DESTINATION MIAMI

History

What he saw was a tropical paradise. Flagler and Tuttle came to terms, and Flagler announced the extension of his railroad. At that, thousands of people whose livelihoods had been wiped out by the big freeze, including citrus growers and service industry workers like doctors and merchants, began heading down to Miami in anticipation of the boom that was to come. Passenger train service to Miami began 22 April 1896; in that year the city of Miami incorporated and development kicked off. The wave peaked during WWI, when the US military established an aviation training facility here.

After WWI, the first full-fledged Miami boom (1923-25) was fueled not just by the area's idyllic beachfront location and perfect weather, but also by gambling and the fact that it never really took to the idea of prohibition - though it was illegal, liquor flowed freely throughout the entire Prohibition era.

But the boom was cut short by a devastating hurricane, which was immediately followed by statewide recession and national depression. In the mid-1930s, a mini-boom saw the construction of Miami Beach's famous Art Deco buildings, and this reasonably prosperous period continued until 1942, when a German U-Boat sank an American tanker off Florida's coast. The ensuing freak-out created a full-scale conversion of South Florida into a massive military base, training facility and staging area.

After WWII, many of Miami's trainee soldiers returned and settled, and the city maintained its pre-war prosperity. In the 1950s, Miami Beach had another boom, as the area began to be known as the 'Cuba of America': gamblers and gangsters, enticed by Miami's gambling, as well as its proximity to the fun, sun and fast times of Batista-run Cuba, moved in en masse. After the Castro coup in Cuba in 1959 Miami's Cuban population swelled.

In 1965, the two 'freedom flights' that ran every day between Miami and Havana disgorged over 100,000 Cuban refugees. Tension built up between Cubans and the town's blacks, who were relegated to an area north of downtown known as Colored Town. Riots broke out, skirmishes and acts of gang-style violence occurred. In the late 1970s, Fidel Castro opened the floodgates, allowing anyone who wanted to leave Cuba access to the docks at Mariel. The largest flotilla ever launched for non-military purposes set sail in practically anything that would float to cover the 90 miles (145km) between Cuba and Florida. The Mariel Boatlift, as it was called, brought 150,000 Cubans to Florida (including 25,000 prisoners and mental patients), and the resulting economic, logistical and infrastructural strain on South Florida only added to still-simmering racial tensions, which would explode on 17 May 1980, when four white police officers, being tried on charges that they beat a black suspect to death while he was in custody, were acquitted by an all-white jury. When the verdict was announced, fierce race riots broke out all over Miami, and lasted for three days.

In the roaring 1980s, the Miami area gained prominence as the major East Coast entry port for drug dealers, their product and the unbelievable sums of money that went along with them. A plethora of businesses and buildings sprung up all over Miami, and the downtown was completely remodeled. But it was still a city being reborn while in the grip of drug smugglers: shootouts and gangland slayings by cocaine cowboys were common. The police, Coast Guard, Drug Enforcement Agency, Border Patrol and FBI were in a tizzy trying to keep track of it all. And then it happened: Miami Vice.

The show, about two outrageously expensively (yet pastel) clad narcotics detectives driving around in a Ferrari and million-dollar cigarette boats, was responsible for Miami Beach rising to international attention in the mid-1980s. The show's slick look, soundtrack and music video montages glamorized the rich life in South Florida, and before long people were coming down to see it. By the late 1980s, Miami Beach had risen to international Fabulousness. Celebrities were moving in, photo shoots from all over the world were being shot here, and the Art Deco District was going through a renovation that turned the city into a showpiece of fashion and trendiness.

Summer can be summed up as very hot and humid, with thunderstorms every day at 3pm. August is the hottest month, with average temperatures between 78-89°F (26-31°C). Remember that it feels a lot hotter than 89°F when there's 90% humidity. However, the advantage of coming during the early summer, despite the higher temperatures and increased rainfall, is that you get more of the place to yourself.

Most visitors aren't here for Miami itself, but rather to visit Miami Beach, an entirely separate municipality. Miami is on the mainland, while the city of Miami Beach is on a thin barrier island about 4 miles (6km) east, across Biscayne Bay - locals call it the Billion Dollar Sandbar. On the mainland, the street numbering system is based on north-south and east-west dividers. With the exception of Coral Gables, south-west of Miami, (whose founding fathers should be arrested for making their street systems so stupid) getting around the area is a snap.

