Is South Beach a good place to stay in Miami? Or is it too noisy?

February 2, 2009 2:54 PM

Is South Beach a good place to stay in Miami? Or is it too noisy?

We’re planning to go to Miami for a few days. We’re just looking for an to-too-expesive break from the Canadian winter.

We want to stay somewhere affordable, tourist-friendly, and very close to the beach.

South Beach seems like the obvious part of town to stay. We’ve found some okay-looking pretty-affordable ($100-$125) hotels around there.

But it it crazy noisy there? I gather South Beach is where all the nightclubs are. We live in a neighbourhood w. lots of nightclubs, which I sort of hate, so I’m hoping for my vacation not to involve sleeping somewhere where we get tons of nighttime drunk-revelers screaming, thumping bass from clubs, and the other hazards of clublands.

Is south beach bad for that sort of thing? If so – what would you say are the more/less noisy parts?

If South Beach is all noisy – are there parts of Miami that are tourist-friendly, close to the beach, but so night-clubby?

(We’re looking, I think, at a couple of places on Collins Ave around 14th block… But may end up elsewhere…)

Any advice would be much appreciated!

posted by ImaginaryFriend to travel & transportation (7 comments total)

You're into the bustle starting right where you're indicating, but it's not that noisy. Most of the action is on Ocean drive south of where you are staying.

Fellow Canuck who spend a few days there a year ago
posted by furtive at 3:17 PM on February 2

That's good to know. We may be looking at other places - what's the part to avoid if we want to stay away from the thick of clubland? Is it just Ocean Drive? From where to where?
posted by ImaginaryFriend at 4:00 PM on February 2

I stayed at the Days Inn on Ocean Terrace for work this past fall. Right on the beach, affordable (at least during the season when I was there), quiet, markets for food around the corner. Cool place. It's about a ten minute drive to the clubs of South Beach if you want to go there. Nice restaurant attached as well.
posted by extrabox at 4:18 PM on February 2

I stayed in the 1400 block of Ocean Drive right around Spring Break last year, and it was very nice - a couple of great restaurants, and not too noisy even at night. If anything, Ocean Drive might be better than Collins or Washington in that stretch because there's not nearly as much traffic noise.
South of Fifth seems to be pretty quiet as well, so that might be worth a look.

The noisy bit of Ocean Drive, as far as I can tell (Miami Beach natives may disagree on this) seems to be from 5th to about 11th or 12th. That's where all the clubs and bars and drunk fratboys and such seem to hang out; during the day it's not too bad, but after sundown it can be a bit of a mess.

(Also, don't miss the Art Deco heritage tour thingy.)
posted by The Shiny Thing at 4:30 PM on February 2

For another datapoint from a non-local: in Nov. '07 I spent a weekend at the Shelley (800 block of Collins). While you definitely could hear the music and traffic at night, it was pretty mild and I slept without problems (YMMV and all that). It probably helped that I had a non-street room and it was in the middle of the block too, so other hotels and non-club buildings served as buffer.
posted by Iosephus at 7:42 PM on February 2

I stayed at the Savoy Hotel this December and really liked it.

We got a super deal because so many people had cancelled their reservations and they wanted to keep us another night. We ended up with a $430 suite for $120. The lobby and beach were nice and the staff was great. I'd recommend them.

It's in South Beach and walkable to the restaurants and clubs but not right in the middle of it. Very quiet at night.
posted by rmless at 8:50 PM on February 2

I stayed at the Indian Creek Hotel three years ago and enjoyed it very much. It was maybe a 10 minute walk to the beach -- maybe slightly less.

It was super-quiet and lovely.

Also, make sure you walk through the lobby of the Delano and have a drink there. It's otherworldly.
posted by purpleclover at 6:56 PM on February 3