Pick your side of the bay first, then the neighborhood. Vice City is based on Miami and Miami Beach, and the places on this site split across Biscayne Bay: the Art Deco strip, the lifeguard towers and the big clubs on the Beach; Bayside, the skyline and the murals on the mainland. Your base decides which half you walk to and which half you ride to.
This page compares areas, not hotels. For a ready-made plan, use three days in Vice City; for transit and tolls, getting around.
Before you compare prices
Three costs sit outside the headline rate. Since May 2025 a federal rule has required hotels to show the total price with mandatory fees included, so compare totals.
Resort fees are the big one on the Beach: often $35 to $60 a night plus tax at the larger resorts, and some charge more. Parking: hotel valet on Miami Beach runs roughly $35 to $60 a night, while the city’s own garages cap at $20 a day outside special events. Tax on a room is 14 percent in Miami Beach and 13 percent in the rest of the county. The full math is in what a trip costs.
South Beach
Everything from the southern tip to 23rd Street, and really two places.
South of Fifth
The quiet end. South Pointe Park fills the tip, with a pier where cruise ships slide out past the port cranes that fans have matched to the trailer skyline. The towers of Vice Beach, a clear match for the trailer’s lifeguard stands, start here, and the Art Deco blocks begin at 5th Street, a few minutes’ walk. The streets are residential, and in July 2026 the city started a year-long “quiet zone” pilot here aimed at revving engines and loud car stereos. Joe’s Stone Crab, a Miami Beach institution since 1913, is on Washington Avenue at the tip.
Suits couples, and anyone who wants to walk to the famous strip and sleep away from it.
Ocean Drive and the Collins core
Fifth to 23rd Street: Ocean Drive, Collins and Washington Avenues, Lincoln Road. This is Ocean Beach, Rockstar’s name for a district that is a clear match for the Art Deco strip, with the club circuit on the same blocks. Everything is walkable, and the free South Beach trolley loops the neighborhood from 8am to 11pm.
The price is noise. From 5th to 15th Street, Ocean Drive to Pennsylvania Avenue, is the city’s entertainment district, where meters are enforced around the clock, and a room facing Ocean Drive or Washington hears the street until late. Street parking is $4 an hour. March brings spring break policing and special parking rates; read when to visit first.
Suits first-timers, a weekend without a car, and anyone who wants the neon outside the door.
Mid-Beach and North Beach
Mid-Beach runs from 23rd Street to about 63rd, big resort towers along Collins Avenue; North Beach continues to the city line at 87th Terrace. The paved Beachwalk ties it all together for about seven miles from South Pointe Park, so you can walk or cycle down to South Beach. Free trolley loops in both neighborhoods connect with the Collins Express, a limited-stop trolley to Lincoln Road, and the airport bus (route 150 at last check) crosses the Julia Tuttle Causeway into Mid-Beach.
Mid-Beach is calmer than South Beach, apart from one of the city’s biggest weekend club nights, held inside a resort. North Beach is largely residential and family-friendly, with Miami Modern (MiMo) buildings, North Beach Oceanside Park and street parking at $1 an hour. The Haulover end of Biscayne Bay, with its jet skis and sandbar parties, is close; Ocean Drive is not.
Suits families, longer stays and the ocean without the scene.
Downtown and Brickell
The mainland, skyline side. Bayside, a district name Rockstar uses itself, is the downtown waterfront; the skyline runs south through Brickell; the Freedom Tower stands across the boulevard (a travel idea, not a confirmed game location); and the Venetian Causeway toll booths are a short ride north. The free Metromover loops downtown and Brickell, officially 5:30am to 10pm, and Metrorail runs straight from the airport.
Downtown is still building: tower cranes stand over Brickell and Edgewater, so ask about construction next door. The club blocks around NE 11th Street go past sunrise. After dark, stick to Brickell, Bayside and the Metromover stations, and ride between them.
Suits a city trip, and anyone driving the Rickenbacker Causeway to Marine Stadium, which fans have matched to the trailer’s graffiti grandstand.
Edgewater, Wynwood and Midtown
North of downtown along Biscayne Boulevard. Edgewater is condo towers on the bay. Wynwood, a few blocks inland, is Stockyard, the mural district Rockstar named and a clear match for the real warehouse quarter. Midtown sits between them. The City of Miami’s free trolleys run a Wynwood route and a Biscayne route through Edgewater every 15 to 30 minutes, but hours vary by route and several skip Sundays. Otherwise it is rideshare.
