South Beach

What costs nothing, and the one thing that’s worth paying for

South Beach trades on its looks, and almost all of those looks are free. Florida beaches are public, so the wide pale sand, the candy-coloured lifeguard towers and the grassy Lummus Park strip opposite Ocean Drive cost nothing to use — bring a towel and you have a beach day for the price of the bus. The row of pastel 1930s Art Deco hotels along Ocean Drive is likewise free to walk and photograph, best in early morning or the hour before sunset when the light is soft and the pavement isn’t packed.

The one thing genuinely worth paying for is the Miami Design Preservation League’s Official Art Deco Walking Tour. It leaves daily at 10:30 from the Art Deco Welcome Center at 1001 Ocean Drive (10th Street), runs about 90 minutes to two hours, costs roughly $40 (£32), and includes the small on-site Art Deco Museum. It’s the version that actually explains why the buildings look the way they do — the streamlined corners, the neon, the Miami Modern that came after. Book ahead and arrive 15 minutes early to check in; tickets are capped. If you’d rather wander alone, the same centre sells a cheaper self-guided audio version.

Getting there, when to go, and what to skip

Don’t drive if you can help it — South Beach parking is a paid hunt. From Downtown Miami the Route 120 Beach MAX express bus runs straight across the MacArthur Causeway and up Washington Avenue through the district; from Miami International Airport the Route 150 Miami Beach Airport Express comes in direct. Both are $2.25 (£1.80) a ride. A taxi from the airport is about $30–40 (£24–32). Go in the morning for the calmest sand and the coolest walk, then escape the midday heat.

South Beach is worth a half-day, not a whole holiday. The thing to skip is the strip of Ocean Drive restaurant terraces with staff waving menus at you — they bank on the view, add an automatic service charge, and the food is forgettable. Walk one block inland to the pedestrianised Lincoln Road or pretty Española Way to eat instead. See the architecture, swim, take your photos, and spend your money where the locals do.