The most visually and culturally complete hotel in Miami — Argentine hotelier Alan Faena's Mid-Beach masterpiece with Damien Hirst's gold mammoth in the lobby and the social center of Art Basel week. Theatrical, extraordinary, and ideal if you want Miami at its most iconic. From ~$700/night.
Why We Chose It
Faena Hotel Miami Beach is the most audacious hotel in Florida — Alan Faena's concept of total artistic immersion results in a property where every surface, every object, and every experience has been conceived as part of a unified aesthetic vision. The lobby features a full woolly mammoth skeleton gilded in gold by Damien Hirst. The rooms are designed by Catherine Martin (Baz Luhrmann's creative partner and four-time Academy Award winner). The Faena Forum entertainment complex hosts the most significant events of Art Basel Miami Beach week, making this the center of the art world's most important American gathering each December. Los Fuegos by Francis Mallmann (the legendary Argentine open-fire chef) is on the beach with a wood-burning fireplace and a sense that meals here are events. The pool and beach scene is among the best in Miami Beach. Expensive and unapologetically so.
What Stands Out
- Damien Hirst gold woolly mammoth skeleton in the lobby — the most extraordinary hotel object in Florida
- Baz Luhrmann and Catherine Martin room design — four-time Academy Award winner
- Art Basel Miami Beach epicenter — the most important week in the American art calendar
- Los Fuegos by Francis Mallmann: open-fire beach dining at the highest level
- Faena Forum: the most significant cultural programming venue in South Florida