Art Deco Weekend Visitor Guide

Last reviewed: November 1, 2026. Sources for this page are listed in its fact sheet.

Short answer first. Art Deco Weekend runs Friday, January 15 to Sunday, January 17, 2027, along Ocean Drive between 5th and 12th Streets in Miami Beach. It is the festival's 50th edition, it is hosted by the Miami Design Preservation League, and admission is free. The full 2027 schedule and theme publish in December, so the move now is the two things that do not wait: book a room within walking distance of Ocean Drive, and plan your days around the festival's proven shape, set out below, so the December schedule drops into a plan that already exists.

Ocean Drive at night, the festival's main street. This is an area photo, not a specific venue. Photo: Luis Erives, Pexels.

What is Art Deco Weekend, exactly?

The Miami Design Preservation League created Art Deco Weekend in 1977, a year after the League itself was founded in 1976, to draw attention to the Art Deco buildings of Miami Beach before they were demolished. The campaign worked: the Art Deco Historic District is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and the festival has become the League's largest education outreach program of the year, a free weekend of exhibitions, architecture tours, lectures, live music, and family activities staged on Ocean Drive itself. Recent editions have drawn more than 50,000 visitors across the three days, per the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau's festival listing. The 2027 edition is the 50th, which makes this January's weekend the anniversary edition of the event that saved the district it celebrates.

What is confirmed for 2027, and what is not?

Confirmed, checked November 1, 2026: the dates (Friday, January 15 to Sunday, January 17, 2027), the 50th edition, the Ocean Drive setting between 5th and 12th Streets, free admission, and the League as host. Not yet published: the 2027 theme and the day by day schedule. The Bureau's listing states the full schedule will be available in December, and this page will be refreshed when it lands. One caution against a common mix up: the 2026 theme, Celebrating Air, Land and Sea, about how airplanes, automobiles, and ocean liners carried the Deco style to Miami Beach, belongs to last year's edition. It is a good guide to the festival's tone, but it is not the 2027 theme, and any site presenting it as this year's is recycling.

What does the weekend actually look like?

The 2027 program is not out yet, so this section describes the pattern of recent editions, which the League repeats with variations each year. Treat it as the shape of the weekend, not a schedule.

The street itself. Exhibitions, vendors, and stages take over Ocean Drive and Lummus Park between 5th and 12th Streets, with the Art Deco Museum and Welcome Center at 1001 Ocean Drive as the festival's front door and the meeting point for tours.

The classic car show. The Antique Automobile Club of America South Florida Region lines Ocean Drive with antique cars, trucks, and motorcycles from the early 1900s onward, all weekend in recent editions. It is the most photographed hour of the festival and the easiest free win with kids.

Free walking tours. The League runs free Art Deco walking tours during the festival, alongside its year round paid tours, and recent editions have also offered themed tours, sketch walks meeting at the Welcome Center, and a Sunday morning dog walk along Ocean Drive.

Lectures at the Wolfsonian. The Wolfsonian FIU museum at 1001 Washington Avenue hosts the festival's lecture program; the Bureau's listing counts at least three lectures on Saturday and two more on Sunday in the recent pattern, on Deco design, transportation, and preservation.

Music and family programming. A stage in Lummus Park carries live music across the weekend, with a VIP evening on Friday in recent editions, and a free kids fun zone has run on Ocean Drive between 8th and 9th Streets in Lummus Park.

How do you plan the three days?

Friday, January 15: arrive and take the street at dusk. Check in, walk the full festival stretch once in daylight to learn the layout, then walk it again after dark when the neon is on. Friday evening is the locals' night, the calmest the street gets all weekend.

Saturday, January 16: tour day. Take a morning walking tour while the light is good and the crowds are still arriving, work the car show and the exhibitions midday, and pick one Wolfsonian lecture for the afternoon. Book Saturday dinner early; Ocean Drive and the side streets fill.

Sunday, January 17: lecture and beach day. A second lecture or the museum itself in the morning, a slow pass down the car show, and the beach across the street for the afternoon. If you are flying out Sunday, the festival is compact enough to do the morning properly and still make an evening flight.

When the December schedule publishes, slot its timed items into this frame rather than rebuilding the plan. That is the whole point of planning the shape now.

Do the architecture properly: the League's own tour

Art Deco Weekend is the one weekend a year when the district explains itself, but the League's official walking tour runs all year from the Art Deco Welcome Center at 1001 Ocean Drive. The standard tour lasts between 90 minutes and two hours and covers the three styles stacked inside the historic district: Art Deco, Mediterranean Revival, and Miami Modern, known as MiMo. If your trip extends past the festival, or you want the deep version without festival crowds, take the tour on a weekday morning. Our Art Deco walking tour guide compares the League's tour with the commercial options, and our South Beach and Art Deco District guide maps the streets the tour covers.

Compare Miami tours for Art Deco Weekend on Viator

Where should you stay?

Stay on or just off Ocean Drive and Collins Avenue in South Beach, and the whole festival is a walk, which matters because the streets around it are the worst parking problem of the Miami winter. Our Art Deco hotels guide ranks the historic properties themselves, several of which sit inside the festival footprint, and The Betsy, at the north end of Ocean Drive, pairs the festival with the strongest arts program of any hotel on the street. January is high season: rates for the festival weekend climb as the December schedule announcement reminds everyone the weekend exists, so the room is the thing to book in November.

Check South Beach hotel prices for Art Deco Weekend on Expedia

Getting there: arrive on foot, by the free Miami Beach trolley, or by a rideshare dropped on Collins or Washington Avenue. Do not plan to park on Ocean Drive during the festival; use a city garage a few blocks west and walk in, the same approach our Art Basel traffic and parking guide sets out for the convention center district a few blocks north.

Three ballet dancers performing on stage in dramatic light. Photo: Pixabay, Pexels.

Frequently asked questions

When is Art Deco Weekend 2027?
Friday, January 15 to Sunday, January 17, 2027, on Ocean Drive in Miami Beach. It is the festival's 50th edition.

Is Art Deco Weekend free?
Yes. The festival itself is free, including the street exhibitions and, in recent editions, festival walking tours and the kids zone. The League's regular year round walking tours and some special events are ticketed separately.

When does the 2027 schedule come out?
In December, per the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau listing. The theme is announced with it. This page will be refreshed when both publish.

Where does it happen?
Along Ocean Drive between 5th and 12th Streets, Miami Beach, with the Art Deco Museum and Welcome Center at 1001 Ocean Drive and lectures at the Wolfsonian FIU, 1001 Washington Avenue.

Keep planning

Pair the festival with the Art Deco hotels guide, the history of Art Deco in Miami, and the Art Deco District neighborhood guide. January's other big weekend is the Miami Marathon on January 31, and the full calendar sits on the Miami events hub.