This Popular And Colorful Florida City Known For Its Beaches Wasn't Always In The 'Best Of' Travel Lists

Florida remains a favorite vacation destination: The Sunshine State welcomed a record-breaking 143.3 million visitors in 2025, drawn to warm beaches, theme parks, outdoor fun, and tourist-welcoming towns. One particular locale that frequently appears on Florida's "best of" lists is its southernmost city, Miami. In 2024, the city was Google's third-highest destination search, and in 2025, even Lonely Planet named Miami its top Florida destination. It's easy to see why: Magic City boasts vintage nostalgia and high-end luxury alike, from South Beach's Art Deco pastel palettes and beachscapes dotted in rainbow-colored lifeguard stands, to glamorous nightlife, luxury yachts, and vibrant neighborhoods like Wynwood Arts District and Calle Ocho. But Miami had a dark chapter in its history, one that had the city topping crime lists instead of vacation search hits.

Miami became a tourist destination around WWI, and by the 1920s, it was booming. Elites built mansions along Brickell Ave, nicknamed Millionaire's Row. Developers lined South Beach with nightclubs and hotels, including the world's largest collection of Art-Deco architecture. Tourists flocked to the beaches. By the 1950s, Miami was a hotspot, attracting celebrities like Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, and Jackie Gleason, who nicknamed Miami, "The fun and sun capital of the world."

But by the 1970s, the economy was fueled by illegal drugs managed by the violent Colombian cartel. As portrayed in films like "Scarface" and documentaries like "Cocaine Cowboys," the criminal element exerted so much influence they ostensibly controlled the city. By the 1980s, Miami was known more for violence than vacations. In 1981, Time published "South Florida: Trouble in Paradise," in which it quoted FBI statistics ranking Miami third in the nation for 1980s' highest murder rate — 70 per 100,000 residents — while noting that "South Florida is just beginning to be the crime capital of the nation, but it has been the drug capital for a decade."

In 1982, the Miami Herald echoed TIME's sentiment even more strongly, writing: "South Beach today is the sickest, poorest and oldest population in America." By the 1980s, tourism brought less money into Florida than cocaine did. When Disney World opened in Orlando in 1971, Florida travelers opted for Orlando, increasingly so when Miami's race riots broke out in 1980. By the mid-1980s, tourism numbers in South Florida had stagnated, and hotel stays had significantly declined.

Besides the dirty money effect, Miami's cocaine cowboy era in some ways fits Florida's larger context. The state has long boasted a reputation for those looking to escape. For some, that means a vacation — for others, it's where you hide out on the lam. From Miami's reputation as a bootlegging paradise during Prohibition to a mobster hideaway to the 1980s drug wars — as journalist Glenn Garvin wrote for Reason in 2021, "Miami has been perpetually at war with itself."

In the decades since, Miami's done a 180 on its image — in large part thanks to the 1980s television series "Miami Vice" that portrayed the city's era of drug-spurred crime and violence with stylistic flair. Many of the show's filming locations became tourist destinations, like the Cape Florida Lighthouse on the tip of Key Biscayne with a view of Miami Beach. By the 1990s, city leadership had again begun touting tourism, rebranding its image and embracing the edgy coolness "Miami Vice" had introduced to the world. In 2000, the city welcomed 10.5 million visitors — in 2024, 28 million, with just 31 reported homicides in 2023.

"When you're in Miami, every day can be a beach day," the city's website proudly declares. 17 miles of white sand beaches dotted with colorful art-deco lifeguard stations are certainly its main — but not only — draw. Pair them with vibrant nightlife, a thriving art scene (including prestigious Art Basel), and a diverse culinary landscape with 15 Michelin-starred restaurants, street food, and enough international choices to eat your way around the world. It's also become a sports powerhouse, partly because of Inter Miami soccer player Lionel Messi, whose superstar power, known as the "Messi effect," has garnered an economic boost for Miami tourism. Miami also hosted several 2026 World Cup games, elevating its reputation as a global sports destination.

The Miami Design District is also a draw. This luxury shopping and dining neighborhood boasts high-end shops like Hermès and Versace and Michelin-starred restaurants Cote and Karyu, alongside art galleries and events. Attractions like Wynwood and Little Havana and proximity to Everglades National Park add to the city's appeal, as does its reputation as "the cruise capital of the world." Miami's not just a great place to play: In 2026, Southern Living Magazine named it one of the top places to live in Florida year-round, and AFAR listed it fourth overall in the U.S. — a concept inconceivable 40 years ago.

Florida still embraces its eccentrics and oddities (hello "Florida Man"), and while Miami's crime statistics have lessened, other Florida locales still boast some of the nation's most negative superlatives: on the other end of Miami-Dade County, Florida City, a suburban gateway to the Florida Keys is one of the most violent cities in the U.S. Nevertheless, Miami's transformation is a testament to how quickly the landscape — and a city's reputation — can change with leadership and perception.