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Beachfront Avenue! Driving this causeway between Miami and Miami Beach, over the glittering turquoise of Biscayne Bay, with a setting sun behind you, enormous cruise ships to the side, the palms swaying in the ocean breeze and, let's just say 'Your Love' by the Outfield on the radio, is basically the essence of Miami. Just try it, and trust us.
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American Airlines Arena
The sleek AA Arena, looking like a massive spaceship that perpetually hovers over Biscayne Bay, has been the home of the Miami Heat basketball team since 2000. The 20,000-seat venue has also hosted major concerts for folks like Dave Matthews and Madonna. The neon captions that run across the building's curves are cool to watch at night.
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Ancient Spanish Monastery
Miami is full of Spanish-style churches, but none with the soft cupolas and Moorish arches of the Episcopal Church of St Bernard de Clairvaux, which was actually built in 1141(!) in Segovia, Spain. In the 19th century the church was converted to a granary and eventually bought by newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst.
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Art Deco Welcome Center
To be honest, this 'welcome center' is a tatty gift shop. But it's located in the old beach patrol headquarters, one of the best deco buildings out there, and you can book some excellent around US$20 guided walking tours, which are some of the best introductions to the layout and history of South Beach on offer.
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Bacardi Building
You don't need to down 151 to appreciate the striking Miami headquarters of the world's largest family-owned spirits company. The main event is a beautifully decorated tower that looks like the mosaic pattern of a tropical bathhouse on steroids; inside is a small art gallery and museum dedicated to the famously anti-Castro Bacardis (think about what 'Cuba Libre' actually means the next time you order one).
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Barnacle State Historic Park
In the center of the Coconut Grove village is the 1891, 5-acre pioneer residence of Ralph Monroe, Miami's first honorable snowbird (a nickname for Northerners who fly south for the winter). The house is open for guided tours, led by folks who are quite knowledgeable and enthusiastic about the park.
The park is a lovely, shady oasis for strolling, especially if you're seeking refuge from the buy-buy-buy madness across Main Hwy. The park hosts frequent moonlight concerts, from jazz to classical.
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Bass Museum Of Art
The best art museum in Miami Beach has a playfully futurist facade, a crisp interplay of lines and bright white wall-space, like an Orthodox Church on a space-age Greek Isle. All designed, by the way, in 1930 by Russell Pancoast (grandson of John A Collins, who lent his name to Collins Ave). The collection isn't shabby either: permanent highlights range from 16th-century European religious works to Northern European and Renaissance paintings.
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Bay Of Pigs Museum & Library
This small museum is more of a memorial to the 2506 Brigade, otherwise known as the crew of the ill-fated Bay of Pigs invasion. Whatever your thoughts on Fidel Castro and Cuban-Americans, pay a visit here to flesh out one side of this contentious story. You'll likely chat with survivors of the Bay of Pigs, who like to hang out here surrounded by pictures of those white, Afro- and Chinese Cuban comrades who never made it back to America. And for God's sake, leave the Che T-shirt at home.
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Bayfront Park
It's not just green space: it's teal too. Few parks can claim to front such a lovely stretch of turquoise (ie Biscayne Bay), but Miamians are lucky like that. Lots of office workers catch quick naps under the palms at a little beach that does you the favor of setting out 'sit and chill' chairs for watching water and not a hell of a lot else.
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Bayside Marketplace
Hey, they've got a Hard Rock Café. Bet you don't have one of those in your town…no, wait, you probably do along with everything else in this mall. But the marketplace does face the bay, making this at least one of the more attractive semi-outdoor malls in the country.
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Bernice Steinbaum Gallery
After two decades in NYC, Steinbaum has moved south, where it's received a grand welcome for its mid-career contemporary artists such as Hung Liu, Kate Moran and Peter Walters.
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Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Recreation Park
If you don't make it to the Florida Keys, come here for a taste of their unique island ecosystem. The 494-acre park is a tangled clot of tropical fauna and dark mangroves - look for the 'snorkel' roots that provide air for the often half-submerged mangrove trees - all interconnected by sandy trails and wooden boardwalks and surrounded by miles of pale ocean.
Read more about Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Recreation Park
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Biltmore Hotel
In the most opulent neighborhood of one of the showiest cities in the world, the Biltmore peers down her nose and says, 'Hrmph.' It's one of the greatest of the grand hotels of the American Jazz Age, if this joint was a fictional character from a novel, it'd be, without question, Jay Gatsby. The history of this landmark reads like an Agatha Christie novel on speed. Al Capone had a speakeasy here, and the Capone Suite is still haunted by the spirit of Fats Walsh, murdered here.
