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Condé Nast Traveler picks
 Best of Miami
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With endless stretches of white sand, a sultry tropical climate, and a vibrant local culture, Miami is a nonstop summer vacation. Locals are just as likely as visitors to engage in some serious leisure time, logging hours on the beach or at a sidewalk café instead of in the office. When the heat gets too intense, there are plenty of indoor options: upscale shopping, trendy restaurants, and world-class museums.
Attractions & Activities Miami's 35-mile stretch of beachfront runs from the tip of South Beach to the northern Sunny Isles, and circles Key Biscayne before meeting the Atlantic. Collins Avenue's public beaches are well maintained and have lifeguards, public bathroom facilities, and concession stands. On weekends, they can get crowded; if you don't care to sunbathe next to a boom box or an impromptu volleyball tournament, head to Key Biscayne, where the beaches have softer sand and are less developed and more laid-back (miamidade.gov/parks). South Florida offers fabulous shopping and window-shopping, if that's more your speed. South Beach's Lincoln Road is a seven-block-long pedestrian street mall where you can peruse the latest designer club gear or pick up a beach read (miamibeachfl.gov/newcity/tourism/lincolnroad.asp). If you've got an unlimited bankroll, Bal Harbour Shops, in the tony neighborhood of the same name north of South Beach, and the Village of Merrick Park, in the residential Coral Gables area, are at your service. Both open-air malls cater to chic, wealthy, and sometimes famous clients. Bal Harbour has a laundry list of big-name designers, from Gucci and Fendi to Dior and Prada (balharbourshops.com). The newer Village of Merrick Park, with a convenient location in South Miami and a Jimmy Choo shop, is catching up (villageofmerrickpark.com). Miami's funkiest neighborhood, Coconut Grove, between South Miami and Brickell Avenue, began as a community of Bahamian fishermen and became an artists' colony. Its outdoor CocoWalk and Streets of Mayfair malls have mostly standard offerings—chains, surf shops, and some boutiques—but the surrounding streets are packed with funkier stores, bars, and restaurants. Stake out a seat at a sidewalk café to watch the parade of bronzed models-in-training, slick Latin lotharios, and polished matriarchs. Little Havana may be the best place to experience Cuba without leaving the United States. The 30-block neighborhood just southwest of downtown has been the heart of Miami's Cuban community since the 1960s. Its main drag, Calle Ocho, is lined with restaurants and encompasses El Paseo de las Estrellas (Walk of the Stars), where star-shaped plaques pay tribute to Latin American celebrities. At El Credito Cigar Factory, cigars are still rolled by hand; take a tour of the facilities or pick up a case of freshly made stogies in the store (1106 S.W. Eighth St.; 305-858-4162). In Maximo Gomez Park—known locally as Domino Park—mostly older generations of men meet to play dominoes and chess; on Friday nights, there's a boisterous late-night block party. Miami's palm tree–lined avenues pass through some great art scenes. The Miami Design District, an 18-block area north of downtown, has more than 120 high-end showrooms and a clutch of galleries, restaurants, and clubs in former storefronts and warehouses (miamidesigndistrict.net). A great time to visit is during the annual Art Basel Miami Beach. The stateside offshoot of Switzerland's legendary Art Basel festival, it takes place in December and features works from more than 190 galleries around the world (artbasel.com). The Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami, though a relatively young museum (it turned ten in 2006), has an eclectic permanent collection of rising artists and a packed schedule of performances and lectures (305-893-6211; mocanomi.org). Inside a seven-story Mediterranean-style building, the Wolfsonian–Florida International University has a fascinating collection of 70,000 industrial age objets d'art, including everything from cameras and posters to furniture and books (305-531-1000; wolfsonian.org). Lodging With its constant flow of visitors from all walks of life, Miami has a hotel for every taste. Several appear on Condé Nast Traveler's Gold List of the best hotels in the world, including the Mandarin Oriental Miami, on Brickell Key, and three in South Beach: the Ritz-Carlton, Key Biscayne; the Ritz-Carlton, Miami Beach; and The Hotel. The Four Seasons Hotel, in a 70-story tower (the city's tallest) in Miami's financial district, has to 221 luxe rooms and a two-acre terrace on the seventh floor