The 10 BEST Hotels in Miami (IOHO)

No one channels Miami’s sunny personality quite like The Confidante, a colorful sleep in the heart of artsy Mid-Beach. Playful interiors—seafoam-green armchairs, tangerine pillows, retro bar carts—by designer Martin Brudnizki give a hat-tip to Miami's Art Deco heritage, while even brighter pastel-striped cabanas and loungers by the two pools and beach are such good eye-candy, Lady Gaga once held an impromptu photoshoot on one. (A new pool menu, which just debuted this summer, includes flamingos, unicorns, avocados, and other fun floaties for all your Insta needs.) Jetsetter especially loved hanging out at the chic outdoor area, dubbed The Backyard, and lunching at Southern-style restaurant Bird & Bone, which gives Miami Beach's other Southern hot spots (like Yardbird) a serious run for their money. (Go for the hot chicken sandwich with accompanying spiced waffle fries—you'll thank us later.)

At hotelier Ian Schrager’s mid-beach knockout, it’s all about the amenities. There are, of course, the standard two pools, spa, luxurious lounger set-up on the beach, and oceanfront views that are staples at every Miami hotel—as well as staples of EDITION's own, including cocktails served in bespoke copper pineapples and artisanal mini-bar snacks and Le Labo toiletries in guest rooms. But where else can you find an ice rink, outdoor movie theater, bowling alley, and not one but two Jean-Georges Vongerichten restaurants? Talk about bragging rights.

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The 1930s Surf Club is a South Florida icon that once hosted the likes of Winston Churchill and Frank Sinatra—so you can bet that when the Four Seasons took over, it was an all-out luxe affair. The brand tapped Pritzker Prize-winning architect Richard Meier to revamp the building, which now features a 15,000-square-foot beachfront spa, a restaurant courtesy of celeb chef Thomas Keller (his first in Florida), three gorgeous pools, a champagne bar, and a private stretch of sand dotted with loungers.

EAST, Miami isn’t your average hotel. When it opened, this hot spot put the Brickell business district on the travelers map and transformed the area into one of the city's trendiest new nabes. At any given time, you'll find a cool crowd mingling on the 20,000-square-foot terrace (with four pools!), at the outpost of Uruguay’s celebrated La Huella restaurant, or at Sugar—the buzziest bar in the 305. Don't miss the 40th-floor rooftop garden, with its lush greenery, wooden walkways, and upscale tiki bar overlooking Biscayne Bay.

Following the success of SLS South Beach, the buzzy brand has opened a sister property across the bay. This stylish newcomer incorporates everything we love most about the original hotel, including Bazaar Mar, a hip seafood spot run by chef José Andrés, and the slick yet understated suites designed by Philippe Starck. The one addition? A rooftop deck, with a sexy infinity pool and swoon-worthy views of downtown Miami.

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When chef Nobu Matsuhisa, Robert De Niro, and Hollywood producer Meir Teper came together to create the Nobu hotel brand, we knew it would be revolutionary. Inside the Nobu Hotel Miami Beach, you'll find 203 David Rockwell-designed guest rooms, an art collection curated by Peter Brant, and of course, an innovative food scene comprised of the signature Nobu Japanese restaurant—plus a reboot of California’s popular Malibu Farm.

Miami's Faena Hotel is all about the wow-factor. Set in the haute Mid-Beach neighborhood, the hotel is the vision of film director Baz Luhrmann and his wife, costumer Catherine Martin, so you can expect grandeur from every corner. There’s a 22,000-square-foot spa, a sprawling cabaret-style theater, and Damien Hirst’s renowned 24-karat wooly mammoth skeleton. The property was just the beginning of Argentinian developer Alan Faena’s billion-dollar Faena Arts District, a cultural quarter that is now home to the Faena Theater for performing arts, the Faena Bazaar shopping area, and the Faena Forum, a Rem Koolhaas-designed events space that hosts rotating exhibits.

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Miami’s sizzling hotel scene got a little hotter with the opening of this SoBe stunner. Housed in a 1925 landmark, the hotel looks like it’s straight out of your favorite shelter magazine. Breezy interiors are done up in driftwood, organic white cotton, and marble while green spaces like vertical gardens and terrariums are a nod to the brand’s eco-friendly ethos. There are also three cabana-lined pools (plus a posh rooftop pool), a lobby bar, and Habitat—the hotel's signature restaurant serving sustainable farm-to-table cuisine.

The Fontainebleau has been a Miami fixture for more than six decades. It all started back in the 1950s Rat Pack era when the hotel first opened, instantly attracting Hollywood honchos and celebs like Elvis Presley, Lucille Ball, and Frank Sinatra—the latter of which now has an entire hallway of photos dedicated to him. Today, A-listers such as Justin Bieber, Calvin Harris, and the Kardashians continue to frequent the Fontainebleau. Keep an eye out for them at the glitzy 40,000-square-foot Lapis spa, in the twelve on-site restaurants, and especially at LIV nightclub—the most legendary rage in town.

The Betsy isn’t like most Miami boltholes. Its stately Georgian facade and wrap-around porch fit more among the Deep South’s plantations than among South Beach’s funky Art Deco dames. There’s also an air of sophistication here, trading Miami’s typical poolside parties for a tranquil courtyard plunge pool and a refined rooftop lounge, where elites kick back on plush chaise lounges by day and sip cocktails over live jazz by night.