It’s worth being clear about the name, because two cities share it. Miami is the big mainland city across Biscayne Bay; Miami Beach is the barrier island linked to it by causeways — a separate city with its own government, its own history, and its own unmistakable look. When people picture “Miami” — the pastel hotels, the neon, the sand and the candy-colored lifeguard towers — they are usually picturing Miami Beach. The bay between the two is narrow; the difference is not.
By the 1970s the Deco district had faded into a stretch of peeling paint and aging retirees, and the bulldozers were circling. It was saved by an unlikely crusade: a preservationist named Barbara Capitman and the Miami Design Preservation League fought to protect the old hotels, and in 1979 the district became the first twentieth-century neighborhood listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The pastel was repainted, the neon relit, and South Beach — SoBe — reinvented itself as one of the most photographed places on earth.
Why People Visit Miami Beach
Miami Beach rewards visitors who want style with their sand: the world’s great Art Deco strip, a wide Atlantic beach, walkable streets, and neon nights. Add the South Beach glow and the year-round Florida sun, and the man-made island makes an easy case for itself.
