‘Tis almost the season for Miami Art Week, when the art world (and those who want to be around them) flock to town for a relentless round of star-studded openings, Instagrammable installations and many an invite-only affair, from daytime parties in the sand and fancy fetes hosted by luxury fashion brands to late-night ragers that light up Instagram Stories in real time. And of course there are the actual art and design fairs, with Art Basel Miami Beach, now in its 23rd edition, still the showstopper, as proven by how many people insist they’re here for “Basel” despite never setting foot in the convention center where it’s held.
This year’s weeklong extravaganza once again takes over ever-exhilarating Miami Beach and spills into the Design District, Wynwood and beyond from December 1–7, 2025. In other words, expect traffic so slow it feels almost personal. The silver lining? The views from the backseat of your Uber as you inch along in that gridlock are nearly as entertaining as the rooftop soiree you’re thirty minutes late for: Christmas lights wrapped around palm trees, trippy installations peeking out from behind skyscrapers and designer-clad visitors pumping down heaving sidewalks like a runway collision waiting to happen.
As anyone who’s survived a few Miami Art Weeks will tell you, it’s so much more than pricey ticketed fairs. Case in point: this year’s most unconventional (and already sold-out, so join the waitlist) ticket is the Sukeban World Championship Fight from Japan’s electrifying all-female league. And if past ringside attendees are any indication—Saweetie, Diplo, Barbie Ferreira, Steven Yeun, Greta Lee, Jeffrey Deitch, Caroline Polachek, to name a few—you can bet this year’s front row will be every bit as wild as the in-ring costumes and theatrics.
And while you’re at it, you can skip the convention centers and tents altogether and get your art fix at Miami Beach’s chicest hotels, where lobbies, bars and palm-fringed pools temporarily morph into fashion and design pop-ups, gallery spaces, immersive installations, and so much more. From Parisian cult-favorite nightclub Silencio dropping into town for three delirious late nights at the sleek Miami Beach EDITION to a free, full-blown queer art fair turning hotel rooms into galleries at Hotel Gaythering, these are the hotels to check out this Miami Art Week—without having to check in.
The Standard Spa, Miami Beach
Follow the fashionable crowd to The Standard Spa, Miami Beach, the adults-only, laidback-luxe playground that always hums a little louder during Miami Art Week. Five guest rooms have been reimagined into multisensory suites by Moooi, each with its own theme and fragrance (and bookable through January 4). The Dutch design house also brings its vision into the hotel’s retro-chic lobby to debut a creative collaboration with British pop star Robbie Williams and debuts his sculptural, cloud-like “Introvert Chair.” In the mood to brighten up your Basel wardrobe? Stop by the Donde Esteban pop-up, the resortwear brand from Colombian designer Esteban Cortázar, for kaleidoscopic pieces and a capsule designed exclusively for The Standard. After grabbing a cold brew at Cafe Standard, check out Gantri’s vintage photobooth pop-up—because what’s a hip hotel without a photobooth? And you couldn’t ask for better lighting—Gantri’s sustainable, digitally manufactured lighting provides the warm glow of your dreams.
Access to The Standard’s sublime infinity pool—where impossibly stylish sunseekers lounge and sip margaritas on those signature lemon-yellow-and-white chairs—is reserved for guests, but linger long enough at this eternally cool hotspot and who knows, you might meet someone willing to slip you a wristband.
Faena Hotel Miami Beach
Faena Hotel Miami Beach isn’t just where the who’s who of the art and design crowd checks in for the week. The Baz Luhrmann–designed hotel feels like a lavish fever dream come to life: candy-striped umbrellas on its private beach, a crimson velvet–drenched theater oozing old-Hollywood glamour and Damien Hirst’s iconic “Gone But Not Forgotten” golden mammoth in the lush courtyard, making it a year-round must-visit for art lovers. It’s no surprise that Argentine hotelier Alan Faena’s beyond-opulent property is the crown jewel of the Faena District, the six-block cultural hub along Collins Avenue—especially this week, when Faena Art, the nonprofit behind some of Miami Art Week’s most ambitious public installations, marks its tenth anniversary.
On Faena Beach, British artist Es Devlin unveils “Library of Us,” a luminous 50-foot rotating triangular library constructed from 2,500 books. Back at the hotel, you’ll find her meditative “Reading Room” inside the Cathedral lobby and “Tracing Time” in the nearby Faena Project Room with layered drawings and gleaming works on glass.
The Miami Beach EDITION
Part sleek sanctuary, part nightlife haven, and fully stacked with wild-card amenities you didn’t know you needed, the Miami Beach EDITION is its own universe of crazy, sexy, cool. Like every property dreamt up by Studio 54 co-founder Ian Schrager, it’s a magnet for globe-trotting creatives, off-duty models and A-listers drifting through its lobby accented with towering palms in elegant white planters. That’s especially true during Miami Art Week when iPad-clutching publicists guard the doors of the hotel’s see-and-be-seen haunts, including Basement—home to a micro-club, a four-lane bowling alley, and, yes, an ice-skating rink.
