Miami

In southeast Florida, Greater Miami sprawls over 5180 sq km (2000 sq miles) in Dade County and is home to more than 2 million people, including immigrants from Latin America and the Caribbean, particularly from Cuba.

The Port of Miami on Dodge Island, straddles Biscayne Bay between the city and Miami Beach. A top class facility, the port has excellent security, plenty of car parking and check-in counters that can issue boarding passes for return flights home. Miami International Airport, only 13 km (8 miles) away, has shuttle buses specifically for cruise passengers and a constant supply of taxis.

Miami Beach

South Beach

Even if you just have a few hours to spare in Miami, a trip to South Beach, a few miles east of the port, should be a priority. The vibrant, flamboyant southern neighborhood of Miami beach is where everyone goes to see and be seen and, within 2.5 sq km (1 sq mile), it contains more than 800 well-preserved art deco buildings in the Art Deco District.
Start off on Ocean Drive, Florida's most famous street, at the Art Deco Welcome Center and either sign up for a walking tour or pick up a free map along with any other information and souvenirs. The wonderful pastel 1930's buildings are testament to the drive of the Miami Design Preservation League, who fought off developers in the late 1970s. Inside are murals of flamingos and etched glass windows. Even the lifeguard stations on the beach opposite are in pink art deco designs.
A cosmopolitan mix  of colorful characters completes the scene at South beach, and you can watch them go by from one of many cafes and restaurants along the rather kitsch seafront, or join them in the nightclubs. Hot spots include the Clevelander Hotel on Ocean Drive, which has a large outdoor bar and stage at the back for live music, and the 24 hour News cafe. Remember that to enter a bar or club you must have ID to prove you are 21 years old or over.

South beach

Away from the beach, the scene continues to buzz in the pedestrian-only Lincoln Road Mall between  16th and 17th streets. Here the art world flourishes, with the South Florida Art Center, displaying the work of more than 100 artists, along with open studios where you can watch them at work. For a different kind of architecture, and also under the auspices  of the MDPL, go to Espanola Way, just south of 15th street. This eye-catching collection of bright pink Moorish arcades and hidden courtyards was built in Mediterranean Revival style in the 1920s and now houses a selection of galleries, cafes and shops. it was also the setting for many scenes of the latter day TV series Miami Vice.

Everglades on the Bay

Downtown Miami

Driving west from South Beach, the view of downtown offers a big city skyscraper skyline. Bilingual and multicultural but with an Hispanic heart, the center of Miami is closer to the port and has a few interesting places to see. First on the horizon is the tiered Bank of America Tower on SE 2nd Street, built by architect I.M.Pei in 1983 as one of the tallest office skyscrapers south of New York. Another distinctive building is the Spanish-style, peach-colored Freedom Tower, which was originally built as offices for the Miami News in 1925 and then  became the reception center for Cubans fleeing Fidel Castro's 1959 revolution.

Miami Dowtown

Opposite the edifice, on the waterfront, is Bayside Marketplace. As well as shops in the waterside complex, there are bars and restaurants, and often live entertainment in the forecourt. You can also take a boat trip from here.  There are two notable museums in the modern Miami-Dade Cultural Center, on West Flagler Street - the historical Museum of Southern Florida, which provides a good background to the city's colorful history, and the popular Miami Art Museum, with a cosmopolitan mix of permanent and visiting exhibits.

Little Havana

Little Havana

Traveling southward along the coast, you come to Calle Ocho, which takes you into the heart of Little Havana, the core of the Cuban community where the aroma of rich Cuban coffee fills the air. Calle Ocho is lined with interesting shops, Caribbean style fruit stands and factories where specialists roll cigars by hand.  You can watch cigars being made and buy them at El Credito Cigar Factory. The Bay of Pigs Monument, at the top of Cuban Memorial Boulevard, commemorates those who lost their lives in the failed invasion of Cuba 1961.
A short distance southwest in the smart neighborhood of Coral Gables, full of magnificent homes, you can take a tour of the lavish historic Biltmore Hotel. where the likes of Judy Garland and Al Capone have stayed. Johnny Weissmuller aka Tarzan, used to be a swimming instructor here and set a world swimming record in the hotel's pool in the 1930's.
Returning to the port via the one time artists colony of upmarket Coconut Grove, make time to visit the Vizcaya Museum and Gardens an Italian Renaissance style palace with large formal gardens. Built in 1916, the villa is full of period furniture and valuable European antiques.

Everglades National Park

A Trip to the Everglades 

The Everglades National Park is just an hour or two away from Miami, so if you have a day to spare, it is worth taking a trip to see Florida its natural swamp like state. Many cruise lines offer an excursion here at the end of a cruise. Around 350 varieties of birds, 500 kinds of fish, 55 species of reptile, including crocodiles and alligators, and 40 mammal species of plants that are found nowhere else on earth. You can spot some of them by walking along the numerous boardwalk trails or taking an airboat ride that skims over the swampland.