Ask five people in Miami where Miami Shores is and you’ll get five slightly different answers. “North of the Design District.” “Near Barry.” “By the golf course on Biscayne.” “Isn’t that just Miami?” All of them are partly right. Only one of them is wrong.
This guide answers the question properly: where Miami Shores, Florida is, what borders it, how you get there, and how it connects to the rest of South Florida. I’ve written it with a particular reader in mind, a man heading into sober living in northern Miami-Dade, or a family member trying to picture where he’ll be. Geography sounds like a small thing. When you’re planning meetings, a job commute and family visits without a car, it becomes a big one.
This is part three of our Sober Living in Miami Shores series.
The short answer
Miami Shores is a separate incorporated village, officially the Village of Miami Shores, in northeastern Miami-Dade County, Florida. It sits on the western shore of Biscayne Bay, along Biscayne Boulevard, a short drive north of downtown Miami. It is not a neighborhood of the City of Miami. It has its own mayor and council, its own police department and its own library.
So the person who said “isn’t that just Miami?” was the wrong one, although the confusion is understandable: many Miami Shores addresses are written with “Miami, FL” as the city, because that’s how the postal system handles the area. The practical upshot: when you search for an address in the village, include “Miami Shores” in the search, and when you see “Miami, FL 33138” on a letter, it may well be a Miami Shores home. Locals say “the Shores” for short.
What borders Miami Shores
Going around the compass:
- North: the Village of Biscayne Park, another small, leafy municipality.
- East: Biscayne Bay. Across the water lie the barrier islands and Miami Beach.
- South: the City of Miami, including the neighborhoods along Biscayne Boulevard south of the village line.
- Southwest: the Village of El Portal.
- West: unincorporated Pinewood.
Keep going north past Biscayne Park and you reach North Miami, then North Miami Beach, then Aventura at the Broward County line. That northern corridor matters for this series, because The Foundry’s Lakehouse sits in North Miami Beach, about seven miles up Biscayne Boulevard from the center of the village.
The numbers
- Incorporated: January 2, 1932.
- Population: 11,567 at the 2020 census, up from 10,493 in 2010.
- Area: about 3.8 square miles in total, roughly 2.5 square miles of it land; the rest is water.
- ZIP codes: the village is covered by several ZIP codes, including 33138, which Village Hall uses, and parts of 33150, 33153, 33161 and 33168.
- County: Miami-Dade.
- Area codes: 305 and 786.
- Village Hall: 10050 NE 2nd Avenue. The village’s official site is msvfl.gov.
A two-minute history
Before it was a suburb, the land that became Miami Shores was a working landscape: a starch mill processing coontie root, a tomato-packing operation, a sawmill, pineapple fields and a grapefruit grove. In the early 1920s it was assembled as Bay View Estates. In 1924 the Shoreland Company bought it to build a grand planned community called Miami Shores, led by Hugh M. Anderson, who had developed the Venetian Islands.
Then the boom went bust. The 1926 hurricane stopped development, and the Shoreland Company went bankrupt the following year. In 1928, the New Miami Shores Corporation, controlled by Bessemer Properties, took over; its general manager, Roy H. Hawkins, is remembered as the village’s principal founder. The village incorporated in 1932. Much of what you see today, the wide streets, the Mediterranean Revival houses, the golf course, traces back to that era, and a number of homes are now on the National Register of Historic Places.
Why mention this in a recovery blog? Because it explains the feel of the place. Miami Shores was planned as a residential garden suburb, and it has mostly stayed one. That is the quality men in early recovery tend to benefit from.
The main roads
Four routes define how you move through and around the village:
- Biscayne Boulevard (US 1) runs north–south along the eastern side. It’s the main bus corridor and the most direct route north to North Miami Beach, Aventura and Hollywood, and south to downtown.
- NE 2nd Avenue runs north–south through the middle of the village and forms its small downtown, with Village Hall, shops and cafes.
- Interstate 95 runs to the west and is the fastest highway route north to Broward County and south to downtown and the airports.
- The causeways to the south and north, including the 79th Street and Broad causeways, link the mainland to the beaches.
How far is Miami Shores from…
Driving distances are approximate and travel times depend heavily on traffic, which in South Florida can double a trip at rush hour.
- Downtown Miami: roughly 8 to 10 miles south.
- Miami International Airport (MIA): roughly 12 to 15 miles southwest.
- Fort Lauderdale–Hollywood International Airport (FLL): roughly 20 to 25 miles north.
- Miami Beach’s North Beach: a short drive east across the bay.
- Aventura: roughly 8 to 10 miles north on Biscayne Boulevard. We wrote a whole series on sober living in Aventura.
- Foundry: Lakehouse, North Miami Beach: about 7 miles north.