This year’s lineup runs from an invite-only aperitivo hour in the Lobby Bar with Manolo Blahnik and Italian architectural designer Achille Salvagni to an open-to-the-public, reservation-required Art Week brunch and dinner at chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s Matador Room on December 5 with a family-style menu and curated wine pairings. For something free and open to the public, Cuban-born, Miami-based artist Amanda Linares unveils an earthy clay-and-graphite installation for Miami Beach’s juried No Vacancy program, reflecting on how landscapes hold memory.
But the hottest accessory of the week is the wristband for Silencio, the legendary David Lynch–designed Parisian nightclub dropping into Basement’s boîte for three unhinged late nights of dizzying sets from renowned DJs, where artists, curators, musicians and partygoers who look plucked from an edgy fashion campaign hit the dance floor under glittering disco balls deep into the night. If there’s one wristband worth scheming for this week, it’s this one.
Andaz Miami Beach
For a mesmeric multisensory dining experience with an Instagrammable edge of shimmering surrealism, look no further than the WE ARE ONA × Sabine Marcelis pop-up at Andaz Miami Beach. Marcelis—known for her light- and material-driven work with glass, resin and stone—teams up with Luca Pronzato’s experimental culinary studio to reimagine the Andaz’s beachside setting into a sublime dining room-meets-dreamscape. Picture this: blush-toned travertine tables from SolidNature, sculptural Bocci lighting glowing overhead, and a José Andrés Group menu inspired by Aguasal, the hotel’s Mediterranean-leaning restaurant, elevating the whole scene into fantastical dinner-party territory. It’s shaping up to be one of the week’s most coveted reservations, so snag one while you can and pull out your most exquisite dinner-party outfit.
The Shelborne by Proper
If you’re staying at The Shelborne by Proper for Miami Art Week, congratulations: you’ve basically booked yourself into a modern oceanfront mini-museum. Fresh off a $100-million glow-up, the 1940s Art Deco classic has been reborn as a bright and airy, pastel-hued fashion-editor fantasy, from its pool deck lined with aqua-striped loungers and framed by its photogenic original diving platform to its greenery-filled lobby. And just in time for Art Week, the hotel opened Pauline, its buzzy seafood-centric restaurant decked out with tropical hues, warm wood and charming porthole windows.
The Shelborne is going all out with art moments destined to hijack your camera roll. Argentine art star Pilar Zeta debuts “The Observer Effect,” a sci-fi-chic sculptural installation of prismatic portals on the beach that shifts with the sun. Hotel guests and Venture X cardholders can expect synchronized swimmers and Old Hollywood–tinged cinematic flair at “Alex Prager’s Mirage Swim Club,” presented by Capital One. Inside the Lobby Gallery, Miami-based artist Lee Pivnik’s “Wellspring” invites the Everglades indoors through video, stained glass, ceramics and a functioning sculptural fountain inspired by Florida’s water systems. Book lovers are in luck, too: Design Hotels is hosting Mexico City–based Casa Bosques for a month-long residency with a pop-up bookshop stocked with curated art, design and travel titles. Spoiler: once you’re here, you may never want to leave.
Hotel Gaythering
It’s all in the name at Hotel Gaythering. The gay-friendly, gay-owned-and-operated 21-and-older hotel is a favorite among queer locals and travelers who appreciate its relaxed, welcoming energy—a refreshing break from South Beach’s usual intensity. The boutique always charms, whether you’re at its neighborhood-y bar for drag-queen-hosted trivia, karaoke or dance parties, or unwinding inside the compact, men-only, clothing-optional sauna. During Art Gaysel—what the hotel proudly calls “the queerest art fair in Miami”—that everyday energy shifts into full-on party mode. Now in its 10th year, the three-day fair (running December 4–6) turns every guest room into a gallery showcasing artwork from dozens of queer artists from around the world, with pieces adorning bold red-painted walls, beds and leather chairs as cocktail-clutching guests wind through three floors and interact with the artists. Outside in the courtyard, you’ll find picnic tables crammed with people smoking, chatting, finishing drinks and figuring out which room-turned-gallery to hit next. Or you can drift into the bar for a guest DJ set, tip a go-go boy or take a quick sauna break before looping back into the fair. Aside from drinks and the sauna entry fee (complimentary for hotel guests and open late), the fair itself doesn’t cost a thing—and it’s fun, welcoming and refreshingly free of velvet ropes and hipper-than-thou scenesters.