Miami

Like all great cities, Miami and Miami Beach have a distinctive architectural style. Actually, art deco is Miami's (and Miami Beach's) aesthetic signature – you’ll be hard-pressed to find a better concentration of it outside of this city. The style is an early 20th-century expression of an aesthetic that embodied an anti-traditional elegance and symbolized wealth, progress and sophistication. Miami's art deco architecture is a mix of the symmetrical and streamlined elements with the whimsical motif and colors of the tropics. It's thoroughly loveable.

Miami’s hippest residents pop into South Beach clubs occasionally, but for years the loci of cool-kid activity has been Wynwood and the neighboring Design District. Many buildings in these former working-class ‘hoods have been transformed into galleries, studio spaces, art warehouses and sometimes all of the above. Every month these art outposts throw open their doors on a night of art openings – a showcase for some of the rising stars in the art world. Wine flows as an art-loving crowd hops from gallery to gallery.

If you think Miami is all velvet ropes and phony people, you have this city all wrong. Nightlife here is as diverse as Miami’s population. You’ll find brassy Latin jazz joints, buzzing microbreweries, friendly neighborhood pubs, stylish rooftop lounges, creatively configured cocktail dens, open-air music jams in backyard bars and bass-heavy nightclubs where the dance party continues well into the next day. The best way to see it is to get out and join the fray. For great atmosphere and live music, Lagniappe is a fine place to start.

When people think of fun in the sun and Miami, their mental Rolodex often flips to two words: South Beach. And don’t get us wrong! South Beach is stupendous. But if you’re interested in escaping the crowds and the pressure to look fabulous, head to North Beach. People-spotting aside, this is generally a higher quality of beach. Places such as Haulover Beach Park are pretty enough to serve as your screensaver, and if you really fancy a complete tan, there’s a clothing-optional beach here, too.

With the ocean at its doorstep, and the gulf nearby, Miami has access to incredible seafood. You’ll have the opportunity to feast on some of the best ingredients plucked straight from the ocean. For seafood lovers, the range of offerings is truly astounding. You can slurp fresh-shucked oysters at a bar in South Beach, sample creative takes on softshell crab in Wynwood and feast on fresh-grilled fish at a waterfront eatery overlooking Key Biscayne. A great destination for seafood of all sorts is Casablanca, overlooking the Miami River.

One of Miami's most famous neighborhoods, Little Havana is actually populated by more than Cubans. Spanish speakers from all across Latin America mingle on Calle Ocho, otherwise known as ‘8th St,’ one of the most colorful, culturally vibrant thoroughfares in the country. It helps to speak some Spanish, but it doesn’t matter if you don’t. Just don your finest guayabera (Cuban shirt), order a mojito (or a tall tropical fruit juice) and place your finger on Miami’s multicultural pulse.

Miami doesn’t lack impressive buildings, and some say the grandest jewel in the city’s crown is the Biltmore in Coral Gables (even the name rolls aristocratically off the tongue). Built in 1925, this hotel encapsulates the two initially disparate vibes of the Jazz Age: brilliant flashiness and elegant dignity. Today the majestic grounds are prowled by the well-to-do and the ghosts of guests past. And we don’t just mean the Biltmore captures the essence of its heyday; some say spirits haunt the halls.

Coral Gables is called the 'City Beautiful', and with good reason. America in general and Miami in particular are often associated with gaudiness, but Coral Gables takes this cliché and turns it on its head. Yes, houses here are opulent, and some are admittedly over the top, but many are gorgeous executions of a Mediterranean-revival style that blends the best of Iberian villas, Moroccan riads and Roman pleasure domes. Coral Gables is Miami’s House on the Hill; we highly recommend gawking.

There’s a feast for all seasons when it comes to partying north of Downtown Miami. The bars, pubs and clubs here, which stretch from the edge of artsy Wynwood to the Upper East Side, run a veritable gamut of styles: there are posh lounges draped with pretty people; gay dive bars where karaoke is often on the menu; converted studio spaces that host live-music venues. The public art project Wynwood Walls sits near the epicenter of this nightlife nexus.

Miami is a city that loves its indulgences, and the greatest of these is a fine meal. If you really want to indulge your taste buds, come to Miami’s culinary frontier: Wynwood and surrounds. In restaurants that range from rustic, vintage-filled taverns to swanky high-end dining rooms, you’ll find creative chefs at the helm, hard at work refining whatever it is they do best. This includes Japanese wood-fired cooking, high-end tacos, Hawaiian-style poke, vegan grain and salad bowls, gourmet donuts and perfectly buttery croissants.

Although it's an easy drive – or even a bike ride – from Downtown Miami, Key Biscayne feels like a world removed from the big-city bustle. This island has some lovely beaches, pretty nature walks and outdoor adventure aplenty, whether taking long beach walks, cycling its length or paddling out among the mangroves to look for manatees off Virginia Key. For a refreshing dose of nature, head to Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park for scenic walks and frolics on untouched seashore.

South Beach is all about glamour, in its original, Old English meaning: a spell. Magic. So many celebrities come to South Beach that their lifestyle rubs off on we mere mortals who chase them around, hoping to spot them strolling Lincoln Rd or sipping a drink at the Shore Club. There is a self-fulfilling magic to the paparazzi atmosphere of South Beach. Lose yourself in the swooning crowd, because as you search out celebrities and hang in their hot spots, you start feeling like one yourself.