Miami
Overview
With a Hispanic heart, a deep south welcome, and a healthy side order of all-American glamour, Miami is the ultimate melting pot of a city.
That it’s stretched out along some of the best beaches in the US, is a stopping off point for explorations of Florida’s beguiling keys and the islands adrift in the Caribbean sea, makes the city a bustling port too: with all the requisite shore-leave requirements anyone would crave. For thrilling nightlife, vibrant street markets and seductive beach bars, the city leaves its competitors standing. The Port of Miami is, in fact, the world’s biggest - almost a city in itself, and much of your time could easily be spent in the port’s huge malls, excellent value waterside restaurants and pedestrianised entertainment centres.
The Art Deco expanse of South Beach, Miami Beach’s photogenic seaside alter-ego, is one long procession of sugar-confection styled hotels, sherbet-hued condos and palm-fringed private mansions (where you’re never quite sure if a Hollywood A lister is in residence). Miami Beach is a city in its own right, with its own infrastructure of malls, hotels and glitzy nightlife attracting those who love to flash the cash, and it’s where most holidays to Miami are based.
Not that you need to spend, spend, spend to enjoy the thrills and spills of Miami. The city’s easy to love, thrilling to spend time in, and perfect as a base to explore America’s sunny deep south, its Everglades, bays and beaches.