with three swimming pools and an alfresco bar and restaurant. South Beach has been on the forefront of the boutique hotel trend for more than a decade. One of the original designer properties, the Delano remains popular despite the influx of new offerings and its hipper-than-thou attitude. Even if you don't stay there, it's worth checking out just to see Philippe Starck's dramatic lobby with floaty white curtains. In 2002, The Raleigh, a 1940s Art Deco icon, reemerged as a renovated slice of Old Havana, with terrazzo floors, rattan-and-cane furniture, and a virtual forest of palm trees. Just off hectic Ocean Drive, the Sanctuary South Beach caters to those who want to be near the action but not enveloped in it. The 30-suite boutique hotel has plenty of perks, including a Bentley for cruising Ocean Drive and a G4 private plane available for charter. If you check in and find that you just can't bear to check out again, the hotel even sells suites as condos. One of the most recent arrivals, the trendy Hotel Victor, designed by Parisian style guru Jacques Garcia, has a prime spot on Ocean Drive and a colorfully offbeat decor: to wit, the lobby's comfy white couches, kitschy-cool lamps, and modernist chartreuse-and-eggplant lounge chairs. Amanresorts founder Adrian Zecha transformed the 1930s Dempsey Vanderbilt Hotel into the long-awaited Setai, which opened in 2005. Opulent Asian-inspired decor and top-of-the line accoutrements fill all the rooms; high rollers can book the 10,000-square-foot penthouse with its private rooftop pool overlooking the ocean. Dining The city's poshest hotels also have some of its most glamorous tables. At Azul, at the Mandarin Oriental, a white marble open kitchen gives way to a raw bar. Diners can feast their eyes on the sweeping ocean views through the floor-to-ceiling windows while tucking into the pan-roasted Alaskan halibut with creamy corn and bacon-wrapped French beans or the Colorado lamb with charred eggplant and feta (305-913-8254; entrées, $24–$38). The Restaurant at the Setai serves up transethnic dishes from around the globe, with an emphasis on Indian, Thai, and Chinese cuisines. Try the salt-pressed Tasmanian ocean trout with kalamansi dressing, nashi pear, and daikon sprouts (305-520-6400; entrées, $30–$60). Miami foodies buzz about Ola Miami, a nouveau Latin restaurant by Douglas Rodriguez, the Miami-born chef behind popular New York restaurants Chicama and Pipa. In his home city, Rodriguez offers revamped versions of old favorites such as crispy crab empanadas and plantain-crusted mahimahi (425 Ocean Dr.; 305-695-9125; entrées, $18–$29). In South Beach, the News Café is a perennial favorite, more for its location on Ocean Drive than for its food. The restaurant serves appetizing salads and Middle Eastern platters, however, and has a great outdoor seating area (800 Ocean Dr.; 305-538-6397; entrées, $10–$25). In the wee hours, Miami's young and fashionable satisfy their comfort-food cravings at the retro Big Pink, which serves up diner staples such as burgers and nachos as well as more haute choices such as Portobello mushroom and goat cheese pizza, sesame-seared tuna, and Argentine steak salad (157 Collins Ave.; 305-532-4700; entrées, $10–$20). Known as much for its famous clientele as its seafood, Joe's Stone Crab is a Miami Beach institution. Since it can be overrun with tourists, most locals steer clear unless they're wooing a business client (11 Washington Ave.; 305-673-0365; entrées, $6–$42). Monty's Stone Crab's two locations—in Miami Beach and Coconut Grove—are deservedly popular with locals and tourists. Sit at one of the worn picnic tables overlooking the water and, instead of the fancy entrées, go for basics such as fresh stone crabs, conch fritters, and raw bar options (300 Alton Rd.; 305-673-3444; entrées, $15–$39). Little Havana is chockablock with Cuban restaurants, but the one everyone agrees is a must is Versailles. Embrace the kitschy decor (chandeliers, gilded mirrors) and order a steaming plate of ropa vieja (literally "old clothes," it's shredded beef with garlic, onions, and peppers) or arroz con pollo (3555 S.W. Eighth St.; 305-444-0240; entrées, $5–$20). Truth in Travel is the guiding principle for all content published in Condé Nast Traveler. Other travel publications often accept free travel and accommodations. Condé Nast Traveler does not. It is independent of the travel industry. The magazine always pays its way, and, as far as possible, its correspondents travel anonymously. By doing so, they experience the world—both the good and the bad—as other travelers do, and their reports and recommendations are fair, impartial, and authoritative.
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