On this page
- Which side of Biscayne Bay should hold your bed?
- Which trip fits South Beach, Mid-Beach, Brickell, Downtown, Wynwood, Coconut Grove or Coral Gables?
- How do a 3% county tax and a 4% resort tax become 14% on a Miami Beach room?
- Where does a mandatory resort fee belong in a Florida hotel's advertised price?
- Who gets evicted from an illegal rental in Miami Beach?
- What replaced the South Beach Local on the island?
- Which mainland areas have a Metrorail station, and where does that leave Wynwood?
- What does the city charge for a South Beach meter or garage?
- What did the tourism bureau's regions average a night from January to September 2026?
- How do Art Basel and the March Spring Break rules change a beach stay?
- Which autumn weeks carry king tides and the end of hurricane season?
- FAQ
Where to stay in Miami starts with one choice: the barrier island of Miami Beach or the mainland across Biscayne Bay. On the tourism bureau's STR figures, Miami Beach hotels averaged $328.53 a night from January to September 2026, against $268.85 in Downtown Miami.
Seven areas are compared here, and no hotel is named or recommended. We read the figures below on 3 November 2026 on the pages of Miami-Dade County, the City of Miami Beach, the City of Coral Gables and the Florida Department of Revenue. We also read the federal eCFR, the FTC, NOAA, the National Hurricane Center, the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau and Art Basel.
Which side of Biscayne Bay should hold your bed?
The beach side of Biscayne Bay suits a trip built on the sand and the free island trolley, and the mainland side suits one built on Metrorail, in our judgement. Our overview of Miami covers the sights and fares, and our page on Florida covers the rest of the state.
The island has no Metrorail station on the county's map, and its rooms carry 14% tax against 13% on the mainland. Four of the five mainland areas here have a station, and Wynwood does not.
Crossing the bay is a short drive on a clear road. Our own routing puts the Freedom Tower downtown 5.2 miles from Lincoln Road, so a beach base does not rule out a mainland day, or the reverse.
Which trip fits South Beach, Mid-Beach, Brickell, Downtown, Wynwood, Coconut Grove or Coral Gables?
South Beach fits a first beach trip without a car, and the other six areas each fit a narrower case, in our judgement. The last column is our answer to where to stay in Miami, because no official page we read ranks these areas. The rail column comes from the county's Metrorail map, last modified in August 2024, so check a station before you rely on it.
| Area | Metrorail station | Free ride | Miles from airport | Miles from Downtown | Suits, in our judgement |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| South Beach | None | South Beach Loop, Collins Express | 14.3 | 5.2 | A first beach trip without a car |
| Mid-Beach | None | Middle Beach Loop, Collins Express, Freebee | 13.8 | 8.4 | A beach stay with a rental car, since parking costs less here |
| Brickell | Brickell | Metromover, see below | 12.2 | 1.5 | A mainland stay without a car |
| Downtown | Government Center | Metromover | 11.5 | Start | A mainland stay with South Beach a short drive away |
| Wynwood | None | None confirmed | 9.5 | 2.1 | A trip built around Wynwood, if you will drive or pay for rides |
| Coconut Grove | Coconut Grove | None confirmed | 12.0 | 6.3 | A stay on the rail line, 2.6 miles from Coral Gables |
| Coral Gables | Douglas Road, University | Coral Gables trolley, Monday to Saturday | 8.9 | 6.5 | A late arrival or a tighter budget, by routing and bureau average |
The miles are our own routing and approximate, with no traffic, tolls or bridge openings. They run from the airport terminal and the Freedom Tower to Lincoln Road for South Beach, Collins Avenue and 41st Street for Mid-Beach, and Wynwood Walls for Wynwood. We did not compare the seven on safety or noise.
How do a 3% county tax and a 4% resort tax become 14% on a Miami Beach room?
A Miami Beach room reaches 14% because the county's 3% convention tax and the city's 4% resort tax sit on top of the state's 6% and the county's 1% surtax. The state's chart prints the local layer as 7% for Miami Beach and 6% for the rest of the county. The county's tax page shows what each is made of, and the sums match.
| Layer | Miami Beach | Mainland |
|---|---|---|
| State sales tax | 6% | 6% |
| County surtax | 1% | 1% |
| County convention development tax | 3% | 3% |
| County tourist development tax | None | 2% |
| County professional sports facilities tax | None | 1% |
| City of Miami Beach resort tax | 4% | None |
| Total, our sum | 14% | 13% |
| Tax on a $250 room, ours | $35.00 | $32.50 |
The $250 is our invented example, not a rate anyone published. On it, the island costs $7.50 more in tax over three nights. The county's wording covers stays of six months or less, in homes, condos and beach houses as well as hotels. A legal Miami Beach rental should therefore pay 14% too, though that is our inference.
