In the game
The first trailer opens its Vice City with the beach: a wide shot of pale sand, a crowd in the surf, and a lifeguard stand painted in stripes of pink, yellow and turquoise with a little pitched roof. Later there is a closer pass on one of the stands with the Art Deco strip behind it. The Extended Look returns to the same beach at ground level, towers marking the shoreline.
Fans did not need to search for this one. The stands are a clear match for South Beach’s, the most recognizable lifeguard towers in the world. What the match rests on is the shape: each real tower is a one-off, a tiny piece of architecture on stilts with its own roof and paint job, and the game versions copy that idea rather than any single stand.
Rockstar calls the shoreline Vice Beach. Whether every game tower has a real twin is not something the footage tells you, and we do not claim it.
The real place
Miami Beach’s lifeguard stands were ordinary wooden boxes until Hurricane Andrew wrecked them in 1992. The city hired architect William Lane to replace them, and he designed a set of playful, one-of-a-kind towers in bright colors. More were added in the mid-2010s, and today there are more than 30 spread from South Pointe up through Mid-Beach.
Stand on the sand at 10th Street in the early morning and you get the whole scene: the towers, the flat green water, joggers on the beachwalk, and the hotels along Ocean Drive behind you. The detail a GTA fan will recognize is the way each stand sits alone on the sand like a toy, a little too colorful to be real.
Go there
The easiest walk is from South Pointe Park at the tip of the island north to about 15th Street. That stretch has the densest run of towers and the best backdrop. Sunrise is the photo hour; the stands face east and the light comes straight onto them.
To swim, pick a staffed tower (lifeguards work daylight hours, roughly 9 to 5, shifting with the season) and read the flags. Red means dangerous currents, purple means jellyfish or other marine pests, double red means the water is closed. Rip currents here take people every year.
Chairs and umbrellas rent from concessions on the sand at around $15-30 a day; bring your own on a budget. Lummus Park has public restrooms and showers.
For food, the Cuban diners and sandwich counters along Collins and Washington Avenues are a block inland and half the price of Ocean Drive. Joe’s Stone Crab at the south end is the splurge.
The honest warning is the sun. There is no shade on the sand, and visitors burn in twenty minutes even in winter. Bring water, a hat and high-factor sunscreen, and go in before noon.
Nearby
- Ocean Beach: the Art Deco strip: the hotels are directly behind the beach; do them together.
- Boats and jet skis on the bay: jet ski and boat rentals are a short ride across the island.
- The port cranes on the skyline: from South Pointe Park you watch cruise ships slide past the cranes at Government Cut.
Updated September 12, 2026. Spotted an error? Tell us.