The best bars in South Beach to avoid the tourist traps

Forget South Beach—Sweet Liberty is known as one of the best bars in Miami. Period. This flashy cocktail bar whips up amazing cocktails alongside a menu of fresh seafood and delicious bar food. Happy hour (95-cent East Coast oysters, $5 beers, $7 to $8 wines and $10 select cocktails) is every day from 4 to 8pm.

The great Mac Klein ran this bar, one of Miami’s oldest, until he passed away in 2016 at the ripe old age of 101. Today, his bar lives on just as he intended it: old-school, smoky and unpretentious. Stop here to drink beneath the bar’s neon lights, which were installed during the filming of a Miami Vice episode.

Rum gets the treatment it deserves at Swizzle, with an inventive cocktail menu that explores the full depth and nuance of this quintessential Caribbean spirit. Ideal for a boozy nightcap, this dimly lit drinking den hidden in the Stiles Hotel boasts more than 150 varieties in a cozy, low-key atmosphere.

When the team behind Lost Boy Dry Goods opened in Downtown, nobody expected a damn good cocktail bar smack in the center of what was then an area with little draw. Apparently, they repeated this thinking with Tropezón on touristy Española Way. Here, they’ve done up an Andalusian gin and tapas theme, and it’s primarily about that gin, with nearly two dozen variations infused with everything from nuts to cured meats.

As the name implies, Minibar is diminutive. But what it lacks in size it makes up for in personality. The decor is chic, the vibe is intimate and laidback and the cocktails are really solid. Minibar has remained a quintessential watering hole for South of Fifth cool kids. On the weekends, resident DJs play a solid mix of ’80s and ’90s-heavy dance hits, from Queen and Abba to Technotronic and everything in between.

The vibe at this moody, windowless bar in the basement of the Gale South Beach is ’70s glam, South Beach-style: It’s got a velvet rope out front, a disco ball and a glass ceiling. The music programming is stacked with DJs Wednesday through Sunday, and mellower moments like live jazz and samba setting the stage in the evenings. Beverages come under the creation of Naren Young of Sweet Liberty (and formerly the creative director of Dante NYC, back when it was dubbed the World’s Best Cocktail Bar). Order a super-smooth sazerac with chocolate and rose.

If you were to think about Twist as a human being, you’d see it as a tanned and horny 22-year-old man, slowly unbuttoning his shirt to show you the best South Beach has to offer. While gay clubs in South Beach have come and gone, Twist remains the place for any gay man in town to end his night. Two levels and seven bars make this a must-visit—you can bar-hop without ever having to step outside the premises.

Hidden on the ground floor inside the Esme Hotel, El Salón blends the aesthetic of a Moroccan riad drawing room and a sultry, Old Hollywood boudoir. The most popular cocktails here are the margarita and a very bright and gingery penicillin. And while a Mai Thai anywhere else is likely a miss, El Salon's could raise Hemingway from his grave. If you’re feeling fun, make this the first cocktail you order. Recently, the bar added live comedy and Cuban jazz to its lineup of weeknight programming (entertainment kicks off around 8pm).

This disco ball-strewn, neighborhood gay lounge recently got a well-deserved glow-up in its South Beach digs on Washington Avenue. You and your friends will most likely spend the night rubbing up against fellow cuties in the tight space in between the bar and the booths, which definitely passes as a dancefloor in our book.

Plenty of South Beach hotels have a rooftop bar, but Watr stands out enough to make braving the tourists (and the price tags) worth it. If you’re set on a sleek, buzzy cocktail scene with 360-degree ocean and city views, it doesn’t get more spectacular than Watr. Non-hotel guests should plan to make reservations for dinner (recently revamped with a Japanese-inspired menu), which lights up nightly with DJs and live performances.

The Abbey serves up dive-y vibes (read: pool, darts, jukebox) and a welcome change of pace from the frilly Lincoln Road, which sits just a block behind it. Fans rave about the house-brewed beers and the stellar IPA lineup, but booze is also on the menu here.

The Deuce isn’t the only spot in South Beach where you’ll find neon lights, a dingy pool table, cheap-as-dirt drinks and a rotating cast of lovable degenerates. A stalwart sports dive in the ever-trendy and manicured South of Fifth ’hood, Ted’s is a dark and cool escape from the elements where dogs are welcome and dress codes are strictly unenforced.

The team behind Ariete and Chug’s cooked up this petite, polished South of Fifth bar. ScapeGoat prides itself on its cocktails, which are quite good. Don’t expect the serious cocktail bar attitude here, though. It’s a lowkey atmosphere, but things can get silly at night. At happy hour, score $10 cocktails like a basil gimlet and rum punch.

This stunning third-floor rooftop overlooking Lincoln Road is part of a multi-level concept that also includes an exclusive members club and intimate omakase counter. The indoor-outdoor terrace features two bars, both of which are first come, first served—or you could opt for a reservation at one of the restaurant's many lounge-style tables, ideal for a group. Nightly, live fire dancers (some of the most impressive we've seen anywhere) light up the beautiful central water feature, which anchors the lush, Mediterranean-Asian-inspired space.  

Miami’s undisputed champion of drag brunch. They practically invented the pairing of mimosas and drag queens and continue to do it (on the sidewalk of Ocean Drive, no less) better than anyone in town. Reservations for the popular weekend brunch shows are advised. The $45 per person fee comes with food and bottomless mimosas.

Kill Your Idol is a beloved, for-the-people bar in a chunk of South Beach ripe with tourist traps. Don’t fear the life-size statue of Bruce Lee hanging menacingly over the bar. He is simply there to ensure you have a blast in this classic Miami Beach bar that maintains old-school South Beach hours, opening at 8pm and not closing until 4am every day.

Moody, intimate, nostalgic—the Standard Spa Miami Beach’s sexy little cocktail den harkens back to bars of the ‘70s and ‘80s, when drinks were more involved and people actually sat around to sip them. Monterrey Bar’s menu puts a modern spin on classic tipples with thoughtful garnishes and tableside finishers that enhance the overall drinking experience.

The cute bar of the Kimpton Angler's Hotel takes its cocktail program seriously and the proof is in the glass. Both outdoor and indoor seating is available as well as a seafood-heavy menu featuring a sneaky good Rhode Island lobster roll. The cocktail menu is approachable and fresh with ingredients like mango, pineapple and passionfruit, and they’ve got some good choices behind the bar.

Head to The Roof at Esmé Miami Beach Hotel for breezy sunset drinks and laidback tunes from local DJs Monday through Thursday starting at 5pm. Cocktails go for $10 during happy hour (through 7pm), but this poolside bar's hip, chilled-out scene and jugs of excellent house-made sangria make for a worthy stop no matter the time of day.