean Drive on the same afternoon.
Operators run these trips past South Pointe, or stop there as part of a longer route. We list what the booking data supports — not everything that mentions the name.
These earn us a commission through Viator. Same price for you, and the commission had no hand in the order.
Short term availability
Experience Miami the way it’s meant to be seen—on your own private boat, with the flexibility to make the day exactly what you want. With…
2 hours
Prices checked
Small Group
Join us on a culinary and cultural walking tour of Little Havana where you will discover the traditions, history, music and flavors of…
2–3 hours
Prices checked
Low Last Minute Supplier Cancellation Rate
It is a unique experience as it allows our guests to experience Miami from the sea. Miami Bay Tour consists on: Starting from the luxury…
1 hour
Prices checked
Private Sightseeing Tours
Experience Miami in style aboard your private 33-foot yacht, designed for comfort, relaxation, and unforgettable views. We offer 2, 3, and…
2 hours
Prices checked
Water Tours
Experience the Florida Everglades on this 4–5 hour small-group tour from Miami, featuring an exciting airboat ride and expert wildlife…
4 hours
Prices checked
Private and Luxury
IMPORTANT: THIS IS NOT AN ALL-INCLUSIVE OFFER. The following additional fees are payable separately directly to third parties: • Marine…
2 hours
Prices checked
Straight-line distances, so allow more on the road — the island is long and has one main parkway.
Beach
Free, public, and about three times wider than it was fifty years ago, because most of it was pumped there on purpose.
1.5–6 hoursFree. The entire beach is public. Loungers, umbrellas and the concession rows are not.1.3 mi away
Park
Ten blocks of palm, path and free outdoor gym, and the decision that kept anyone from building between Ocean Drive and the Atlantic.
0.5–3 hoursFree. The park, the outdoor gym, the volleyball courts, the restrooms and the beach access cost nothing.0.9 mi away
Neighbourhood
Ten blocks of deco facade on one side and open park on the other, and almost everything depends on which side you choose.
1–2.5 hoursFree to walk. The sidewalk cafes, hotel bars and beach loungers are not.0.9 mi away
Neighbourhood
Two blocks back from the ocean and about a third of the price, with the district's best museum and all four cheap garages on it.
1–3 hoursThe street is free, as is the post office lobby. The Wolfsonian and the Jewish Museum of Florida charge admission.1 mi away
Where this place fits into a day, and the pages that plan one.
Guide hub
An attractions list for most destinations is a set of places you drive between. Here it is closer to a list of addresses on four streets, and the…
Guide hub
The sand is not original. By the early 1970s erosion had taken the beach back to the buildings, and along parts of Collins Avenue the Atlantic was…
Who it suits
South Beach with children is better than its reputation and worse than its marketing, and both halves of that come from the same fact: this is a…
Budget
The expensive things in South Beach are the ones you can skip. The famous things are free. That is not a budget-travel platitude on this particular…
Who it suits
Almost every couple who books South Beach plans the same evening: a table on Ocean Drive, a bottle of something, the sun going down over the water…
Guide
This is an adult neighbourhood that happens to have a world-class beach and two very good parks. Use the southern end, use the mornings, and skip March.
7 min readRenata Vieira
Guide
Neither Metrorail nor the Metromover crosses the bay. Everything about arriving here follows from that one fact, including why you should not hire a car.
7 min readRenata Vieira
Guide
This beach was built by the Army Corps between 1975 and 1982. Knowing that explains the width, the dune line and the long walk to the water.
7 min readJulian Marsh
Walk south. From around 10th Street it takes twenty to thirty minutes by any of three routes: along the sand with the water on your left, along the Lummus Park path and then the quiet residential stretch of Ocean Drive below 5th Street, or straight down Washington Avenue. The Lummus route is the step-free one. Crossing 5th Street is the only awkward part, because it carries four lanes of causeway traffic.
On the beach at the park's northern edge, yes, with lifeguards during posted hours, and it is the quietest good swimming sand in South Beach. Do not swim near the jetty or the channel. Government Cut is a working shipping lane with a hard tidal current running through it, the water beside the rocks moves faster than it looks, and large vessels passing through displace enough water to surge along the beach afterwards.
At the jetty by South Pointe, on the right day. The sandbank that has built up against the channel jetty focuses what little Atlantic swell gets past the Bahama bank, which makes this one of the few consistent surf spots in Miami-Dade, best on a winter groundswell with a northeast wind. It is a local break with local etiquette and the current alongside the rocks is genuinely dangerous. Watch before you paddle out.
South Pointe Park has a well-used dog park at the southern tip of the island, and it matters because dogs are not permitted on the public beach in Miami Beach. The walk down from the deco district is about twenty-five minutes on the Lummus Park path and Ocean Drive, all paved and step-free. The South of Fifth streets around the park are quiet and shaded, which makes them a better dog walk than anywhere further north.
South Pointe Park, which surprises people. The beach here faces east, so the Atlantic gets the sunrise and the sun sets behind you over Biscayne Bay and the mainland skyline. The park's raised lookouts and its bay side both give you a clean western view, and in winter a late-afternoon cruise departure through the channel often happens in the same hour. Arrive by four and walk the pier first.