Map of South Beach

Browse by what it is

Each of these opens the attractions directory filtered to that type — a plain link, so it works without JavaScript and can be bookmarked.

• Historic sites6
• Parks6
• Neighbourhoods4
• Museums3
• Landmarks2
• Beach1
• Entertainment1
• Marina1
• Shopping1
• Trail1

Getting to South Beach

• MacArthur Causeway (I-395 / SR A1A)

  The front door. I-395 leaves the mainland, crosses Biscayne Bay over Watson Island and between Palm, Hibiscus and Star islands, and puts you down on 5th Street at the bottom of the district — which is exactly why 5th Street is six lanes and Ocean Drive two blocks north is not. Every rideshare, every airport run and every coach arrives this way. It stacks westbound on Sunday evenings, eastbound on Friday nights, and in both directions whenever the arena downtown empties. There is no alternative within two miles: the next crossing north is the Venetian.

• Venetian Causeway

  3 mi

  The old low bridge that hops island to island from the Omni side of the mainland and arrives at Dade Boulevard by the Collins Canal, at the northern edge of the district. It is tolled, it is slow, the drawbridge opens on a schedule that ignores your dinner reservation, and it has a separated path along it that makes it the best bike ride in the county. Locals use it to avoid the MacArthur. Check the current toll arrangement before you rely on it.

• Julia Tuttle Causeway (I-195)

  4 mi

  Carries I-195 from the Wynwood and Design District side of the mainland and lands at 41st Street, which is Mid-Beach and not here. You then come south on Collins Avenue or Alton Road for two miles. Your driver will choose it at six on a Friday without explaining why, and the reason is that the MacArthur is a car park; you arrive at the top of the island instead of the bottom.

• Miami International AirportMIA

  12 mi · about 35 min by road

  Twelve miles west, but the number that matters is the causeway rather than the distance: thirty minutes at ten in the morning, an hour at six in the evening. Taxis from MIA to Miami Beach run on a county flat-rate zone system rather than the meter, which makes them worth pricing against a surging rideshare at peak. Rental desks, Metrorail and Tri-Rail all sit at the Miami Intermodal Center, a free Skytrain ride from the terminal — add fifteen minutes, and then ask yourself whether you want a car on this island at all.

• Fort Lauderdale–Hollywood International AirportFLL

  33 mi · about 55 min by road

  Thirty-three miles north and often cheaper to fly into. The transfer is the catch: I-95 southbound mid-afternoon can turn fifty-five minutes into ninety, and you still have a causeway at the end of it. Brightline to MiamiCentral downtown takes about half an hour, but then you are downtown and need a rideshare across the bay anyway. Price two transfers against the fare saving before you book it.

• Fifth Street (SR A1A)

  The island's only real arterial and the dividing line most visitors never notice. South of 5th — SoFi, in local shorthand — is quieter, more residential and ends at South Pointe Park. North of 5th is the Art Deco district proper. Six lanes of causeway traffic funnel along it, so it is the one street in South Beach that behaves like a highway rather than a neighbourhood, and it is a genuinely unpleasant walk. Cross it at a signal.

• Miami Beach Marina

  1 mi

  The island's water gateway, on the bay at the foot of Alton Road by Government Cut. Sightseeing boats, sailing charters, fishing and dive trips and seasonal water-taxi services all leave from here, which is why so much of the bookable inventory on this site has a 300 Alton Road meeting point. It sits within walking distance of South Pointe Park and about fifteen minutes on foot from Ocean Drive at 5th. Redevelopment proposals for the site have been in and out of city hall for years; the marina is operating throughout.

• PortMiami, across Government Cut

  Visible from South Pointe Park and completely unreachable from it. The cruise terminals are on Dodge Island in the City of Miami, on the far side of the shipping channel, and the only land route is back over the MacArthur Causeway — about twenty minutes by road for what looks like a swimmable gap. Ships transit the cut morning and evening, which is the reason half the island's visitors end up on the South Pointe jetty at sunset.

• MiamiCentral (Brightline)

  6 mi

  The nearest intercity rail, downtown on the mainland, with hourly services north to Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach and Orlando. Worth knowing for a day trip; not worth planning a South Beach arrival around. No rail line of any kind crosses Biscayne Bay to this island, and none is under construction. Whatever the map app suggests, the last leg is always a road.

Distances and drive times are typical, not promised — see today's conditions before you plan a tight connection.