Room tax on a resort fee could not be confirmed. Florida's instructions say tax is due on all rental charges, but the state rule that defines those charges would not load. Our guide to sales tax in the USA covers the tax beyond hotel rooms.
Where does a mandatory resort fee belong in a Florida hotel's advertised price?
A mandatory resort fee belongs inside the total price under the FTC's rule, 16 CFR Part 464, which has covered hotels since 12 May 2025. The total is the most a guest must pay, and it must be shown more prominently than any other price. Taxes and other government charges may be left out, so the layers above can still come on top.
Florida adds nothing we could find. We read Chapter 509, the state's public lodging chapter, in its 2026 edition. By our reading it has no resort-fee rule: its one "resort" concerns membership campgrounds, and its one "total price" concerns campground contracts. We did not read Chapter 501, the state's deceptive-practices law.
We also searched the City of Miami Beach's pages and found no city rule on resort or amenity fees. That is a failed search, not proof that none exists. We did not research what individual hotels charge.
Who gets evicted from an illegal rental in Miami Beach?
Guests in an illegal Miami Beach rental are the ones evicted, the city's lookup tool says, and the fines are assessed against the owner. We could not confirm a current fine schedule, so we print no amount.
The city prohibits rentals under six months and one day in all single-family homes and in many multifamily districts. A permitted rental must show two numbers in every listing: its city business tax receipt and its resort tax certificate.
The city also offers three checks. Its Practice Safe Renting tool looks up an address, and a 21-page list names the apartment buildings authorised for short-term rental. Its zoning map shows the limits by district rather than by street, and it says it is for reference only.
The county's rental rules do not settle this, since Miami-Dade sends readers in a municipality to that city's own government. We did not read the rules of the City of Miami, which covers Brickell, Downtown and Wynwood, or of Coral Gables, so this page says nothing about rentals there.
What replaced the South Beach Local on the island?
The City of Miami Beach's South Beach trolley, launched in November 2017, replaced the county's South Beach Local, the city says. The city's free trolley now has four routes, all running from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m., seven days a week.
| Route | Runs | About every |
|---|---|---|
| South Beach Loop, A and B | Washington Avenue past Lincoln Road to South Pointe, and Alton Road | 20 min |
| Collins Express | Limited stops from Lincoln Road up Collins Avenue to North Beach | 15 min |
| Middle Beach Loop | Mount Sinai Hospital, 41st Street, 42nd Street garage, Convention Center | 20 min |
| North Beach Loop | North Beach | 20 min |
Freebee, the city's free on-demand ride, covers Mid Beach and part of North Beach but not South Beach.
Route 150, the airport bus to the beach, has an unclear status. The county's airport page lists it as the Miami Beach Airport Express, while a 2021 county planning deck marks it discontinued. Its route page and map could not be read, so we have no fare, hours or frequency for it.
Which mainland areas have a Metrorail station, and where does that leave Wynwood?
Brickell, Downtown, Coconut Grove and Coral Gables have Metrorail stations, while Wynwood has none on the county's map. Trains run from 5 a.m. to midnight every day, the fare is $2.25 and the gates take no cash. We found no county figure for the rail time from the airport to downtown, so we print none. The weekend airport shuttle is explained on our overview of Miami.
Metromover is free, with 21 stations, and runs from 5:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. The county's notices about its Brickell Loop conflicted when we read them in November 2026, so we do not say whether that loop is running. Check the county's Metromover page before you choose Brickell for it.
The Coral Gables trolley is free from 6:30 a.m. to 10 p.m., Monday to Saturday, and does not run on Sundays. Its Ponce de Leon and Grand Avenue routes start at Douglas Road station.
A Metromover car in Brickell in June 2021. The county lists the service as free, with 21 stations.
We could not read the City of Miami's trolley page, which is why Wynwood and Coconut Grove show no confirmed free ride.
