Miami is hotter than ever
The Florida honeypot booming. Here’s what to do in America’s most exciting city
Long a vibrant city, Miami is booming like never before. Young techies are flooding in, the arts are thriving, its foodie scene is among America’s best and you can even watch Lionel Messi have a kickabout for the local team.
SUPERSTAR SOCCER
OPENING Thursday, the Messi Experience is housed in a warehouse-like building offering interactive virtual games and the ‘chance to train and shoot’ like World Cupwinning football legend Lionel Messi. Learn about his upbringing in Argentina, his glory days at Barcelona FC, and why they call him the ‘goat’, the greatest of All Time. HOW TO DO IT: Entry £ 29 ( themessi experience.com).
FANTASTIC FOODHALL
JULIA & Henry’s is a new foodhall in a downtown Art Deco building where Al Capone is said to have run a speakeasy during Prohibition. named after two 19th-century developers of Miami (Julia Tuttle and Henry Flagler), it’s home to 25 restaurants and three bars. At Shimuja, try the Yucatan spicy ramen featuring tender pork belly and a spicy miso paste. HOW TO DO IT: Free entry, two courses from £25 ( juliaandhenrys. menu).
£350 STEAKS
LUCKY Cat is the latest outpost of gordon Ramsay’s fine-dining empire offering Japanese wagyu ribeye steaks up to an eye-watering £357.
If you can’t quite stretch to that, try the sushi, oysters, sea bream or the silky lamb dumplings served with Thai basil and Szechuan pepper. Top cocktails. HOW TO DO IT: Two courses from £ 48 ( gordonramsay restaurants.com).
AWESOME ART
JOIN the cool crowd at Superblue, a vast ‘interactive art’ gallery, in the diverse Allapattah district, where bizarre digital worlds appear as though you’ve stepped into a parallel universe. You can glimpse your own heartbeat glowing with 3,000 lights (you have to be there to see how that works).
HOW TO DO IT: Entry £ 26 ( superblue.com).
VERSACE VIBE
CAPTURE Miami’s intoxicating energy at gianni’s, a loud, OTT restaurant in the old gianni Versace mansion, where the designer played host to everyone from Elton John to Princess Diana. Diners come to take selfies just as much as to eat. Insist on a table by the mosaic-covered pool.
HOW TO DO IT: Two-course lunch menu £31 ( vmmiamibeach.com). WHERE TO STAY: Acqualina is a great choice, half an hour up the coast. The 51- storey complex features almost 100 rooms. There’s a giant spa, plus two restaurants and a private beach. Doubles from around £ 900 ( acqualinaresort.com). BA flies to Miami from Heathrow from £476 (BA.com).