Things to Do in North Beach, Miami: Our Short List
By Maison Felix ·
Quick answer
Things to do in North Beach, Miami come down to a handful of things done slowly: the sand and dune path at Miami Beach Oceanside Park, a few minutes' walk east of our gate on Harding Avenue; Bal Harbour Shops, two minutes away, worth the walk even if you buy nothing; Surfside's low-rise blocks just next door; and the Miami Beach Botanical Garden, the one stop we'd put you in a car for. This is the slower Miami. Most days here need no plan beyond breakfast and a direction.
Miami Beach Oceanside Park, a few minutes' walk east of our gate.
We're at 7418 Harding Avenue, at the north end of Miami Beach, in the stretch people here call North Beach or NOBE. It is the same island as South Beach and a completely different day.
What follows is the short list we actually give guests at the desk, not everything within a ten-mile radius. Four places outside our gate, and one inside it. Three of the four you can reach on foot in sandals, which is the whole argument for this end of the beach: you stop planning and start walking.
North Beach still has its soul. Low buildings, families on the sand, cafés that open onto the street rather than away from it. If you came to Miami for spectacle, this is the wrong postcode, and we'd rather tell you now than have you find out on day two.
Miami Beach Oceanside Park
· A few minutes' walk east, out the gate and toward the ocean · Free
This is the beach, and it's the reason to be up here. A dune-backed park runs along the ocean side with a path through it, and then a wide, unhurried stretch of Atlantic sand that the crowds bound for South Beach never reach. We keep sunbeds and umbrellas waiting for you there, so carry almost nothing: no chair, no cooler, no production. Go early. The light before nine is the best of the day and the sand is nearly empty, and you'll be back for coffee before most people have decided what to do.
Bal Harbour Shops
· Two minutes away · Nothing to walk in
An open-air shopping centre of designer stores arranged around planted courtyards, two minutes from us. Go even if you intend to buy nothing. The appeal is the architecture and the shade: open walkways, heavy planting, water, and a quiet that most retail does not bother with. It's the one errand on this list that doesn't feel like one. We'd send you mid-morning or late afternoon rather than the middle of the day, for the same reason we'd send you to the beach early.
Surfside
· Just next door, north along Harding Avenue · Free
The small beach town immediately north of us, and the easiest walk we recommend. Head up Harding and the blocks change: low-rise, residential, ordinary in the best sense, with an ocean walk along the back of it. There is no attraction here to tick off. That is the point. Give it a slow hour on a morning you have nothing booked, and turn back whenever you feel like it. Guests who like Surfside tend to be the ones who come back to us.
Miami Beach Botanical Garden
· The one stop on this list we'd put you in a car for · Free to enter
A walled garden of native and tropical planting, south of us and worth the ride. It is small, which we'd rather you knew in advance: this is an hour of shade and water and orchids, not an afternoon. Pair it with something else down that end of the island rather than making a special trip. Check the opening days before you set out, as it isn't open every day of the week.
Our courtyard pool
· Inside the gate · Included for guests
The thing most guests end up doing most is nothing, here. The pool sits at the centre of the house, ringed in teak decking and native palms, with the garden hiding it from the street and poolside dining when you want it. The courtyard is where the day really begins: come down at eight, before the heat sets in, and you'll likely have it to yourself. It stays quiet well into the evening too, which is when we'd choose it.
