LisaSimundson HunterPublishing,Inc. 130CampusDrive Edison,NJ08818-7816 (cid:1)732-225-1900/800-255-0343/Fax732-417-1744 Website:www.hunterpublishing.com E-mail:[email protected] INCANADA UlyssesTravelPublications 4176Saint-Denis Montreal,QuébecH2W2M5Canada (cid:1)514-843-9882,Ext.2232/Fax514-843-9448 INTHEUK WindsorBooksInternational TheBoundary,WheatleyRoad Garsington,OxfordOX449EJEngland (cid:1)01865-361122/Fax01865-361133 ISBN1-55650-913-8 ©2001HunterPublishing,Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be repro- duced,storedinaretrievalsystem,ortransmittedinanyform, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, record- ing, or otherwise, without the written permission of the pub- lisher. Thisguidefocusesonrecreationalactivities.Asallsuchactivi- tiescontainelementsofrisk,thepublisher,author,affiliatedin- dividuals and companies disclaim any responsibility for any injury,harm,orillnessthatmayoccurtoanyonethrough,orby useof,theinformationinthisbook.Everyeffortwasmadetoin- suretheaccuracyofinformationinthisbook,butthepublisher andauthordonotassume,andherebydisclaim,anyliabilityfor lossordamagecausedbyerrors,omissions,misleadinginforma- tion or potential travel problems caused by this guide, even if sucherrorsoromissionsresultfromnegligence,accidentorany MapsbyLissaK.DaileyandToniCarbone, ©2001HunterPublishing,Inc. IndexingbyNancyWolff 4 3 2 1 About the Alive Guides Reliable, detailed and personally researched by knowl- edgeableauthors,theAlive!serieswasfoundedbyHarriet andArnoldGreenberg. This accomplished travel-writing team also operates a re- nownedbookstore,TheCompleteTraveller,at199Madi- sonAvenueinNewYorkCity. About the Author LisaSimundsonisalifelongresidentofMiamiandafre- quent visitor to the Florida Keys. Now a freelance travel writer, she was previously the editor of a local visitors guideandthemanagingeditorofanationaltravelindus- trypublication,forwhichshecoveredFlorida,LatinAmer- icaandtheSoutheasternUnitedStates. www.hunterpublishing.com Hunter’s full range of travel guides to all corners of the globe is featured on our exciting Web site. You’ll findguidebookstosuiteverytypeoftraveler,nomat- ter what their budget, lifestyle, or idea of fun. Full descriptions are given for each book, along with re- viewers’ comments and a cover image. Books may be purchased on-line using a credit card via our secure transactionsystem.Allonlineordersreceive20%dis- count. Alive!guidesfeaturedinclude:Aruba,Bonaire&Cura- çao; Jamaica; Buenos Aires & The Best of Argentina; Venezuela;TheCaymanIslands;Cancún&Cozumel; St.Martin&St.Barts;Nassau&TheBestofTheBa- hamas;Martinique,Guadeloupe,Dominica&St.Lu- cia;TheCatskills;Dallas&FortWorth;andAtlanta. CheckoutourAdventureGuides,aseriesaimedatthe independent traveler who enjoys outdoor activities (rafting, hiking, biking, skiing, canoeing, etc.). All booksinthissignatureseriescoverplacestostayand eat, sightseeing, in-town attractions, transportation andmore! Hunter’sRomanticWeekendsseriesoffersmyriadthings to do for couples of all ages and lifestyles. Quaint places to stay and restaurants where the ambiance will take your breath away are included, along with fun activities that you and your partner will remem- berforever. ForDavid,KellyandVeronica Acknowledgments Thanks to the following for their invaluable assistance in compiling the information for this book: Jack Dunlavey, Media Relations for Hawk’s Cay Resort; Andy Newman, VicePresident,StuartNewmanAssociates;EmilyO’Brien, Research Assistant; and the helpful staff members at the KeyLargoChamberofCommerce,theIslamoradaCham- ber of Commerce, the Marathon Chamber of Commerce, the Lower Keys Chamber of Commerce, the Key West ChamberofCommerce,theGreaterMiamiConvention& Visitors Bureau, and the Miami Beach Chamber of Com- merce. We Love to Get Mail Thisbookhasbeencarefullyresearchedtobringyoucur- rent, accurate information. But no place is unchanging. We welcome your comments for future editions. Please writeusat:AliveGuides,c/oHunterPublishing,130Cam- pusDrive,Edison,NJ08818,ore-mailyourcommentsto [email protected]. Due to the volume of mail we receive,weregretthatwecannotpersonallyreplytoeach letterormessage,butyourcommentsaregreatlyappreci- atedandwillberead. Contents Introduction ABriefHistoryofMiami . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 The20thCentury . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 MiamiToday . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 ABriefHistoryofTheKeys. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 The1800s. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 The1900s. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Miami TheMagicCity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Dining&Shopping. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Attractions&Nightlife. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Accommodations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Orientation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 KeyBiscayne&VirginiaKey . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 MiamiBeach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 NortheastMiami . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 CentralMiami . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 CoconutGrove . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 CoralGables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 NorthwestMiami. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 WestMiami&AirportArea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 SouthMiami-DadeCounty. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 TheEverglades . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 GettingHere. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 ByAir . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 ByBus&Train . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 ByCar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 ByWater . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 GettingAround . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 PublicTransportation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 CarRental. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 SpecialtyRentals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Taxis&Limousines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Bicycle&In-LineSkateRentals. . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Climate. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 PlanningYourTrip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 viii Miami & The Florida Keys Alive! InformationSources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 PackingTips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 SafetyTips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 SunuptoSundown. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 Beaches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 Watersports. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 Golf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 Tennis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 Spas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 SpectatorSports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82 ShopTillYouDrop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86 Attractions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 Fairs,Fiestas,Festivals&Food. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120 January . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120 February. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121 March . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122 April . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123 May. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123 June . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123 July. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124 August . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124 September . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124 October. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124 November . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125 December . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125 Arts&Culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126 PerformanceVenues&Organizations . . . . . . . . 126 Tours. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136 BestPlacestoStay. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141 DowntownMiami . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143 SouthBeach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149 MiamiBeach. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161 CoconutGrove. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167 KeyBiscayne. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171 CoralGables. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172 AirportArea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176 TheEverglades . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179 BestPlacestoEat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182 Cuisine. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183 WhattoWear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186 DowntownMiami . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187 Contents ix LittleHavana . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192 NortheastMiami . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195 MiamiBeach. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204 CoconutGrove. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215 KeyBiscayne. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221 CoralGables. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224 Kendall. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232 SouthMiami. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235 Homestead. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236 CentralWestMiami. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237 NorthwestMiami . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240 AfterDark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244 SouthBeach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245 DowntownMiami . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253 NortheastMiami . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254 CoconutGrove. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256 CoralGables. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258 SouthMiami. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259 AirportArea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261 MiamiAtoZ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261 The Florida Keys TheGreatEscape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269 Attractions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270 Dining&Shopping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271 Accommodations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271 Orientation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272 UpperKeys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272 MiddleKeys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275 LowerKeys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275 KeyWest. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276 GettingHere . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279 ByAir . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279 ByWater. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280 ByRoad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284 GettingAround. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285 Upper,Middle&LowerKeys. . . . . . . . . . . . . 285 KeyWest. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287 Climate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289 PlanningYourTrip. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290