本指南 · 11 章節
Gay bars and clubs in Miami Beach (2026)
The honest summary: Miami Beach's gay nightlife is small and walkable. Four dedicated gay bars, all in South Beach, carry it in 2026: Twist, Palace, Bar Gaythering and Lust Lounge. Add one mixed bar with regular queer nights and a ticketed drag show, and that's the scene. Score, Trade and Nathan's have closed, and Foxhole no longer runs gay nights. The rest of the region's gay bars are on the mainland, in Wynwood, Little Havana and North Miami, or 45 minutes north in Wilton Manors.
Where to go
Almost everything is in a 15-minute walking triangle. Twist and Lust are on Washington Avenue between 10th and 13th Streets. Palace is on Ocean Drive, facing the 12th Street gay beach. Bar Gaythering is at the west end of Lincoln Road, inside the gay hotel of the same name. Kill Your Idol is on Española Way, halfway between them.
The bars
Twist
Twist (1057 Washington Avenue) has been open since 1993 and is still the main gay club on the island: seven bars and three dance floors on two levels, plus a patio, with no cover charge. It's open every day from 3pm to 5am. Thursday is Latin night, and on Fridays CC Glitzer hosts a drag show at midnight. Go-go dancers work most nights. Google reviewers give it 3.6 from more than 1,400 reviews; the usual complaints are service and drink prices.
Palace
Palace (1052 Ocean Drive) has been the Ocean Drive drag bar since 1988, at this address since 2017. Queens perform out on the pavement and work the tables. Drag brunch is Monday at noon and Friday to Sunday at 11am and 2pm (about $60 with bottomless mimosas), and dinner shows run nightly from about 7pm. Book ahead for weekend brunch. The crowd is mixed, with lots of straight birthday and bachelorette groups.
Bar Gaythering
Bar Gaythering (1409 Lincoln Road) is the lobby bar of Hotel Gaythering and the closest thing to a local gay pub: happy hour daily from 5pm to 8pm, karaoke on Monday, trivia on Wednesday, bingo on Thursday, the Bears & Hares night on Friday and a T-Dance on Sunday from 4pm to 8pm. It opens at 5pm and closes at midnight, or 2am at weekends. The men's sauna is in the same building.
Lust Lounge
Lust Lounge (12th Street at Washington Avenue) is LGBTQ-owned and opened on 25 July 2025 as the first venue in the city's Pop-Up Venue Program; by day the space is Wanderlust Café. Nathan Paul Smith, formerly of Nathan's, hosted a Friday Drag Race watch party there in early 2026. It's small and the line-up changes, so check its Instagram before you go.
Mixed bars and shows
Kill Your Idol (222 Española Way) is a kitsch dive with a mixed crowd, no cover and cheap drinks. It isn't a gay bar, but it runs drag every Friday and hosts Gender Blender, a monthly queer punk and drag party that has been going since 2017.
Diva Royale runs a celebrity-impersonation drag dinner show at Revenge Nightclub, 1532 Washington Avenue, on Friday and Saturday at 7:30pm, with a Sunday brunch show. It's a ticketed tourist show, mostly booked by bachelorette parties.
Big weekends
The scene swells for Winter Party (5 to 8 March 2027), when pool parties and club nights spill into mainstream hotels, and for Miami Beach Pride (festival 10 and 11 April 2027), when the block in front of Palace is the busiest stretch of Ocean Drive. URGE's Thanksgiving weekend (27 to 30 November 2026) runs parties at venues in Miami and Miami Beach.
Closed or changed
- Score and Trade (1437 Washington Avenue): closed. Time Out listed Score as gone in April 2024.
- Nathan's Beach Club (1216 Washington Avenue): closed in 2025.
- Foxhole (1218 14th Court): hosted Nathan's nights in 2025 but now operates as a general speakeasy.
- Club Boi: a monthly party in North Miami, not on the island.
- Mova: closed, per Time Out in April 2024.
- Arriving before midnight is early at Twist; it fills from about 1am, and later still on big weekends.
- You must be 21 to drink in Florida, and bars check ID strictly. Bring a passport or driver's licence.
- Cocktails cost about $15 to $20 at the main venues. Palace brunch is the one thing you need to book.
- South Beach is walkable and the city runs a free trolley; use a rideshare after a night out.
Practical tips
For the sauna, beaches and Pride, see the Miami Beach city guide. Last verified: October 2026.