Best Escape 2024 | Cheeca Lodge and Spa in Islamorada | Best Restaurants, Bars, Clubs, Music and Stores in Miami | Miami New Times
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Located in the Florida Keys, Islamorada is a picturesque escape that's under two hours from Miami by car. The views are breathtaking from anywhere on its stretch of land, but perhaps the most stunning sights are from Cheeca Lodge and Spa. The resort itself offers adults-only, understated island luxury, but its amenities are what make it a real escape from the city. Pools and dining with views of turquoise Atlantic waters, a spa with 72 years of experience in making sun-burned guests look their best, and well-kept tennis courts. The kindly staff also hooks guests up with snorkeling experiences, kayaks, or paddleboards. Pack your bags and leave your stress on the mainland. Rooms start at $299 a night.

Nicole Martinez

With 22 acres of trails and fields, Enchanted Forest goes toe-to-toe with the most handsome public parks in town. But what makes Enchanted Forest the best outdoor recreation space is that it's the only urban park around with its own petting zoo and pony rides. Thanks to M&M Equestrian, a private concession that runs the offerings, kids of all ages can get up close and personal with goats, chickens, pigs, horses, ducks, a donkey, miniature horses, and, of course, the coveted ponies. They're open on Saturdays and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. but are also available for birthday parties and field trips. The rest of Enchanted Forest, which also impresses with its butterfly and community gardens, pavilions, grill stations, and tot lot, is open to the public seven days a week from sunrise to sunset.

Jungle Island photo

Just off the MacArthur Causeway, Jungle Island remains a distinctly Floridian, elevated roadside attraction with wild animals and a rad new zipline aerial adventure. Treetop Trekking Miami literally elevates the park by taking the space above its forest canopy. Guests willingly and gleefully navigate the wild, sky-high courses. There are a few adventures to choose from depending on your fear of heights and age. They may test your strength and stomach, but the views from 20 feet in the air as you zip over monkey cages and through the greenery will make it all worthwhile.

Puttery photo

TopGolf, step aside, there's a new indoor mini-golf spot in town: Puttery. Four-time major champion Rory McIlroy invested in this fresh, intimate, and affordable adults-only sports experience in Wynwood. Unlike other upscale mini golf spots, just $27 per person gets you gameplay in three themed areas, with nine-hole courses between the Library, the Lodge, and the Rooftop. The 17,800-square-foot space also provides plenty of culinary offerings that beat out its competitors, featuring dishes like crab rangoon dip, pork tostones, and blackened mahi salad bowls in addition to a full-service bar. With plenty of quirks and design flair, Puttery feels like a makeshift golf course inside a remote vacation home where you can hide out from the chaos of the neighborhood — or pregame for a night on the town. (If you're in the vicinity of North Broward or Palm Beach County, you might prefer to get your roll on at the Puttery in West Palm Beach.)

Indoor entertainment venues used to be a dime a dozen in South Florida, peaking in the '80s and early '90s. Of course, with the convenience of smartphones, tablets, and packed sports schedules, kids today are spoiled for choices when it comes to keeping busy. But on the days when the Miami rain just won't quit and YouTubers bore, there's Xtreme Action Park, a massive indoor playground that features everything from escape rooms and arcade games to minigolf and laser tag. Of course, the big lure here is the indoor go-kart track with a fleet that includes pro-level, gas-powered vehicles that reach speeds of up to 45 mph. If you need even more speed, there are super-karts that go up to 65 mph. But tiny speed demons, be warned: You have to meet several requirements before you're allowed to take them on the track.

Photo by Grant Albert

Rock climbing in flat-as-a-pancake Miami would have been a mere novelty not long ago. But thanks to palm-sweating documentaries like Free Solo and the sport earning a spot in the 2021 Summer Olympics, South Florida now boasts four climbing gyms and counting. The most recent gym to open, Velocity Climbing, however, is the clear go-to. The newly minted 23,000-square-foot gym features 60-foot walls, two floors of bouldering (climbing without a rope on shorter walls), a regular fitness area, and Florida’s first speed-climbing wall. A curious layperson can take up the sport and get a fun workout with beginner classes and auto-belays — a system that lets you climb the high walls by yourself. And thanks to good natural light, scaling the tall walls at golden hour makes it one of Miami’s new best spots to catch the sunset, almost as if you’re perched high on a prime piece of granite in the wilderness

Though we reported in 2022 that it is technically illegal to pick fruit on another person’s property, what kind of cheap thrill is on the right side of the law? Our semi-tropical environs make for a wild, diverse, all-you-can-eat fruit buffet, and yes, sometimes you have to put it all on the line for some titillating flavors. Most famously, in the summer, it’s mango season, when the stickiest and sweetest of fruits have all kinds of gourmands risking life and limb to climb fence and tree. Our big, meaty Florida avocados and star fruit ripen anywhere from June to January, while papayas pop up year-round. But if you want to play it safe by plucking only fruits on public property, scale a palm tree for unlimited, year-round coconuts. On the coast, you can snag sea grapes, ripe from August to October. Just make sure you eat them when they’re the darkest of purple, or they’ll taste more sea than grape. Snack on some ripe red Surinam cherries when they pop up on hedges from April through June, and don’t sleep on cocoplums from winter to spring.

Photo by Adi Adinayev

One way you can make a karmic payment to your body after doing it dirty at Club Space is to partake in a free afternoon yoga at the same place you blacked out the week before. Every Saturday at 4:20 p.m., you'll find jubilant yoga instructor Tiffany "Tifftopia" Levy or her colleagues leading 420 Space Yoga. Classes include free water and a DJ who spins more tranquil beats than the hedonistic club usually serves up. The hourlong classes are vinyasa-based and fill up quickly, so make sure to go early and RSVP ahead of time. Not everyone wants to go to a bass-bumping club, but it's hard to deny a free yoga class. And when factoring in a unique location? Well, if someone asks if you wanna leave, you'll say, "Namaste." 420 Space Yoga will be moving to Club Space's outdoor venue Factor Town for the summer while the club is renovated but will be back in business in the fall.

Four Seasons Hotel and Residences at the Surf Club photo

Serving up $100 dips by the pool, the Four Seasons Hotel at the Surf Club in Surfside is way more costly than any other hotel in town. But outsized luxury is like a drug; It just feels so good! Until you wake up the next morning. And the wild thing is, you don't feel bad when spending big at this not-so-cheap thrill. It's one of the most architecturally renowned destinations for the rich and the famous. And like those with more power and money, it's easy to be charmed by the Champagne Bar cocktails, pizza at Winston's on the Beach, or the gift shop where you can buy Panama hats for a thousand dollars and limited-edition Four Seasons totes. But feel free to skip lunch at Lido and dinner at Keller's Surf Club. Some things are not worth the splurge.

La Caja Miami photo

Want to feel like a celebrity, dominating the blue waves of the Atlantic with your crew, but feel like renting a booze boat for the day is just so basic? If you really want to stand out — and splurge — grab 11 of your closest friends and rent a charter from La Caja for $2,300 and take it on a four-hour ride of your life. Despite its name, it's not a floating box with a crisp pig inside, but more like a floating 40-foot slab. There's a covered section with a cute bar area and a couch, but you're going to want to spend your time on the main open deck sprawled out on lounge chairs, absorbing vitamin D. While the initial fee just gets you a captain, the company can connect you with private chefs or wellness instructors to really add that extra level of bougie to your floating (or gloating) experience.

Best Of Miami®

Best Of Miami®