Miami - Miami is the Queen, Empress and First Lady of American seaside resorts rolled into one. And this year marks the 100th anniversary of the creation of Miami Beach, the city’s golden thread on the blue Atlantic.
Celebrities aplenty strut the gilded sands and stalk fabulous hotels and high-end restaurants and shops. But Miami is open to all-comers, with wonders available on any budget. GARETH HUW DAVIES picks six of the best things about the city…
1...Living the dream
Miami Beach, a ten-mile long coastal resort built on a series of linked islands, is 100 years old this year. The heart of the frantic Miami experience is South Beach (Sobe). You can live the dream in the top spots, even if you only buy a drink in the bar.
The Fontainebleau hotel is one such hotspot, having just undergone a $1 billion renovation. Its fabled winding ‘Staircase to Nowhere’ has just one purpose – to let elegantly dressed couples make a grand descent to the lobby.
News Cafe, in the Art Deco district, is a good spot to people-watch. Alternatively, hire a convertible and drift down Ocean Drive, or stroll the wooden walkway past starlets and preeners.
2...What’s cooking?
THE city’s cuisine is a big, happy cauldron stirred up by the cooks of many cultures, from Peruvian, Mexican and Argentinian, to Bavarian and Italian. And there are plenty of traditional steakhouses too, if that’s more your taste.
Tap Tap is a cosy and authentic Haitian place – try the conch salad and the goat stew, or the poached yellowtail snapper.
Versailles is one of Miami’s premier Cuban restaurants, bright and gaudy in Little Havana. One speciality is vaca frita – literally ‘fried cow’, tender beef shredded and crisped in a pan. Xixon, on Coral Way, is said to offer the best tapas outside Spain.
3...Sophisticated SoFi
The area at the foot of South Beach wasn’t always a hit in tourist guides. Rough, edgy and unsafe, it was the perfect setting for scenes in Miami Vice. Now developers have transformed it into the city’s latest gilded district, all swanky hotels, restaurants and million-dollar condos – and even given it the catchy nickname of SoFi (south of 5th Street).
The snazziest strolling is done in South Pointe Park, where Joe’s Stone Crab is the place to eat, or else take sunset cocktails at Smith & Wollensky’s patio bar. Hire your wheels at Miami Beach Bicycle Center (601 5th Street).
4...The beat goes on
Miami pulses to a multinational musical beat in some of the sharpest clubs around. No venue rivals the sensuous lines of the New World Symphony Center. Designed by Frank Gehry, it opened in 2011 with the aim of making concerts less stuffy. The resident New World Symphony Orchestra stages events for many tastes. No ticket? Just sit in the park and watch live feeds of performances beamed on to the side of the building.
The city promotes its live music and entertainment scene in Miami Live Month.
5...Building on the past
On one level, Miami is a big frothy marshmallow of a resort with mega-malls and boutique shopping. It also preserves a proud and precious history. The hundreds of hotels, apartments and other buildings from between 1923 and 1943 make up the world’s largest collection of Art Deco architecture. One way to savour all those vivid pastel buildings, sculptural panels, porthole windows and neon lighting is to join a guided tour with illustrious local historian Professor Paul George. He offers a wide portfolio of trips on bike, by foot or bus. Random stops may include the beach house of mobster Al Capone and the doorstep where designer Gianni Versace was murdered. There is also a bus tour of Miami’s famous film locations and renowned art cinemas.
Meanwhile, Heritage Month turns the focus on the city’s deep multi-cultural roots (historymiami.org).
6...Go wild
Few big cities are as close to such strange and fabulous wildlife as Miami. The Everglades is the nation’s foremost subtropical wilderness – sparkling slabs of water amid prairies of head-high sawgrass. This is an important habitat for the endearing manatee, American crocodile, and the elusive Florida panther. Shark Valley is the closest of four Everglades visitor centres (nps. gov/everglades).
Closer still is Biscayne Nature Center at Key Biscayne, where they protect a fragile slab of shore, mangroves and coral reef.
And if you’ve got time, pootle on down the glorious Florida Keys, that lazy string of islands, bursting with little towns of character.
lmiamiandbeaches.com, miamitemptations.com
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