Hotel Greystone overlooks the palm-fringed, art deco grandeur of Collins Avenue, a short swagger from the powdery white sands of Miami’s South Beach.
Planes
Miami International Airport is a 20-minute scenic drive across the bay. A taxi will set you back around $40-50.
Trains
The Omni Metromover station serves downtown Miami and is around 15 minutes’ drive from the hotel. The main Amtrak station is a 30-minute drive.
Automobiles
If you’re intent on cruising Ocean Drive with the top down and the stereo up, a hire car may be a good bet. From the airport, it's a short drive over the Julia Tuttle Causeway and onwards to the hotel on Collins Avenue. Valet parking is available for $50.29 a day.
Worth getting out of bed for
Claim your Greystone lounger down at South Beach and settle in for the duration: you’ll be amazed how many hours you can lose to people-watching while feigning interest in your copy of Miami Living magazine.
South Beach is the beating heart of Miami’s culinary and cultural scene, where you’re rarely far from a world-class restaurant or bleeding-edge gallery. Here, it’s all about The Bass ($15 entry), where colourful contemporary art meets classic Miami art deco architecture and an expansive sculpture garden promises much pensive chin-stroking. And, if the architectural style does more for you than the art on display, it’s a short hop to Ocean Drive, where you can admire the abundant art deco eye candy gratis.
Many of the finest dining experiences can be sought on Española Way – a brightly-coloured cavalcade of epicurean adventures set along a long, palm-fringed, cobbled boulevard, while nearby Lincoln Road adds independent boutique shopping and gallery-browsing to its repertoire of no-less enticing eateries.
Local restaurants
Pescheria serves up seafood feasts and Italian specialities. True to its name, there’s a genuine market-fresh feel: tendrils of freshly made pasta dangle enticingly over the chefs’ station, and the daily catch is displayed on beds of ice, awaiting its destiny. Order lobster linguine and key lime pie for the win.
A short stumble from the hotel, Orange Blossom offers the tantalising prospect of indulging in a belt-loosening bottomless brunch before returning poolside where – several mimosas down – you may wish to spend the rest of your afternoon prostrate on a lounger. Dinner at Orange Blossom is an equally lavish affair, with American favourites including Cajun ahi tuna steak and New York strip with fries, served in the 1950s-themed dining room or jungle-inspired garden.
Local bars
There is – famously – no shortage of cocktail bars and nightlife options in Miami Beach. Just a block from the shore, Sweet Liberty is an exceptionally hip haunt where endless variations on the classic negroni are rustled up in a setting of exposed brick and neon. Bar Collins at Loews Miami Beach Hotel serves up a head-spinning array of cocktails and snacks against a backdrop of swaying palms and (frequently) cloudless blue skies. We recommend the Smoky Paloma (mezcal, Cointreau, lime, grapefruit and soda) and Miami Vice Mule. And a cab home afterwards.
For 1960s throwback vibes, Moreno's Cuba's eclectic interiors merge kitsch Miami vintage with old school Havana. Order from a list of Cuban-inspired tipples like minty Mojitos and Cactus Coladas. A little further out, Mango’s Tropical Cafe South Beach is a riot of colour and sound, with live music and dancing from reggae to salsa and beyond. Book dinner and a show, and stay for the nightclub, where live DJs keep the dancing and drinking going until sunrise.
