48 Hours in North Beach, Miami: A Weekend That Doesn't Rush
By Maison Felix ·
Quick answer
Two days in North Beach, Miami works best if you keep it tight: the Atlantic in the morning, Bal Harbour Shops or the 71st Street fountain district in the afternoon, and the courtyard in between. We're at 7418 Harding Avenue, one block back from Collins, with a pool open sunrise to sunset and sunbeds waiting on the quieter sand. Day one stays within a walk of the gate. Day two goes north into Surfside and west across Collins. Check-out is 11:00am, so the last morning is still yours.
North Beach rewards a short list. It isn't a neighbourhood you conquer in two days; it's one you settle into, which is the point of coming up here instead of staying south. This is how we'd spend a weekend from our gate at 7418 Harding Avenue, one block back from Collins. Day one stays within a walk. Day two goes north into Surfside and west across Collins to the fountain district on 71st Street. Both days leave room for the courtyard, because that's where the hours actually go.
Our pool sits in the middle of the house, teak decking and native palms around it, and it's open sunrise to sunset. Come down before the heat sets in and you'll usually have the water to yourself; by midday the loungers on the sunny side have gone. Breakfast comes out to the deck from our restaurant, so there's no reason to get dressed for it. The courtyard is where the day really begins.
The ocean is a short walk east of us, and we keep sunbeds and umbrellas waiting on the sand. This is the same Atlantic as South Beach with a fraction of the people standing in it, which is the single best argument for staying at this end of the island. Go in the morning while the sand is still cool, and bring a hat rather than relying on shade.
Poolside dining from our restaurant is the honest answer for a first afternoon: you've had sun, you don't want a car, and the walk back takes minutes. Eat on the deck, then take the shaded corner of the Courtyard Garden, the pocket of native green that hides us from the street, for the part of the afternoon nobody should spend outdoors in Miami.
Just north of us, and the rare shopping centre that's worth an hour even if you buy nothing: it's open-air, built in terraces around planting rather than inside a sealed mall, and the designer flagships are the anchor tenants. Late afternoon is the civilised time to go, when the heat has dropped and the day-trippers have thinned. Go for the architecture if you don't go for the clothes.
The pool stays quiet well into the evening, and the palms around it are lit from below. If you only do one thing on this list exactly as written, do this one. Someone of the house is awake at any hour, so a late request for ice or a corkscrew isn't a problem.
Day two: north into Surfside, west to the fountain
Harding is our own street, and north of us it becomes the Surfside shopping stretch: one block back from Collins, running roughly eight blocks of small shops, cafés and kosher delis at street level. It's a walking street rather than a destination, so treat it as the route rather than the stop. Go early, before the shopfronts heat up and the parking fills.
The stretch of beach park we point guests to when they want the sand without the sunbed setup: dune planting, a boardwalk path, and public access straight through to the water. It's the better run or morning walk of the two beach options on this list, because the path keeps going in both directions. Bring your own towel; this is a park, not a club.
Cross Collins and keep going west on 71st and you reach a fountain plaza with a walkable spur of small restaurants around it. This is the neighbourhood's own lunch, not a visitors' strip. Silverlake Bistro at 1211 71st Street is the casual end of it, in the Normandy Isles stretch. Capri New Style sits across from the fountain itself and is the Italian option. Neither needs booking a month out, which tells you most of what you need to know about this end of Miami Beach.
Come back and do nothing. Every piece of furniture here was designed by Felix himself, the teak underfoot is laid in a yacht deck pattern, and Mark Cherry's commissioned pieces are on the walls, so there's more to look at from a chair than you'd expect. Everything here carries Felix's personal touch. The garden is the coolest part of the property in the late afternoon.
