When Miami Is Not Enough
Miami is a city of extraordinary energy, but even the most devoted residents occasionally need to decompress. Fortunately, South Florida's geography offers an embarrassment of riches when it comes to escapes. Within a few hours by car, boat, or plane, you can find yourself in environments that feel like different worlds entirely. Here are the getaways worthy of the discerning traveler.
The Florida Keys
The Overseas Highway (US-1) from Miami to Key West is one of the most iconic drives in America, threading across 42 bridges and through a chain of islands that grow progressively more eccentric as you head south.
Islamorada (1.5 hours from Miami): The "Village of Islands" is the sportfishing capital of the world. Charter a boat for a day of tarpon or bonefish on the flats, then dine at Morada Bay Beach Café, where the tables sit in the sand and the sunset views are postcard-perfect. For lodging, The Moorings Village offers secluded cottages on a coconut palm-lined beach.
Key West (3.5 hours from Miami): The end of the road delivers a town that defies categorization. The Hemingway Home, Duval Street's bar scene, and the nightly Mallory Square sunset celebration are the classics. For luxury lodging, The Marker Waterfront Inn and Casa Marina provide refined bases. The best-kept secret is Fort Jefferson in Dry Tortugas National Park, accessible by seaplane or ferry, where you will find a massive 19th-century fortress surrounded by the clearest water in the Keys.
The Everglades
The "River of Grass" begins just 45 minutes west of downtown Miami, and it offers an experience that could not be more different from the city that borders it.
Shark Valley: A 15-mile loop trail (accessible by tram, bicycle, or on foot) through the heart of the Everglades, where alligators bask along the path and the observation tower at the midpoint provides a 360-degree panorama of the vast sawgrass prairie. This is the most accessible Everglades experience for visitors short on time.
Flamingo: At the southern tip of the park, Flamingo offers kayaking, canoeing, and backcountry camping among mangrove islands teeming with birdlife. The paddle to Nine Mile Pond through tunnels of mangrove is one of the most extraordinary natural experiences in the Eastern United States.
Private Airboat Tours: For a more curated experience, private airboat operators offer small-group tours through the Everglades' interior, where you are likely to encounter alligators, turtles, wading birds, and the occasional Florida panther track. Everglades Holiday Park in Fort Lauderdale is a popular departure point.
The Bahamas
The Bahamas are closer to Miami than Palm Beach is by car, and the ease of access makes them a legitimate day trip or weekend escape.
Bimini (50 nautical miles, 30 minutes by air): The closest Bahamas island to Miami, Bimini offers crystal-clear water, world-class bonefishing, and a laid-back island atmosphere. The Hilton at Resorts World Bimini provides a full-service resort experience, while the island's small local restaurants serve fresh conch salad and cracked lobster that justify the trip alone.
Nassau and Paradise Island (45 minutes by air): The Atlantis resort on Paradise Island is a destination unto itself, but for a more refined experience, the Ocean Club, A Four Seasons Resort, offers understated elegance on one of the most beautiful beaches in the Caribbean. The Graycliff Hotel's wine cellar and cigar lounge provide a taste of old-world Bahamian hospitality.
Palm Beach
Seventy miles north on I-95, Palm Beach exists in a parallel universe of old money, manicured hedges, and a social code that has not changed appreciably since the Kennedys wintered here.
Worth Avenue: The luxury shopping street that rivals Rodeo Drive, lined with European and American luxury brands, independent galleries, and hidden courtyards called "vias" that are architectural treasures in their own right.
The Breakers: This Italian Renaissance-style resort, built by Henry Flagler in 1896 and rebuilt after fires, remains the social center of Palm Beach. Sunday brunch in the Circle dining room is a tradition that has endured for over a century.
Henry Morrison Flagler Museum: Whitehall, Flagler's Gilded Age mansion turned museum, offers a window into the ambition and excess that built Florida's Gold Coast.
The Art of the Escape
The best weekend escapes from Miami share a quality: they offer what Miami does not. The silence of the Everglades, the unhurried pace of the Keys, the crystalline simplicity of a Bahamian beach, the restrained elegance of Palm Beach. Each destination reminds you that Miami's intensity is a choice, and the alternatives are never more than a short journey away.
