Bal Harbour
The land was an army training camp in the war, and after it a development plan reserved the ocean side for hotels and the bay side for houses; the Bal Harbour Shops opened in 1965 as an open-air centre of gardens and koi ponds and became one of the highest-grossing retail spaces per square foot in the world. About three thousand people live here, and there is no nightlife by design.
Why go
A shopping centre that became a village — the Shops opened in 1965 and the town grew around them. A mile of Atlantic beach — with a boardwalk under sea grape trees the length of it. A wartime origin — the land was an army training camp before it was anything else. Miami Beach next door — Bal Harbour is the quiet, expensive end of the same barrier island.
The character
Bal Harbour occupies the northern tip of the Miami Beach barrier island, and its history is unusually literal: the land was bought in 1930 by a Detroit consortium, used by the US Army as a training camp during the war, and developed afterwards on a plan that reserved the ocean frontage for hotels and the bay side for houses. The name is a coinage — bay plus harbour — and the village incorporated in 1946 with about a hundred residents.
What made it is retail. The Bal Harbour Shops opened in 1965, an open-air centre of gardens, koi ponds and luxury flagships that became one of the highest-grossing shopping centres per square foot in the world, and the village built its identity and its tax base on it. Today about three thousand people live here, mostly in ocean-front towers, and the place functions as the discreet counterweight to South Beach fifteen minutes south — same island, same ocean, no nightlife whatsoever.
Places of character
Bal Harbour Shops — open-air, planted, and worth walking even if you buy nothing; the koi and the gardens are the design. The oceanfront path — a mile under sea grapes, connecting to Surfside and Haulover south and north. Haulover Beach Park — the public beach across the inlet, with kitesurfing and a famous naturist section. Oleta River State Park — mangroves and mountain-bike trails across the bay, ten minutes west. Surfside — the neighbouring village, quieter still, with the beach and a small main street. Miami Beach and Wynwood — fifteen and twenty-five minutes south, for everything Bal Harbour deliberately lacks.
The way to do it
Walk the beach path rather than driving between towns — Bal Harbour to Surfside to Miami Beach is an hour on foot along the sand and the boardwalk. Use the village as a base for the north end of the island. And go into Miami proper for food and art, because this is not where either happens.
One perfect day
Swim before eight, then the beach path south through Surfside with the sea grapes and the joggers. Breakfast on the way back. Late morning at the Bal Harbour Shops for the gardens and the architecture of expensive retail. Lunch outside. Afternoon across the inlet to Haulover for kitesurfers, or west to Oleta for mangrove trails. Back for the ocean in the late light. Aperitif on a hotel terrace facing east, then a taxi south to Wynwood or Little Havana for dinner, which is the correct division of labour.
Grand hotels
St. Regis Bal Harbour — the village's landmark, three towers on the sand where the army camp stood. The Surf Club Four Seasons — a restored 1930 private club next door in Surfside, with Richard Meier's addition.
When to go
Best expression: December to April, the dry season, warm and clear. Consider: November, before the season, with the same weather and lower rates. Avoid if possible: August and September, humid and in hurricane season.
The frame
Ideal stay 2 nights · Minimum 1 night · Best arrival by air to Miami, then twenty-five minutes north · Airport MIA, 25 km · Walkability excellent along the beach · Best without a car yes for the island, no for the city