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Biscayne Community Center & Village Green Park
A fantastic spot for the kids, there's a swimming pool, a park full of jungle gyms, an activity room with a playset out of a child's happiest fantasies and an African Balboa tree that's over a century old and teeming with tropical birdlife. Did we mention it's free? The unmissable park and community center are on the right side of Crandon Blvd as you drive south.
Read more about Biscayne Community Center & Village Green Park
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Black Heritage Museum
This roving museum presents rotating exhibits in areas of Miami, Chapman and Deering. It's the brainchild of teachers Priscilla S Kruize, Dr Paul Cadby and Dr Earl Wells, who set out in 1987 to establish a center that celebrates the cultures of African Americans, Bahamians, Haitians and other black cultures in Dade County.
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Boardwalk
What's trendy in beachwear this season? Seventeenth-century Polish gabardine coats, apparently. There are plenty of skimpy hotties on the Mid-Beach boardwalk, which runs from 21st to 46th Sts, but sometimes it feels like there are even more Orthodox Jews going about their business in the midst of gay joggers, strolling tourists and preening sunbathers. Not too much preening though; Mid-Beach is more of a 'real' beach (ie people swim here).
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Botanicas
The storefronts promise to help in matters of love, work and sometimes 'immigration services,' but trust us, there are no marriage counselors or INS guys in these shops. Welcome to the wide world of vodou . As you enter you'll probably get a funny look, but be courteous, curious and respectful and you should be welcomed.
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Brickell Ave Bridge
Miami Vice wasn't all exaggeration; drug-runners zipped under this bridge in power boats during a high speed chase with DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration) agents on the day it reopened. The bridge crosses the Miami River, and cars pass under a 17ft bronze statue of a Tequesta warrior and his family, which sits perched atop the Pillar of History, a column that details the pre-European history of South Florida.
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Brickell Key
This island looks like a floating porcupine with condos for quills, and is worth visiting to get a scary glimpse of a world where real estate barons rule unopposed. To live the life of Miami glitterati, come here, pretend you belong, and head into a patrician hangout like the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, whose lobby and intimate M Bar afford sweeping views of Biscayne Bay.
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Buick Building
This gallery exhibits some pretty outstanding installation shows, but it's best known as the gateway of the Design District because of its striking mural facade. Done on canvas in bright yellow and black, the images of Latin mythological figures were completed in 2000 by the married artist team of Roberto Behar and Rosario Marquardt.
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Calle Ocho
As SW 8th St heads away from downtown, it becomes Calle Ocho. That's when you know you've arrived in Little Havana, the most prominent community of Cuba-Americans in the US. But this is no Cuban theme park; it's a real neighborhood where real people live and work, and it's a great place to shop for Cuban music and clothes.
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Cape Florida Lighthouse
At the park's southernmost tip, the 1845 Cape Florida Lighthouse, the oldest structure in Florida, replaced one that was severely damaged in 1836 by attacking Seminole Indians. You can tour at and (free); tours are limited to about 12 people, so put your name on a sign-up list at least 30 minutes beforehand.
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Casa Bacardi
This site is of one of the best Cuban and Cuban-American studies programs in America, but there's no reason to drop in unannounced unless you're really into the Spanish-American war. But call ahead if you'd like to attend the Casa's open informative lectures and seminars (check the website for a calendar).
Movie presentations about Cuba are screened at Monday to Friday, and there's an underwhelming Cuban music pavilion that true son buffs will appreciate.
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Casa Casuarina
Casa Casuarina is a bit macabre. Not in and of itself: on its own, the Casa is a gorgeous if gaudy mansion smack on South Beach. But people mainly come here to see where fashion designer Gianni Versace was gunned down (before shopping at, no kidding, a now-closed nearby Versace outlet).
Here's the history: Back in the 1930s the Casa was dubbed the Amsterdam Palace, modeled after the Governor's House in Santo Domingo, where Christopher Columbus' son kicked it.
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Casa Elián
The surreal house of Elián Gonzales, subject of one of the most bitter international custody battles of the 1990s, is a shrine, a time capsule and an exercise in the creation of public iconography. Since 2001, the house has become a temple to the symbology of the most anti-Castro Cuban exile politics. The little property is scattered with homages to Jesus, American flags and images of Elian himself, who is all but explicitly labeled a little saint of his people.
