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Family Friendly Luxury in Miami

Nautilus South Beach

Photo Credit: Nautilus South Beach

There is a stigma that you can’t bring children with you to nice places.  This stigma is real and present, but with a dark enough pair of sunglasses you can block out the judgemental stares and enjoy some real luxury.

As a travel industry professional, I have grown to appreciate the finer things in life like 1500 thread count Egyptian cotton sheets, plush down pillows and avocado with basically everything, even my drinks.  I often doubt that other people enjoy these luxuries as much as me.  Regardless, I don’t plan to give all this up now that I have a family.

We booked our flights to Miami about 2 months before our trip and I don’t think a day went by without my wife or I mentioning how much we couldn’t wait.  We stayed at the Nautilus South Beach Resort and we had a blast doing pretty much nothing.  

Nautilus Location

The Nautilus is a few blocks from Lincoln Road on Collins Ave which meant we didn’t need to rent a car to get around.  I like having the freedom of a vehicle, but try to avoid them on a relaxing vacation.  It is far easier to step out of the airport and get in an UBER rather than standing in line at a rental agency.  As a rule of thumb I try to remove any ‘waiting’ from my vacations entirely.  It is bad enough that I have to wait for the vacation.

The Hotel

When you walk in, you just feel like you’ve made it.  Interpret that anyway you like, but that is the feeling.  

The lobby has an amazing fragrance that follows you throughout the entire hotel.  There was some very interesting art on the walls in the lobby as well as in the corridor leading to the pools.  The room floors were decorated very nicely using a dark wood theme, which was very ominous and relaxing.  All in all the layout was very well thought out. There was a nautical theme which I am sure stemmed from the name, but it was done subtly, unlike a cheesy bed and breakfast in Maine with pictures of sailboats everywhere.

Front desk was really helpful too.  We got in late after a few canceled flights and lost baggage.  The next morning we woke up to complimentary breakfast.  Not sure if this was the reason, but it extremely thoughtful and caused us to forget about our terrible travel experience the night before.

Nautilus Beach Hotel
Photo Credit: Cool Hunting

The Rooms

Bed was super comfortable.  You could get lost in the pillows and sheets.  Extremely elegant furniture in the room which was surprisingly big.  We had a nice closet with automatic lights and a safe.  The bathroom could have used more counter space, but we are pretty low maintenance for luxury travelers so we got over that aspect really quickly.  

All in all I was extremely happy with the rooms and their comfort.  We slept great and woke up happy.

Amenities

The staff here was incredible.  I don’t know what type of incentives management offers, but these guys were on point.   They got a crib up to our room within 5 minutes of us getting into the room.  Everyone bent over backwards for us everywhere we went and nobody knew I was a journalist.  

They have some cool looking bikes outside that appeared to be free and a concierge on duty basically all the time.  Front desk is also 24/7 and room service was available any-time I wanted food.  There is a restaurant on site which looked pretty cool.  I ate at the pool as my main goal was to be under an umbrella near water as often as possible.

The Pool

Every time I walked out to the pool, I was expecting to see Vince, Drama, Turtle and the rest of the crew from Entourage hanging out.  It is just that nice and private.  They have a kiddy pool and an adult pool.  There is a cabana bar at the far side of the pool and plenty of those super comfortable bed/chairs to sleep on.  

As soon as you walk out, you’ll be greeted and they’ll get you a bed.  I recommend going out before breakfast to reserve your spot.  They’ll hold it all day.  Drinks at the bar were good, but often took a long time to be delivered or forgotten altogether.   It didn’t really bother me so much as I was in extreme-relaxation mode.

Architectural Digest
Photo Credit: Architectural Digest

The pool was very private.  You couldn’t see anything outside of the resort.  They had this cool bamboo walkway leading to the beach.  This came in handy when trying to put our kid to sleep.  I think every female at the pool took a photo in this naturally shaded hallway at some point or another.  It was very Instagram-worthy.  

The gate to the beach was nice too.  Easy access and you could only re-enter with your room key which kept things private.  All in all I was very happy with the pool - definitely the most important feature of our stay.  

I am not sure if this hotel is positioned as “kid friendly”, but they were definitely accommodating to families.  We weren’t the only people there with kids, but music did get loud at the end of the day especially on weekends.  Things got a little “clubby” to say.  It wasn’t a big deal as we just transitioned to the beach when we felt uncomfortable being there with our child.

The Beach

Florida has beautiful beaches.  That is a standard.  The Nautilus had a nice set-up on these beautiful beaches.  The blue and white striped nautical theme continued onto the sand and there was a bar for beverages.  You could get almost anything on the beach that you could at the pool and the service did not suffer on the hot sand.

Lincoln Road

This is the famous pedestrian road in South Beach.  It’s extremely touristy which comes with great shopping.  My wife pushed the limits here and got some great items.  We had breakfast at a starbucks one morning, but didn’t try the local flavors on this road.  Mostly tourist traps with nice views.  It seemed like a ton of people liked it, but just not for us.  The shopping was the best part and we did that in the mornings, most open at 10am, before it got too hot.

Nautilus South Beach
Photo Credit: Magellan Luxury Hotels

Katsuya & SLS

Nearby is the SLS hotel.  This is widely referred to as one of the best hotels in South Beach.  We went to their pool bar and noticed how close it is to a main road.  Didn’t seem that private and the view of the road was unappealing.  This made us very happy about our private paradise next door.  Overall it is a really cool hotel and pool.  The designs are beautiful.

Inside is a restaurant called Katsuya which was amazing.  Food was delicious and the design was visually appealing.  Our waiter ordered all our food for us as we are not great decision makers and then disappeared only emerging to top-off our drinks.  I like to refer to this style as perfect service.  If I am happy and smiling please fill up my drink and leave me alone.  We both know the toro is amazing so just don’t ask.  I waited tables throughout university and trust me, waiters at a busy pricey restaurant also appreciate people that aren’t interested in small talk.  Great choice for a night out.

We sat next to a British couple and they mentioned their room at the SLS didn’t have a closet which we found odd.  I don’t want to bash a hotel I didn’t stay at and we have no ties to the Nautilus, but felt we received a better all around value and experience.

Ocean Ave.

This is a beach front street where the Versace mansion is along with a ton of restaurants.  If you want to walk along the beach it could be nice, but avoid the side of the street with all the restaurants.  It’s touristy and bothersome with people bugging you to eat at restaurants that serve frozen drinks in massive cups filled with sugar.  

We booked our vacation with the intention of decompressing by water, not to explore.  This allowed us to enjoy our resort and work around our daughters sleep habits.  If you want to explore this may not be for you, but if you just want some relaxation give it a thought.  We barely went to Miami and more so went to our resort.  We normally don’t travel like this, but with a child it made things easy.

My wife and I are ‘travel on a whim’ type people so we booked our airfare then waited to book our hotel.  We found a deal on Hotel Tonight which is a travel app we love.  Hotels offer massive discounts for last minute bookings.  We booked 5 days prior and paid about 60% of what was advertised.  This is only for people who are good risking things since they only list on this app if they are not sold out.  If you want a specific hotel think about booking directly.

Sean Finelli

American & Italian citizen and Internet Entrepreneur. I love travel, but not just any travel. I want comfy beds, infinity pools and the smell of lavender everywhere I go. I travel the world with my family and my goal is to be as comfortable as possible. Just because you have a small child does not mean you cannot go to amazing destinations and stay at luxurious hotels. Quite the opposite. ...(Read More)

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