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Right on beautiful Biscayne Bay, Noguchi designed this park “as a wedge of art in the heart of the New World.” Here, in addition to Noguchi’s sculptures you will find lush greenery, a small sand beach, tropical rock garden, cascading fountain, palms, and olive trees.

Curving around Miamarina, this shopping and entertainment complex is undeniably fun and the Downtown area’s best attraction. It’s not South Beach, but La Vida Loca echoes here, too, often with live salsa bands playing on the esplanade. Shops – including Guess?, Victoria’s Secret, Structure, and Foot Locker – and 30 eateries, with everything from ice cream to paella, make it a happening place. To the south, Bayfront Park, designed by Isamu Noguchi, is extensive and can provide a pleasant interlude of greenery, water, monuments, sculpture, and striking views.

Adjacent to the impressive American Airlines Arena, this complex feels part Disney themepark, part international bazaar. Right on the waterfront, it’s always good for a stroll (see Bayside Marketplace and Bayfront Park).

Some of the best views of Downtown are afforded from the freeways. Coming across MacArthur Causeway from South Beach, you’ll get some dazzling perspectives, especially at night. The finest view of the skyline is from the Rickenbacker Causeway.

The Metromover consists of two elevated loops around Downtown, so it’s a great way to get an overview of the area (see Metrorail and Metromover).

Flagler is Downtown Miami’s main drag – loud, bright, busy, and lined with small shops and street peddlers. Pop into the Galería International Mall (243 East Flagler Street, at SE 2nd Avenue) for cheap and tasty ethnic snacks, while on the next block is the stylish Gusman Center. On East Flagler Street at NE 2nd Avenue, look for the Alfred I. DuPont Building (1937–9), a paean to Art Deco in the Depression Moderne style.

Downtown’s landmark was built in 1925 in the Mediterranean-Revival style, inspired by the Giralda, an 800-year-old bell tower in Seville, Spain. Initially home to the now-defunct Miami Daily News , its role and name changed in the 1960s, when it became the reception center to process more than 500,000 Cubans fleeing Castro. It was restored in 1988 to create a Cuban museum, which is located in the lobby of the building.

Designed by the celebrated American architect Philip Johnson in 1982, the Mediterranean-style complex, set around a tiled plaza, incorporates the Miami Art Museum; the Historical Museum of Southern Florida); and the Main Public Library, which contains four million books.

Posh high-life and decadent lowlife meet and the fun never stops in the vibrant beach-and-nightclub community of South Beach – otherwise known as SoBe (see SoBe Life). The world-famous Deco District (see Deco District), an essential element of Miami Beach, is beautifully preserved in hundreds of colorful, inspired buildings.

Liquid Night Club

Cactus Bar and Grill

Cavalier Hotel, Deco District

Park Central Hotel

Delano Hotel

Ever since Miami Vice (see Miami Beach and Key Biscayne) drew attention to this fun-zone, hedonists have flocked for the beaches and nightlife.

A treasure-trove of Deco kitsch to take home as your very own. Everything from cutesy salt-&-pepper sets to really rather nice reproduction lamps.

The whimsical architecture on South Beach ultimately traces its roots back to 1920s Paris (see The Story of Tropical Deco), but it underwent fruitful, exotic influences along the way and blossomed into Florida’s own Tropical Deco.

The best way to get around both Miami Beach and Key Biscayne.

The block or two around this intersection has all the designer boutiques you’ll ever need, from Versace Jeans Couture to Club Monaco, with its carefully selected knockoffs. Also check out the side-street stores.

The Square Shopping Center, 260 Crandon Boulevard, and several other generic types nearby are just about all that you’ll find on Key Biscayne. They contain a few art galleries, small clothing boutiques, and the usual mix of banks, chain stores, and dentists.

This has been a Miami institution since the 1960s, when the hit TV series Flipper was filmed here. Trained dolphins still swim in the cove where Flipper once swam, and you can join them under a trainer’s watchful eye for a fee. There are live shows throughout the day, featuring sea lions and killer whales as well as dolphins. Other areas provide viewing stations to see manatees, sharks, a mangrove of pelicans, and a coral reef aquarium.

The hotel pool or the surging gray-blue Atlantic Ocean? This is Florida, and swimming is number one – snorkeling, too, in quieter areas, especially Crandon Park on Key Biscayne and off South Pointe.

Key Biscayne is blessed with some of Miami’s top beaches. Certainly the most impressive is this one, which is actually rated among the top ten in the country. Located on the upper half of the key, it’s 3 miles (5 km) long and enormously wide, with palm trees and picnic areas. The waters are calm and shallow, and good for snorkeling. There are also concession stands, 75 barbecue grills, a winding boardwalk, and convenient parking. Very popular for parties.

