Recommendation Needed For Miami Area Hotel Locations

[Keith1010]

We are having trouble figuring out what location to stay at.

 

My wife and I will be in the Miam area for a few days before our cruise. We do not plan to rent a car. When we have cruised before out of South Florida it has been from Forth Lauderdale a location that we are quite familiar with but we are not familiar with the Miami area.

 

We don't party.We do like to explore areas that we stay in and greatly enjoy taking long walks. We want to be in a nice, safe location where ideally we can also walk to areas nearby.

 

We have been considering three locations. Key Biscayne, South Beach and Miami Beach as the hotels that they have that we are considering are the Mandarin Oriental, Ritz Carlton of Key Biscayne, along with a couple of other hotels such as The Shore Club and Sagamore Hotels.Can anyone offer a recommendation about location and/or some thoughts on each of the three locations and then a recommendation.

 

Keith

[TrentS]

If you're not renting a car then Key Biscayne is not the best idea. It's great if you just want to stay at the hotel and get away from it all, but there isn't all THAT much on the island and it would get expensive to take cabs into the city and back every day.

 

The Mandarin Oriental is in downtown Miami, not South Beach, Miami Beach or Key Biscayne. It's closest to the port, and is one of the very best hotels in Miami, but again, there's not a whole lot to walk to.

 

If you're spending a few days without a car and want lots of restaurants, shops, etc. to walk to then I'd stay in South Beach. If you're not a party person I would recommend the Ritz-Carlton South Beach. It's a wonderful oceanfront hotel, a block off one of the main street and in a nice, quiet area. South Beach is very safe, and has everything you could possibly want right there. It's a whole lot more than just a place to party, there are some wonderful restaurants and shops there. It's a great area to walk around in and explore, the old Art Deco hotels are fascinating.