Miami Beach vacations upended by city's curfew rules

WLRN Public Media | By Douglas Hanks

Published March 28, 2022 at 4:01 PM EDT

Closed restaurants and bars on Ocean Drive after the City of Miami Beach imposed a curfew. — Restaurants and bars on Ocean Drive were forced to close earlier than usual, on Saturday, March 26, 2022, as a midnight curfew was imposed by the City of Miami Beach for the South Beach area.

"This was a bust," said one tourist from Maryland. She spent $1,700 for four nights in town. "I'm totally disappointed."

Felicia Hughes spent $1,700 on four nights at a Washington Avenue hotel in the heart of South Beach for a long weekend out celebrating her niece’s 30th birthday. Then the group from Maryland found out they couldn’t even buy a drink after midnight.

“This was a bust,” Hughes, 54, said from a bench at the Chesterfield Hotel, where she and family arrived late Thursday from Maryland and found they couldn’t walk to a restaurant or bar after Miami Beach imposed a midnight curfew on the South Beach area. “I’m totally disappointed.”

Announced Wednesday morning, the midnight curfew south of Dade Boulevard brought another evening of thinned out crowds Saturday on Ocean Drive as visitors and locals headed across Biscayne Bay for clubs in downtown Miami, Wynwood and beyond.