The oldest structure in South Florida has been standing sentinel since 1825. In 1836, it was destroyed by Native Americans, only to be reborn 10 years later. It has since withstood some blistering meteorological onslaughts, but the worst threat came from simple neglect following its dismissal from duties 1878. Only in 1966 did its renovation and preservation begin.

The 1920s boom saw a need to build not only structures but also an identity. George Merrick rose to the challenge and created fantasy wonderlands that continue to stir the imagination today.

In 1940, a developer hyped the town’s main shopping street by naming it Miracle Mile (a mile if you walk up one side and down the other). Colorful canopies adorn shops as prim and proper as their clientele. Buildings of note are Merrick’s Colonnade Building, at 169, with its splendid rotunda; the Doc Dammers’ Saloon, with great photos of old Coral Gables; and, on nearby Salzedo Street at Aragon Avenue, the Old Police and Fire Station, 1939, with square-jawed sculpted firemen.

One of the most historic and beautiful places in the Greater Miami area; this icon of the city’s cultural life is not to be missed.

One of the loveliest and most evocative of Merrick’s additions to his exotic vision for Coral Gables. The pool is fed by springs and was the site of at least one movie starring Esther Williams, the 1940s water-ballet beauty (see also Venetian Pool & Venetian Pool).

George Merrick was one of the visionaries who made Florida into what it is; this lavish hotel stands as a monument to his taste and grand ideas. Herculean pillars line the grand lobby, and from the terrace you can survey the largest hotel swimming pool in the country. JohnnyWeismuller, the first movie Tarzan, used to teach swimming here, and the likes of Al Capone, Judy Garland, and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor came in its heyday. Weekly tours of the hotel and grounds depart from the front desk (see Biltmore Hotel & Biltmore Hotel).

A castle it isn’t, but a conundrum it certainly is. From 1920 to 1940, Latvian immigrant Edward Leedskalnin built this mysterious pile as a Valentine to the girl back home, who had jilted him in 1913. No one knows how he singlehandedly quarried and transported the 1,100 tons of tough coral rock, carved all the enormous chunks into monumental shapes, and set them all into place so flawlessly. One nine-ton gate is so exquisitely balanced that it opens with the pressure of your little finger.

Coral Castle

This dizzyingly beautiful tropical paradise was established in 1938 and serves also as a botanical research institute. Around a series of man-made lakes stands one of the largest collections of palm trees in the world (550 of the 2,500 known species), as well as countless other wonderful trees and plants. During a 40-minute tram tour, guides describe how plants are used in the manufacture of everything from Chanel No. 5 to golf balls. Allow another two hours to explore on your own.

The museum was started in 1957, by a group of Miamians who were trying to save threatened pieces of Florida history. Some of the earliest items in the collection are the “Ferdinand Magellan,” a private railroad car built for President Franklin Roosevelt; the FEC engine that pulled a rescue train out from Marathon after the 1935 hurricane; and the 113 locomotive built in 1913. The Edwin Link is a smallgauge children’s railroad.

The zoo works a great deal with endangered species. Zookeepers give talks at feeding times.

This endearing attraction is still run by the family that founded it in 1933 to study the behavior of primates. Many of the smaller monkeys roam wild while you walk through caged walkways; the gorillas, orangutans, spider monkeys, and gibbons are kept in conventional cages. There are regular demonstrations of the capabilities of macaques, chimpanzees, and other human cousins.

Rich in history and breathtaking beauty, the self-styled Conch (pronounced “conk”) Republic seems truly a world apart from the rest of the US

Key West’s train tour is a must-do for first-time visitors. It gives an invaluable overview of the place and all sorts of insights into its history and culture.

A lantern-lit evening stroll through the mysterious streets of Key’s West’s Old Town allows you to discover a haunted island.

This protected area boasts the finest beaches in all the Keys – and is often voted among the best in the US. Brilliantly white sand is backed by dense, tropical forest crossed by a number of nature trails.

The many dozens of marinas in the Keys are full of companies ready to rent you whatever kind of boat you would like – or to take you out, if you prefer.

There is no doubt that bicycling is one of the best ways to see the Keys. The roads are fairly bike-friendly, especially in Key West, and bicycle rentals are readily available.

In mid-to late April, enthusiastic runners honor the bridge that joined all the Keys together by conquering it with their own two feet.

You can see a 600-yearold dugout canoe, remnants of pirate ships, a simulated coral reef cave, and the Bellarmine jug (circa 1580), a shipwreck artifact in almost perfect condition. There’s also the Florida Keys Children’s Museum and Marathon Wild Bird Center.