Miami Beach

For a city beach, Miami Beach is one of the best around. The water is clear and warm, the sand relatively white and, best of all, it's wide enough and long enough to accommodate the throngs. The Promenade is a Deco-ish, wavy ribbon of concrete at the Beach's westernmost edge. If you've ever looked at a fashion magazine, you've seen it: it's the photo shoot site. If you show up early in the morning, you're likely to see shoots in progress. This is also the hot spot for in-line skaters, bicyclists, skateboarders, dog walkers and people watchers to mill about bumping into each other.

Miami Beach has a strong Jewish culture mixed with a dash of Latin flair: there's even a Cuban-Jewish Congregation. The city's Holocaust Memorial, in the middle of Miami Beach, was created through the efforts of Miami Beach Holocaust survivors. It's an elaborate, exquisitely detailed and moving memorial. Like the Kaddish, the Jewish prayer for the dead that does not once mention death but rather speaks only of life, the Memorial is a testament to humankind's perseverance and the hope for a better world.

The Miami Design District is a collection of antique shops, art galleries and studios. Billed in the 1960s as 'the Square Mile of Style,' the area has been one of the major centers of interior design for the past 30 years. It's been going through a renaissance since owners opened their stores to the general public in 1993. At the northern end of the Design District, the Museum of Hispanic and Latin American Art is one of the few museums in the country dedicated solely to the culture of Hispanics and Latin Americans. To the northeast is Little Haiti, where over one-third of Miami's Haitians live. If you like flea markets, check out the Caribbean Marketplace for handmade furniture and fresh goat stew, or stop by a local botanica, to buy voodoo-related bottles, beads and banners.

But while the wall-of-sound-style speakers set up outside places such as Power Records are blasting salsa and other Latin music into the street, Little Havana as a tourist attraction is elusive. It's not concentrated like a Chinatown; it's actually not really a tourist attraction at all. It's just a Cuban neighborhood, so except during the occasional street fair or celebration, you shouldn't expect Tito Puente and Celia Cruz to be leading colorfully attired, tight-trousered men and scantily-clad women in a Carnaval parade. You're more likely to see old men playing dominoes in Máximo Gómez Park.

The Miami Museum of Science & Space Transit Planetarium share a building at Miami's southern city limit, near the entrance to the Rickenbacker Causeway, the bridge that connects Miami with Key Biscayne. The Science Museum has excellent displays on the Everglades and Florida's coral reef, and its hands-on exhibits are a hit with kids.

Further east, the causeway travels along Virginia Key, home to the excellent Miami Seaquarium. While the star of the show is Lolita, the 7000-pound (3150-kg) killer whale, far more impressive is the genuine effort these folks are making to preserve, protect and explain aquatic life. Case in point, their Manatee Presentation & Exhibit, where West Indian manatees are brought after being injured by boat propellers. The manatees are nursed back to health and some are released. More crowd-pleasing highlights include the Flipper Dolphin Show and Salty's Sea Scoundrels, starring Salty the Sea Lion.

Everglades National Park

From the brackish waters of the mangrove and cypress swamps, to hardwood hammocks, sawgrass flats and Dade County pinelands, there is simply no place in the world like the Everglades. These marshes are home to crocodiles and alligators, bottle-nosed dolphins, manatees, snowy egrets, bald eagles and ospreys. You can visit for an afternoon or get totally absorbed for days canoeing around the 10,000 Islands and along the Wilderness Waterway.

Key West's reputation as a tropical paradise with gorgeous sunsets and sultry nightlife is well-earned. It's been overrun by tourists, but if you look carefully you'll find fleeting images of the Key West of the past: walking through the narrow side streets away from the action, you'll see lovely Keys architecture and get a sense of how the locals who aren't there to sell you a T-shirt or book you on a glass-bottomed boat ride live. However, if you're looking for Hemingway's Key West, you're several decades too late.

If you're just looking for evidence of the big guy, the Ernest Hemingway Home & Museum is one of Key West's biggest attractions. Hemingway lived in this lovely Spanish-Colonial house between 1931 and 1940, but kept ownership until his death in 1961. While he's not buried here, the Key West Cemetery is one of the more enjoyable cemeteries in the country: tombstone epitaphs include 'I told you I was sick' and 'At least I know where he is sleeping tonight'.