Wynwood is loud on weekend nights and packed on the second Saturday of the month for the Art Walk, and Art Basel in early December turns it into a festival. Parking is paid lots and strict enforcement; leave the car.
Suits repeat visitors, art and food trips, and breweries over beach clubs.
Coconut Grove
South of Brickell on the bay: leafy, low-rise, with the marinas at Dinner Key and a village center of shops and cafes. None of this site’s Vice City places are in the Grove, but the Rickenbacker is a short drive and Vizcaya’s bayfront gardens are at its north end. Metrorail stops at Vizcaya, Coconut Grove and Douglas Road, though Coconut Grove station is about a mile from the village center; the free city trolley covers the gap from about 6:30am to 11pm.
Quiet after dark by Miami standards. Suits couples, sailors and a slower trip.
Coral Gables
A planned 1920s city of Mediterranean Revival streets, about five miles and a 20-minute drive south of the airport, with the Venetian Pool (a 1924 pool cut from a coral-rock quarry) and Miracle Mile for dinner. The free Coral Gables trolley runs Ponce de Leon Boulevard from Douglas Road station, Monday to Saturday, 6:30am to 10pm; downtown is about 30 minutes by Metrorail.
The Vice City angle is SW 8th Street, Calle Ocho, along much of its northern edge. East, it leads into Little Havana, a travel idea rather than a confirmed game location. West, it becomes the Tamiami Trail and the airboat docks of Grassrivers, a clear match for the trailer’s airboat.
Quiet and early to bed. Suits families, light sleepers and car trips that add the Everglades.
Key Biscayne
An island village across the Rickenbacker Causeway, the only road in, with a toll each time you drive on: $3.25 with SunPass or $6.50 by plate since October 2025. Crandon Park and Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park cover much of it, and from the lighthouse beach you can make out Stiltsville, a clear match for the trailer’s stilt houses, with binoculars. Marine Stadium is on Virginia Key on the way in. Hotels are few: one large resort, a couple of smaller places and many condo rentals. Freebee runs free on-demand rides on the island, and Metrobus route 102 connects to Brickell station.
The quietest base here and the furthest from nightlife. Suits families and beach-first trips with a car.
Near the airport
The practical choice. Airport-area rates run well below the Beach and downtown, and about three dozen hotels run courtesy shuttles from the arrivals curb. The free MIA Mover links the terminals to the rental car center and the Metrorail station, where the Orange Line heads for Brickell, downtown and Coconut Grove and the airport bus leaves for Miami Beach. Hialeah Park, whose flamingo lake fans have matched to a first-trailer shot, is a short drive away.
Not a place to spend an evening: highways, jet noise, chain restaurants. Suits a late arrival, an early flight, a tight budget, and road days to the Keys or an airboat.
What a night costs by area
The county’s tourism bureau publishes average hotel rates by area, from STR data. They blend every hotel from budget to luxury and leave out tax and fees: the middle of the market, not a quote.
| Area | January 2025 | August 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Miami Beach (all of it) | about $330 | about $200 |
| Downtown and Brickell | about $280 | about $180 |
| Coconut Grove and Key Biscayne | about $355 | about $190 |
| Coral Gables | about $250 | about $165 |
| Airport | about $155 | about $110 |
2026 has run higher: Miami Beach’s January to August average was up about 15 percent on 2025. Wynwood and Edgewater are not reported separately. Christmas week, Art Basel and March are the peaks, and summer’s discount comes with heat, storms and hurricane season. Check live prices for your dates.
If you only read one thing
- First trip, no car: South Beach, 5th to 23rd Street, on a side street rather than Ocean Drive.
- Couples who want quiet: South of Fifth, or Coconut Grove.
- Families: Mid-Beach or North Beach; Key Biscayne with a car.
- Nightlife: the Collins core, or Brickell for downtown’s clubs.
- Murals and food: Wynwood or Edgewater.
- Adding the Everglades and the Keys: Coral Gables or the airport, with a rental car.
- Tightest budget: the airport, with the MIA Mover and Metrorail doing the work.
Updated September 28, 2026. All guides