- Foundry: Beachhouse, Hollywood: about 16 to 18 miles north.
The live maps at the bottom of this page give exact routes from the village to both houses.
Getting around without a car
This is the section that matters most for men in early recovery, many of whom don’t have a car or a valid license when they arrive in sober living.
Buses
Miami-Dade’s Metrobus network runs along Biscayne Boulevard and other major corridors through and around the village, with connections north to Aventura and south to downtown. Routes and schedules change, so plan trips with the Miami-Dade Transportation and Public Works trip planner or a maps app.
Rail
No rail line stops inside Miami Shores today, but regional rail is within reach to the west and north. Tri-Rail runs north–south between Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties, with a station at the Golden Glades interchange northwest of the village. Metrorail serves stations further west and south. For many trips, a bus to a rail station is the practical combination.
Bikes and feet
The village’s residential streets are flat, shaded and quiet, which makes cycling and walking realistic for short trips for much of the year. Summer heat and afternoon storms are the main limits.
Rides
At The Foundry, residents get rides to appointments and meetings while they’re getting established, and men in good standing may have a car. Our post on getting around from sober living in North Miami Beach goes into detail on transit in this part of the county.
Recovery resources in and around Miami Shores
Knowing where a place is also means knowing what’s nearby. For men in recovery and their families:
- Meetings: northeast Miami-Dade has AA and NA meetings every day. Use AA’s finder and NA’s search, or read our Miami meetings guide.
- Treatment: if someone needs detox or clinical care, search licensed providers at FindTreatment.gov. Sober living is housing, not treatment.
- Certified recovery residences: the Florida Association of Recovery Residences lists certified houses.
- The library: Brockway Memorial Library for Wi-Fi, job searching and quiet.
- Parks and courts: the village’s parks and facilities.
- Crisis: call or text 988; call 911 in an emergency.
Four common mix-ups
South Florida’s place names are a minefield. These are the ones that trip people up most often around Miami Shores:
Miami Shores is not Miami Beach
Miami Beach is a separate city on the barrier islands across the bay. Miami Shores is on the mainland. You can see one from the other, but getting between them means a causeway and, at busy times, a fair bit of traffic. If a family member books a hotel “near Miami Shores” and it turns out to be on South Beach, the visit will involve more driving than anyone expected.
Biscayne Park is a town, not a park
The Village of Biscayne Park is Miami Shores’ small neighbor to the north. It’s easy to read it on a map and assume it’s green space. It’s a municipality with its own government and homes.
There are two Bayfront Parks
Miami Shores has a small Bayfront Park along North Bayshore Drive. Downtown Miami has a much larger, better-known Bayfront Park next to the Kaseya Center area. If you’re meeting someone at “Bayfront Park,” say which one.
North Miami and North Miami Beach are different cities
They sit next to each other, both have their own governments, and both are north of Miami Shores. The Foundry’s Lakehouse is in North Miami Beach. When you’re putting an address into a maps app, double-check which one it picked.
None of these matter much on a postcard. They matter a lot when a man without a car is trying to get to a meeting on time, or a parent is trying to find the house on a first visit after a long flight. Spell out addresses in full, including the city and ZIP code, and you’ll avoid most of the trouble.
Miami Shores versus its neighbors
If you’re deciding where in northern Miami-Dade to land, here’s a rough sketch of how the area hangs together:
- Miami Shores and Biscayne Park: quiet, residential, heavily treed, with small downtowns and few nightlife distractions.
- North Miami: a larger, more varied city with more commercial corridors, jobs and transit.
- North Miami Beach: residential neighborhoods, lakes and parks such as Greynolds, near Aventura and the beaches. Home to the Lakehouse. See our North Miami Beach sober living guide.
- Aventura: denser, with the mall, offices and the most retail jobs in the area.
- Hollywood: over the county line in Broward, with the beach, the Broadwalk and the Intracoastal. Home to the Beachhouse.
For a man in early recovery, each has its strengths. What matters more than the town is the house, the program and the daily routine.
Where The Foundry fits on the map
The Foundry runs two FARR-certified men’s sober living houses north of Miami Shores. Foundry: Lakehouse, at 871 NE 182nd Terrace in North Miami Beach, is the closer of the two: a lakeside home with eight bedrooms, kayaks, canoes and a fire pit. Foundry: Beachhouse, at 701 Hollywood Blvd in Hollywood, sits on the Intracoastal near Hollywood Beach. Both run the same program: curfew, randomized testing, meetings, chores, and work, school or an outpatient program.
To ask about availability, call (954) 817-7143. For more about the area, the rest of this series covers things to do in Miami Shores, whether Miami Shores is safe and planning a family visit.
Maps: Miami Shores to the Foundry houses
Here’s exactly where the village sits relative to both houses. Each map starts at the village community center on Park Drive.