Key West is roughly oval shaped, with most of the action taking place at the western end. Mallory Square, at the far northwestern tip, is the site of nightly sunset celebrations. The best diving is off Key West's southern shore.

There is something magical about kayaking through the mangroves, and the best thing about it is that you don't need any lessons and you can rent equipment easily and cheaply. Head for the Everglades to canoe around the 10,000 Islands or along the Wilderness Waterway between Everglades City and Flamingo.

The biggest event of them all is the Carnaval Miami, a nine-day festival at the beginning of March, which includes a Miss Carnaval contest, Carnaval Night concerts at the Orange Bowl, an in-line skating contest, jazz concerts, a Latin drag queen show, and a Calle Ocho cooking contest. The Calle Ocho Festival is the culmination of Carnaval Miami and a great time to be in Little Havana since there are lots of concerts, giveaways and Cuban food.

The International Hispanic Theater Festival from late May to mid-June is one of the largest Hispanic theater events in the US, featuring US, Latin America, Caribbean and European theater companies at the El Carrusel Theater in Coral Gables. The Annual Miami Reggae Festival in early August is a huge celebration of the music 'from de people', held at Bayfront Park.

Literary types might want to make it to the Miami Book Fair, held during the second week of November. This international book fair is among the most well-attended in the US, with hundreds of nationally known writers joining hundreds of publishers and hundreds of thousands of visitors.

Greyhound Bus has three main terminals in Miami, which send off and welcome buses to and from Orlando, New Orleans, Atlanta, Washington DC, and New York City. Amtrak trains connect Miami with cities all over the continental US and Canada. Prices change often and are generally a bit more than Greyhound at its cheapest and a lot more than flying.

If you're over 25 and have a major credit card, the easiest way to get to Miami Beach, Coral Gables or Miami is to rent a car. Some of the rental agencies offer an hourly rate with no minimum charges. There's a regular Metrobus service between the airport and downtown Miami and Miami Beach. You can also take a Metrobus to the Greyhound station at the airport. From there, Greyhound makes the 20-minute journey to the sleazy downtown station several times a day.

You'll need a car to see Miami. All the big car rental operators can be found here, and many have branches at the airports. Metro-Dade Transit's buses cover a healthy amount of the city: the Omni Metromover and Government Center Terminals in downtown Miami are the main bus depots. One-third bus, one-third monorail, one-third train, Metromover is a neat solution to downtown congestion: it's made up of one or two-car computer-controlled vehicles running on an elevated track. It's also a great way to get a cheap tour of the downtown area.

• The Miami area has over a dozen major suspense/thriller writers, and more are coming up every day. The local heavy hitters include Carl Hiaasen whose works, Stormy Weather, Skin Tight, Native Tongue and Strip Tease, offer snarling satire of South Florida and especially its tourists and developers; Pulitzer Prize winning Miami Herald columnist Edna Buchanan, whose books include Miami, It's Murder, Suitable for Framing and Nobody Lives Forever; Paul Levine, whose attorney Jake Lassiter and ex-coroner-sidekick traipse through intricate psychological suspense in books like Mortal Sin, To Speak for the Dead and Night Vision.
• Not to be forgotten, of course, is Elmore Leonard, author of dozens of books including Swag, Get Shorty and Maximum Bob.
• Incredibly well known is Dave Barry, the humorist whose columns are syndicated throughout the world. He's the author of Dave Barry is Not Making This Up, Dave Barry Turns 40 and Dave Barry's Only Travel Guide You'll Ever Need, among tons of others.
• Deco Delights by Barbara Capitman, and Miami: Architecture of the Tropics edited by Maurice Coulot and Jean François Legune are two excellent books on Art Deco architecture.
• The best book on Florida history is The New History of Florida, edited by Michael Gannon and written by Gannon along with many experts in Florida history. The book is a concise and complete, beautifully written masterpiece of a good read.
• Check out Frank Zoretich's Cheap Thrills Florida: The Bottom Half written by an admittedly very stingy man, containing lots of real cheap things to do around Miami.
• For getting out in nature, Marjory Stoneman Douglas's classic The Everglades: River of Grass should be required reading for those heading out into the Glades.
• David W. Nellis' Seashore Plants of South Florida & the Caribbean is a gorgeous book, with color photographs throughout and very good and interesting descriptions of everything.

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