What does the city charge for a South Beach meter or garage?
A South Beach meter costs $4.00 an hour on the street, and a city garage costs $2.00 for the first hour and $20.00 a day at most. The garage fees include state sales tax, the city says.
| City parking | Rate |
|---|---|
| South Beach, on-street meter | $4.00 an hour |
| South Beach, off-street meter | $2.00 an hour |
| 7th, 12th, 13th and 16th Street garages | $2.00 first hour, $20.00 a day at most |
| Mid-Beach, 23rd to 44th Street, Collins Avenue to Indian Creek, on-street | $3.00 an hour |
| 42nd Street garage, Mid-Beach | $1.00 an hour, $8.00 a day at most |
High-impact dates can move these prices. As a past example, in March 2026 four Art Deco garages charged flat rates of $40 to $100 from Thursday to Sunday. Street and surface lots in that area charged $20 an hour, up to $100 a day.
We read no prices for hotel parking or valet, and we did not research mainland street parking. Metrorail station parking costs $4.50 a day where a station has it.
What did the tourism bureau's regions average a night from January to September 2026?
The tourism bureau's regions averaged from $243.86 a night in Coral Gables to $381.13 in Coconut Grove/Key Biscayne from January to September 2026. These are STR averages for hotels in each region, published by the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau, and they are not a quote for any room. For where to stay in Miami, they show how far apart the regions sit.
| Bureau region | Average rate | Occupancy | Covers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miami Beach | $328.53 | 69.7% | South Beach and Mid-Beach, not split |
| Downtown Miami | $268.85 | 74.2% | Downtown and Brickell, not split |
| Coral Gables | $243.86 | 75.1% | Coral Gables |
| Coconut Grove/Key Biscayne | $381.13 | 65.9% | Coconut Grove with Key Biscayne |
| Miami-Dade | $252.60 | 72.9% | The whole county |
The bureau publishes no separate figure for South Beach, Mid-Beach or Wynwood, and we will not estimate one. The period also mixes seasons: September alone averaged $168.86 across the county, so other months ran well above that.
How do Art Basel and the March Spring Break rules change a beach stay?
Art Basel Miami Beach and Spring Break change a beach stay differently: one falls in a month with more rooms reserved early, and the other brought street and parking rules. The fair gave its 2026 public days as 4 to 6 December, with invitation-only preview days on 2 and 3 December, at the Miami Beach Convention Center.
The county had 32% of its December 2026 hotel rooms reserved on 5 October, against 25% a year earlier, on the bureau's STR table. That figure covers the whole county and month.
In the 28 days to 6 December 2025, the bureau's averages were $315.49 in Miami Beach and $254.96 in Downtown Miami/Brickell. Read that window apart from the January-to-September table, since the page does not say whether it held the fair's days. We found no official word on hotel minimum stays during the fair.
The city designated all of March 2026 a high-impact period for Spring Break. On 12–15 and 19–22 March, vehicles could enter Ocean Drive only from 15 Street, and golf cart, moped and scooter rentals were suspended. No rule aimed at hotel rooms or guests appeared on the pages we read, and we read no rules for 2027.
Which autumn weeks carry king tides and the end of hurricane season?
King tides on the county's 2026 list fall in six autumn windows: 10–13 and 26–30 September, 7–13 and 24–30 October, and 6–9 and 23–26 November. The county marks the two October windows as the highest. We read no list for later years, so check the county's page before an autumn booking.
NOAA's predictions for Virginia Key, on our reading, put the October peak at 0.74 feet above mean higher high water on 27 October 2026 and the November peak at 0.56 feet on the 25th. Those figures leave out wind, rain and storm surge, which the City of Miami Beach says can add to the flooding.
The city says water stays noticeably high for 1.5 to 2 hours before and after a peak, and road closures can follow. Text MBTraffic to 888777 for its alerts.
Flooding street by street could not be confirmed, because neither the city's page nor any mainland page we read lists streets. The city calls Miami Beach low-lying and near sea level, and the photograph below shows the mainland's Brickell Bay Drive.
Brickell Bay Drive on an extra-high tide in October 2016, with the bay high against the seawall.
The Atlantic hurricane season runs from 1 June to 30 November and peaks on 10 September, the National Hurricane Center says, so the king-tide months overlap it. We did not research hotel cancellation terms in a storm.