Your essential guide to Miami

DINE

It’s always patio weather in Miami, which helps, as Mandarin Oriental, Miami’s bay-side restaurant has one of the city’s finest. From the terrace at La Mar by Gastón Acurio, see the skyline glimmering in your silverware, the futuristic scene meeting no interruption across the waters of Biscayne Bay. Dreamed up by one of Peru’s most celebrated chefs, the made-to-order ceviche must not be missed.

TAN

Miami loves a beach park. South Beach may host the Miami of the movies, packing 90s nostalgia and tip-toe-hot sands into the length of 15 city blocks, but it’s two best-loved parks, Lummus and South Pointe (74-acre and 17-acres respectively), will give you iconic public art, retro lifeguard towers, eccentric eateries and direct access to the waves.

BATHE

Sunken, petal-strewn baths are the pièce de résistance at The Spa at Mandarin Oriental, Miami – you’ll find them in the six dedicated VIP spa suites at the foot of double-height floor-to-ceiling windows, each one looking across the tops of swaying palms and the Curaçao blue waters of Biscayne Bay. While the lobby is vision of serenity, there’s nothing quite like a hot stone massage to tease out that deep-tissue tension.

CAFFEINATE

Home to the first Louis Vuitton store to offer custom shoes and handbags, the Aventura Mall is celebrating another designer debut: the city’s only Ralph Lauren coffee shop. Set just outside the designer’s namesake boutique, you won’t be able to miss it, decked out in the brand’s trademark hunter green and gleaming marble white. Our favourite brew? The signature Espresso Tonic, an iced coffee made with three shots of espresso, tonic water and an orange slice.

WANDER

Talk about eye candy – Miami’s Design District is a playground of public art and one of the city’s most photographed spots. Strike a pose by optical illusions painted on craggy walls before heading to the Institute of Contemporary Art, a revolving door of the city’s most evocative talent. Art aficionados the world over assemble during November and December when Miami Art Week and Art Basel come to town.

DRINK

Book your table on a Wednesday and nurse a house cocktail to the clinking keys of modern piano; book on a Thursday and you’ll be sipping dry Martinis to the thrumming strings of Spanish guitar; book on a Saturday and experience Cuban jazz by Renoir Rodriguez, coupled with a signature concoction. Where’s this, you ask? MO Bar + Lounge, of course, where live performances, light small plates and grown-up drinks are matched by a glossy panorama of Miami’s skyline.

BIKE

Flat terrain and year-round sun make Miami a cyclist’s nirvana. Better yet, Mandarin Oriental, Miami will supply the wheels. Routes have been pre-plotted for your pleasure and stored on a QR code available on each bike – a firm favourite is the half-hour spin that takes in the Banyan-lined streets of Coconut Grove, or up via Bayfront and Museum Park to the district-turned-open-air-street-art-exhibit, Wynwood Walls.

PARTY

The neighbourhoods behind Miami Beach are well worth exploring, not least for the Art Deco treasure trail, but also for Española Way, a mock Spanish village street with chalky pink stucco and pseudo-European awnings. The fairy lights twinkle at night, which is the best time to settle in at the Española Cigar Bar & Lounge, home to one of the city’s most outstanding cigar collections.

GOLF

Designed to tempt winter sun seekers to the city’s world-class links, the Miami Beach Golf Club offers state-of-the-art buggies and a demanding course that will both challenge beginners and excite veterans. Redesigned by the legendary 20th-century golf course architect Arthur Hill, its 17th hole – over water and leading into a sloping green, is one of the course’s most demanding.

LEARN

A shark-swimming, star-gazing wonderland for children, the Phillip & Patricia Frost Museum of Science has plenty to keep adults intrigued, too. Do the exhibitions justice with a three-hour visit: you could easily spend one of them glued to the underwater windows. The museum is part aquarium, part planetarium, with sell-out shows narrated by a starry cast (including Lupita Nyong’o and Liam Neeson) that tell the mesmerising stories of our solar system.

CRUISE

The third largest national park in the US and certainly one of its most wonderful, the Everglades is nothing short of a living laboratory, a bubble bursting with biodiversity just an hour-and-a-half from the big city. Several tours will take you from Miami toward Shark Valley – the park’s most convenient entrance – where an airboat safari will whisk you through tunnels of mangroves.

EXPLORE

East of the Everglades, Biscayne National Park has just as much to see as its marsh-clogged neighbour. Reached by boat an hour’s south of Miami, start at Dante Fascell Visitor Center for an introduction to the ecosystem and the launch point of several boat tours, island trails and snorkelling hotspots – including shipwrecks. Visit the observation deck at the top of the park’s iconic 65ft, 1930s lighthouse at Boca Chita Key.

Miami has something for everyone. The buzzy neighbourhood of Wynwood is known for its graffiti murals and hipster vibes, Little Havana is famed for its colourful Cuban restaurants and cigar galleries, while South Beach and the Art Deco District – one of Miami’s most cinematic spots – is awash with retro, pastel hues and neon signs. Set on the manmade island of Brickell Key, the hotel is the perfect starting point for an urban adventure, with highlights including the star-studded Fisher Island and manatee-spotting in Biscayne Bay’s waters.

- The concierge team at Mandarin Oriental, Miami.