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Opium Garden & Privé
Coveted and overrated, as far as we're concerned, but the Opium Group has a vice-like grip on the Miami Beach club scene that's hard to break. Once you're in, flash a wad to either score bottle service or buy your way into several layers of VIP room snobbery.
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Oxygen Lounge
This is the mall underground - literally - of Coconut Grove. It's an elegant, sprawling sushi bar/dance land with space-age decor and packs of Grove beauties, with theme night parties to rock your fine booty every night of the week.
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Pawn Shop
This den of hipness still has its original pawn shop facade, with signs announcing 'We buy diamonds' and 'We buy gold.' It's all about true (but glamorous) grit here - and varying DJs who spin funky, edgy electronica.
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Ps 14
In a city with justice, PS 14 would be packed every night of the week. Live gigs burn up the cute red-lit front room, while the back opens into a lush garden (you could almost forget you're on the edge of Overtown…) where DJs spin and folks chill if they ain't dancing, which you should be.
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Purdy Lounge
It's half club, half lounge and all intimate fun at this spot, tucked away from the fray and open to all, based on the mixed hetero-homo-white-Latino rainbow coalition clientele.
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Raleigh Hotel
While everyone else was trying to get all modern, the Raleigh painstakingly tried to restore itself to pre-war glory. It succeeded in a big way. Celebrity hotelier André Balazs managed to capture a tobacco-and-dark-wood men's club ambience and old-school elegance while simultaneously sneaking in modern design elements and amenities. Have a swim in the stunning pool; Esther Williams used to. Parking costs around US$30 per day.
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Regal South Beach Cinema
This mod, state-of-the-art, 21-screen theater anchors the western end of Lincoln Rd by being both an architectural delight and a filmgoers' paradise. It shows a good blend of foreign, independent, and critically acclaimed Hollywood stuff.
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Room
The Room's a gem: a crowded, dimly lit boutique beer bar where you can guzzle the best (brew) Belgium has to offer and gawk at the best (hotties) Miami has to show off. It's hip as hell, but the attitude is as low-key as the sexy mood lighting.
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Rose Bar At The Delano
The ultrachic Rose Bar at this elegant Ian Schrager original is a watering hole for beautiful creatures (or at least those with a healthy ego). Get ready to pay up for the privilege - but also prepare to enjoy it. The tiki bar in the back of the Delano is another winner; wait for staff to set out a wrought-iron table in the shallow end of the pool and you'll start rethinking your definition of opulence.
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Sagamore
Should you need a more refined vibe than the madness at the Delano, walk into this cool white lobby, sit across from the plaster death masks (there when we visited anyways), tell 'em hello and have a nice glass of Chardonnay.
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Sandbar
Sandbar's a little slice of Florida Keys culture - nautical crap on the walls and sport-n-surf-n-fishin' ambience - in the midst of the urban jungle.
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Score
Muscle boys with mustaches, glistening six-packs gyrating on stage, and a crowd of men who've decided shirts really aren't their thing: do we need to spell out the orientation of Score's customer base? It's still the best dedicated gay bar on the beach, and the addition of the more mature Crème Lounge upstairs will undoubtedly raise the cachet of this perennial favorite.
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Skybar
We've never seen so many beautiful people packed into one place, anywhere. Skybar became the bar to beat as soon as it opened, and frankly, it remains so to this day. The three-part venue is fabulous: chill al fresco in a Sultan's pleasure garden under enormous, wrought-iron Moroccan lanterns, gaze at the patricians dining in nearby Nobu, or try (and fail, if you're an unlisted travel writer) to get into the all-crimson, all-A-list Red Room.
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Sofi Lounge
Not long after its arrival, Sofi Lounge was touted in a Miami Herald article as being 'an oasis for skateboarders, surfers, models, club promoters and others disenchanted with the increasingly glutted and pretentious South Beach club scene.' So if you count yourself among them, head here - a dark and narrow space with DJs, live music and special events.
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Space
This multilevel warehouse is Miami's main megaclub. With 30,000 sq ft to fill, dancers have room to strut, and an around-the-clock liquor license redefines the concept of after-hours. DJs usually pump each floor with a different sound - hip-hop, Latin, heavy trance - while the infamous rooftop lounge is the place to be for sunrise.
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Studio A
Next to ginormous Space, Studio A is something between an edgy gig venue and mega-main-stage. It's very hit or miss; as a club it can suck, but as a concert hall it pulls in some incredible acts.
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Sylvano South
This popular Italian eatery converts into a lounge that pulls in models and their hangers-on as the evening sets in. It's a great spot to sit under the humid Miami night and think sultry thoughts about all the gorgeous types smoking (in every sense of the word) on the sidewalk.
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Table 8 Bar
Before you settle in for an excellent meal at Table 8, rock up to the bar and order the best drink in Miami: a Basil 8. It's like a mojito for grown-ups: more mature, with more bite, but still perfect on a hot day.
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Taverna Opa
Peer inside and you might think you've stumbled upon some sort of wild, audience-participation theatre performance. Step inside and you'll realise it's an eatery - serving mezze, grilled meats, fish and some veggie dishes. Perhaps most important, though, is the ouzo they keep pouring. This place stays open 'till the ouzo runs out!'
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Teatro De Bellas Artes
The Teatro puts on excellent, often hilarious productions that are beloved by Miami's Latin community, but you'll need to understand Spanish to really enjoy the shows.
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Ted's Hideaway
Somewhere in the Florida panhandle is a bumpin', fabulous gay club, which clearly switched places with Ted's, a no-nonsense, pool table and sports-showin' 'lounge' smack in the middle of Sofi's elegant chicness.
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Titanic
By day, it's an All-American type bar and grill, but at night Titanic turns into a popular University of Miami watering hole. Thursdays tend to be big nights out here.
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Tobacco Road
A venerable local hangout hosting jazz, blues and rock bands, this place has been packing 'em in since 1912. There's a throwback roadhouse feel to the place and it's often the scene of impromptu jams by well-known rockers when they're in town. Film buffs may recognise it as the place where Kurt Russell has a drink in The Mean Season (1985).
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Touch
Touch's owners turned Elizabeth Taylor's jewelry box into a lounge: a vintage-y, opulent mess of sensory glitter, gaudy overkill and refined elegance. Drink alongside a slew of Miami's hiperati at this new Lincoln Road resto-lounge and try not to be overwhelmed.
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Tower Theater
This 1926 renovated city-owned movie theater, on the National Register of Historic Places, shows Spanish-language films and dubbed English-language films, and hosts music performances and art exhibits in its lobby.
