A city of skyscrapers, Sunny Isles Beach occupies just 1.8 square miles of barrier island between Miami and Fort Lauderdale. When I wrote this article Sunny Isles Beach was the most densely populated municipality outside of the New York area. Lining up along Collins Avenue are soaring condos and luxury beach resorts by big hospitality …
A perfect example of a planned city, Venice came about in the mid-1920s and grew steadily as the 20th century progressed. Today Venice is an official Florida MainStreet City, with beautiful architecture modeled on the Italian Venice, and streets lined with palms and live oaks. Downtown Venice combines this elegance with first-class shopping, dining, entertainment …
Next to Clearwater, on the peaceful shores of Tampa Bay, Safety Harbor is a small town with a lot of personality. With a quaint Main Street, community gardens, peculiar outsider art, and yoga at the weekly market, I love the nurturing, progressive feel to this place. Tourism goes back a long way at Safety Harbor. …
By Lake Monroe on the St. Johns River, DeBary is a city named for a 19th-century wine merchant. He decided to build a winter estate near the river, and in doing so, opened up this forbidding watercourse to commerce and future settlers. DeBary’s stately mansion is now preserved as a museum. On a tour you’ll learn …
North of Doral and west of Hialeah, this city of more than 20,000 is on the very western edge of the Miami Metropolitan Area. Until the 1960s the landscape in this part of Dade County was rural, with horse farms along the Okeechobee Road corridor. Over the next 30 years Hialeah Gardens developed into a …
Founded by Union Civil War veterans in 1911, Lynn Haven is a city of almost 20,000, on the north side of Panama City. I’m smitten with Lynn Haven’s beautiful public parks. Many of these are on the serene shores of St. Andrews Bay, with little beaches and sublime views at sunset. As far as I’m …
In Southwest Florida, Naples is as far south as you can go before you hit the Everglades. This inhospitable landscape was tamed in the 1920s with the construction of the Tamiami Trail and the Seaboard Air Line Railroad. Naples is a stellar destination with many different things to win you over. There’s majestic nature, marvelous …
In a marvelous setting next to the lake of the same name, Eustis is a city beloved for its vital downtown. This district was given a whole new streetscape in the 2010s, and is enhanced by Ferran Park on the lakefront. The park is like a scenic backyard for the city, staging events that bring …
In the 20 years before I wrote this article, the population of this village in Palm Beach County had tripled. Palm Springs is a residential community set inland, just next to Lake Worth Beach on the Atlantic. A local highlight is the municipal complex, which opened in the 2000s, with event space, and fun family …
The fastest-growing city in Brevard County is right next to the inviting coastal community of Melbourne. Served by Melbourne Orlando International Airport (MLB), which has just been given a lot of investment, the entire area is on the up. West Melbourne is a mostly residential city, but that doesn’t mean that there’s nothing to do nearby. In …