Miami Beach's beach hotels – from Delano to The Surf Club

Along Collins Avenue stand four hotels that tell the story of Miami Beach: Firestone's Surf Club from 1930, the 1948 Saxony that became Faena, the Delano, which opened the same year, and Morris Lapidus's Fontainebleau from 1954. Here are the facts about the hotels on the beach.

Collins Avenue runs parallel to the Atlantic through Miami Beach and continues north through Surfside, one block from the beach. The street is named after John S. Collins, who in 1913 built the first bridge between Miami Beach and the mainland. North of 41st Street it lies between the ocean and Indian Creek, lined with palm trees and the hotels from the 1950s and 60s that defined Miami Beach's holiday style. Here are four of the most talked-about, from south to north.

Delano – South Beach since 1948

Delano is located directly on the beach in South Beach. It was designed by B. Robert Swartburg, built in 1947 by Rob and Rose Schwartz and opened on 15 December 1948. With 14 floors and a tower of just under eleven metres, it was one of the tallest and earliest post-war modernist, so-called MiMo, hotels in Miami Beach. The name is a tribute to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

In 1994, Philippe Starck redesigned the interior, and the hotel became known for its playful style and celebrity guests. Delano closed in March 2020 during the pandemic and reopened in June 2026 after a renovation by Elastic Architects together with Ennismore. The art programme, curated by Nicola Green, highlights artists from South Florida's contemporary art scene, and the renovation received three Ahead Awards in 2026, according to Wikipedia.

Faena – Saxony from 1948

At 3201 Collins Avenue stands the Faena Hotel Miami Beach, housed in the former Saxony Hotel. The Saxony was completed in 1948, designed by Roy F. France and built and owned by George D. Sax, and it was one of the first luxury hotels on Miami Beach. At the time of its opening, each room was estimated to have cost around 21,000 dollars. Faena Group thoroughly rebuilt the property and opened it as the Faena Hotel Miami Beach in November 2015.

Fontainebleau – Morris Lapidus's extravagance from 1954

The Fontainebleau at 4441 Collins Avenue opened in 1954, built by hotelier Ben Novack on the land where tyre manufacturer Harvey Firestone had previously had his estate. Architect Morris Lapidus, known for his bow ties, designed a curved, flamboyant hotel that came to define Miami Beach in the 1950s. In the lobby is the "Staircase to Nowhere", the floating staircase, which was carefully preserved during the renovations.

The hotel can be seen in the aerial shot after the opening credits of the 1964 James Bond film Goldfinger, and it is here that Jill Masterson is murdered by Oddjob. Novack ran the hotel until it went bankrupt in 1977, and Stephen Muss bought it in 1978 for 27 million dollars. In 2002, an extension with two new towers began, and the hotel reopened in November 2008 after a renovation described as being on a billion-dollar scale. Today it is owned by Fontainebleau Resorts, which is controlled by the Soffer family.

Four Seasons Hotel at The Surf Club – Firestone's club from 1930

Furthest north, at 9011 Collins Avenue in Surfside, lies The Surf Club, which Harvey Firestone founded in 1930. The clubhouse in Mediterranean Revival style was designed by Russell T. Pancoast. As the Four Seasons Hotel at The Surf Club, the hotel, with 77 rooms, and two twelve-storey residential towers were designed by Pritzker Prize winner Richard Meier, while the Parisian designer Joseph Dirand restored the common rooms and furnished the rooms and cabanas, according to Wallpaper*. Antonio Sersale from Le Sirenuse in Positano was brought on for the club's restaurant.

Choosing a hotel on Miami Beach

The Delano is located right in the middle of South Beach and the art deco district, Faena and Fontainebleau in Mid-Beach, and The Surf Club in the quieter Surfside further north. See the areas in VERA PI's Miami guide, on the map of Miami Beach and with VERA PI Camera, and find more city guides among metromode.co's destinations.

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