USA Guide
Florida
South Beach
Occupying the southernmost three miles of Miami Beach is gorgeous South Beach, with its hundreds of dazzling pastel-coloured 1920s and 1930s Art Deco buildings. By day, the sun blares down on sizzling bodies on the sand – though it's worth braving an early morning wake-up call to catch the dawn glow, which bathes the Deco hotels in pure, crystalline white light. By night, the ten blocks of Ocean Drive become one of the liveliest stretches in Miami, as terrace cafés spill across the specially widened sidewalk and crowds of tourists and locals saunter by the beach.
Loosely bordered north/south by 5th and 20th streets, and west/east by Lenox Avenue and the ocean, the area referred to as the Deco District actually incorporates a variety of styles: take one of the excellent walking tours offered by the Miami Design Preservation League to learn the difference between Streamline, Moderne, and Florida Deco, not to mention Mediterranean Revival.
The most famous buildings lie along Ocean Drive, where revamped hotels make much of their design heritage. Amid the hotels, Casa Casuarina ( 
305/672-6604, 
www.casacasuarina.com ) at the corner of 11th Street, was the former home of the murdered fashion designer Gianni Versace. It's now an invitation-only members club, but in 2008, falling revenues prompted an open-door policy for the first time: daily tours (9am, 11am, and 2pm) of the lavish interior cost $50.
If the tourist hordes get to be too much, head a block west to Collins Avenue, lined with more Deco hotels and fashion chains, or on to Washington Avenue, which tends more toward funky thrift stores and cool coffee bars.