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South Beach Miami Gay Travel Guide
Miami is the winter playground for gay America. Imagine a long, perfect beach, the world’s best Art-Deco architecture, and pulsating nightlife. Then fill it with gorgeous people and spice it up with a little Latino culture, and you’ve got Miami Beach, more commonly known as South Beach or SoBe. It seems like everyone here is a model...or could be. It’s a very trendy place to be, and people tend to look their best. Before you head to the beach, check out the Art Deco Historic District. There are guided walking tours available. But few attractions pull visitors away from the beach, and the collection of cafes, galleries, and bars around it. Ocean Drive runs along the beach, and it’s a great place to people-watch. Lincoln Drive, parallel to Ocean, is a pedestrian-only strip of cafes and shops. The Bass Museum of Art can be a great diversion if rain chases you indoors. Winter and early spring are undoubtedly the best times to visit gay South Beach, which is famous (or infamous) for its chain of mega-parties, which begin Thanksgiving weekend and run through Spring Break, when the college crowd overruns the beaches and clubs. Summer is rainier, with little reason to attract the northern crowds (who only come in summer to escape the snow). Virtually everything gay in South Beach is clustered along Collins Avenue between Esplanada Way and 12th Street, and there’s absolutely no reason to have a car here, you can walk everywhere. Of course, South Beach isn’t officially in Miami, which has a few gay spots of its own.
Gay Miami South Beach Bars, Restaurants and Clubs
You’d think there would be many gay bars in South Beach, but there really aren’t. On Monday, the crowds gather at Blue. Laundry Bar is just that, where the gay boys sip cocktails while their laundry is done (not by them, of course!) Score is a lovely complex on Lincoln Road with a cafe, several bars, and a dance floor. Loading Zone is a small joint that attracts the leather crowd. In Miami proper, Cactus Bar and Grill is friendly and laid-back, quite a dramatic change from South Beach’s pretentious boys.
When it’s time to get your dance on, check out Twist, SoBe’s most popular gay dancery. Liquid is also fairly popular, but has a mixed crowd. Crobar, a small but chic dance club, is where the scene is focused on Sunday nights. After the clubs close, you can head to Pump, a multi-level after-hours club right on the beach, drawing a mixed crowd. In Miami proper, O’Zone is large and popular, drawing a big Latino crowd.
Practically every single restaurant in South Beach has a rainbow flag in its window and is welcoming to the gay community. But Palace Foodbar is the gay eatery on the beach. Front Page Cafe is a charming spot on Lincoln Road, perfect for people-watching. Balans, a London restaurant, opened a branch on Lincoln which has become a popular spot for gays to dine, serving breakfasts and multi-cultural fusion creations for lunch and dinner.
Gay Friendly and Gay Miami Hotels
You’ve got plenty of choices for gay accommodations in South Beach. Island House Miami Beach is the largest gay guesthouse in South Beach. European Guest House is similar, but caters to a more cruisy crowd. For something more upscale, try The Jefferson House, which welcomes both gay and lesbian couples. Other hotels not exclusively gay, but popular with gay visitors, run the gamut from luxury oceanfront resorts like Roney Palace and the Ocean Point Resort, to restored Art Deco properties like The Penguin and The National. The Miami River Inn is a gem on the National Register of Historic Places, and operates as a B&B. Or, for something truly different, try Aqua, a quirky boutique hotel with a chic design, but budget prices.
Call an edirp.com gay travel specialist at 1-888-EDIRP-EZ (1-888-334-7739) or (214) 520-0345 (U.S.) to book any of the hotels mentioned above. Any hotels with links may be booked via our secure online booking system.
Miami Gay Pride and other Gay Events
Miami simply throngs with gay events, but believe it or not, a Gay Pride celebration isn’t one of them. There is no centralized gay “community” in South Beach, because the vast majority of gay people there are only visiting. There is no gay and lesbian community organization, thus no one to plan pride events. Gay parties in Miami are organized by individual charities and organizations (very few of which are local to South Beach) so it can be infamously difficult to find out what events are lined up each year. But the winter parties are invariably kicked off with the infamous White Party on Thanksgiving weekend, and capped off with Winter Party in March. Sizzle is Miami’s Black Pride event, which happens Memorial Day weekend. The Miami Gay and Lesbian Film Festival takes place the last two weeks of April.
Travel guide by Benjamin Starr, a travel writer who claims the entire world as his home. When he's not at home, he can sometimes be found at a residence in Dallas, Texas. To contact Ben, email him at benjaminstarr@sbcglobal.net. |
