Miami
Downtown Miami
Downtown Miami dazzles from a distance. The skyline is fluid, thanks to the sheer number of sparkling glass high-rises springing up between Biscayne Boulevard and the Miami River. Business is the key to downtown Miami’s daytime bustle. Traffic congestion from the high-rise offices and expensive parking tend to keep the locals away, unless they’re bringing out-of-town guests to touristy Bayside Marketplace. But change is in the air—the influx of condos and offices is starting to bring in shops and restaurants, most notably Mary Brickell Village, which serves as a culinary oasis for the starved business district. Thanks to the free Metromover, which runs inner and outer loops through downtown and to nearby neighborhoods to the south and north, this is an excellent tour to take by rail. Attractions are conveniently located within about two blocks of the nearest station. If you’re coming from north or east of downtown, leave your car near a Metromover stop and take the Omni Loop downtown. If you’re coming from south or west, park your car at a Metrorail station and take a leg of the 21-mi elevated commuter system downtown.
Key Biscayne and Virginia Key
Once upon a time, these barrier islands were an outpost for fishermen and sailors, pirates and salvagers, soldiers and settlers. The 95-foot Cape Florida Lighthouse stood tall during Seminole Indian battles and hurricanes. Coconut plantations covered two-thirds of Key Biscayne, and there were plans as far back as the 1800s to develop the picturesque island as a resort for the wealthy. Fortunately, the state and county governments set much of the land aside for parks, and both keys are now home to top-ranked beaches and golf, tennis, softball, and picnicking facilities. The long and winding bike paths that run through the islands are favorites for in-line skaters and cyclists. Incorporated in 1991, the village of Key Biscayne is a hospitable community of about 10,500; Virginia Key remains undeveloped at the moment, making these two playground islands especially family-friendly.
Little Havana
First settled en masse by Cubans in the early 1960s, after that country’s Communist revolution, Little Havana is a predominantly working-class area and the core of Miami’s Hispanic community. Spanish is the language that predominates, but don’t be surprised if the cadence is less Cuban and more Salvadoran or Nicaraguan: the neighborhood is now home to people from all Latin American countries.
If you come to Little Havana expecting the Latino version of New Orleans’s French Quarter, you’re apt to be disappointed—it’s not yet that picturesque. But if great, inexpensive food (not just Cuban, there’s Vietnamese, Mexican, and Argentinean here as well), distinctive, affordable art, cigars and coffee, history and life as its really lived in Miami interest you, you’ll enjoy your time in Little Havana.
Miami Beach
The hub of Miami Beach is South Beach (SoBe, but you’ll never hear locals calling it that), with its energetic Ocean Drive. Here, life unfolds 24 hours a day. Beautiful people pose in hotel lounges and sidewalk cafés, tanned cyclists zoom past palm trees, and visitors flock to see the action. On Lincoln Road, café crowds spill onto the sidewalks, weekend markets draw all kinds of visitors and their dogs, and thanks to a few late-night lounges the scene is just as alive at night.
Quieter areas to the north on Collins Avenue are Surfside (from 88th to 96th streets), fashionable Bal Harbour (beginning at 96th Street), and Sunny Isles (between 157th and 197th streets). If you’re interested in these areas and you’re flying in, the Fort Lauderdale airport might be a better choice.
