Miami

The capital of sun and fun

Like the rich finery celebrities who have settled here wear on their wrists and around their necks, Miami gleams and sparkles. Just a few hours by boat from the Bahamas, the largest beach resort city in the United States is the embodiment of American glamour and luxury.  Perhaps one should say Latin-American, since Spanish is spoken as much as English. But behind the glitz of the city, Miami possesses a rich cultural heritage. The enormous number of expatriate Cuban immigrants has added a fascinating folklore that can be seen in the quarter known as Little Havana through the cigar smoke and the Dominos games. For a total change of scenery, try the Coral Gables quarter a city-garden in an Italian-Andalusian style. By crossing the business district of downtown Miami and the small chic residential islands of Biscayne Bay, we come to Miami Beach, with its avant-garde modern art in the Design District galleries, and its authentic and magnificent tropical art deco hotels. Needless to say, Miami is also a Mecca for shopping and all night Latino-salsa clubs. It’s a city with all the ingredients for a very sexy vacation.

Miami Beach, the ghetto of luxury

Lovers of luxury, glitz and glamour, welcome to South Beach, or Sobe for the initiated! If you’re looking for a dream beach vacation in the midst of palm trees and celebrities, the island of Miami Beach, created by Carl Fisher, an Indianapolis multi millionaire in the 1920s, is definitely the place to be. Soft colors, vertical lines, abstract motifs and flat roofs combine to make Sobe a temple of Tropical Art Deco. Saved from destruction in the 1970s by Barbara Capitman, this quarter possesses a huge number of luxury hotels for a vacation worthy of a VIP star, many of whom live on the island.

Located between the legendary Collins Avenue and the beach, facing the Atlantic Ocean, the Setaï Miami Beach, the Raleigh and the Sagamore hotels are all jewels of Art Deco architecture, rivalling each other in refinement, luxury, idyllic décor, services and gastronomy. If however, Art Deco is not your cup of tea, try the Pelican after a day spent visiting the numerous and ajdacent art galleries. This unusual hotel in a Miami Modern (Mimo) style is certain to surprise and amaze visitors.

Downtown Miami, doing business with your feet in the water

Back on terra firma, we discover Miami, which is more than just a sumptuous beach resort. In the heart of this flashy metropolis, the skyscrapers of downtown Miami represent the third largest business center in the United States after New York and Chicago. To get a global overview, a free and eco-friendly trip on the Metromover is highly recommended. With each loop of this elevated metro, visitors can admire a stunning urban jungle with a combination of Art Deco and buildings between the sea and the river. The Mandarin Oriental hotel, located on the small island of Key Brickell, is a favorite with businessmen who after a busy day, want to relax with their feet in the water. The Zen like atmosphere, the delicate Asian touches and the uninterrupted view of the ocean and the Bay of Miami make it the ideal site for the weary executive.

Coral Gables, the city-garden

More than just a quarter of Miami, Coral Gables is a veritable city within a city, with its own identity represented by its colonial Italian-Andalusian architecture. Romantic waterfalls, omnipresent green spaces, narrow, winding streets and secret interior courtyards have all combined to give Coral Gables its justified reputation as a city-garden, with an exoticism and charm that attracts admirers from all walks of life. In the early 20^th century, urbanism specialist George Merrick, who was at the origin of this quarter, used all of his genius to create a legendary monument: the Coral Gables Biltmore Hotel. The marble columns of this huge hotel whose style is somewhere between Italian Renaissance and Spanish Baroque, has welcomed a number of famous and infamous celebrities the latter of whom include Al Capone during the Prohibition Era. Take the time to lose yourself in the labyrinth of its corridors leading to the hotel’s 275 rooms in the middle of a 60 hectare garden, or in the deep water of its immense swimming pool.