Best-of list
Miami's true summer rooftop bars: Sugar on the 40th floor at EAST, Watr at 1 Hotel South Beach, and Area 31 atop the Kimpton EPIC. The city under open sky.
The short answer
3 ranked rooms follow. How we picked is at the end of this guide.
Miami summers belong on a rooftop. The heat eases after dark, the skyline switches on, and the right terrace turns a drink into an event. We checked the usual top-ten lists against current listings and cut the closures, the speakeasies and the ground-floor pretenders. Three real summer rooftops survive the edit.
Sugar crowns the 40th floor of EAST Miami in Brickell, the highest rooftop bar in the city and a former number one on Conde Nast Traveler's US list. The Balinese bar is hand-carved, the share plates lean Asian, and the terrace runs a full 360 over Biscayne Bay. Go for the sunset, but note it is 21 and over after 6 pm, ID required. Best for a big-view first drink.
Full listing & hours →Watr sits 18 stories above the 1 Hotel South Beach, all Polynesian wood and open ocean. The kitchen runs a Japanese-Peruvian line, from lobster-roll sushi to charred octopus, and the bar pours sharp house cocktails and frozen drinks. It opens to the public at 6 pm, when the daytime calm tips into a DJ-led lounge. Go at dusk and take a rail seat facing the Atlantic.
Full listing & hours →Area 31 owns the 16th-floor pool deck of the Kimpton EPIC in downtown Miami, an open-air bar and seafood kitchen between two infinity pools above the river mouth. The menu is ocean-led and sustainable, the cocktails arrive poolside, and DJs play weekend afternoons from noon. Go for a long Saturday lunch that drifts into evening. Best for anyone who wants water below as well as on the horizon.
Full listing & hours →