Friday

6 p.m. | Sunset Cruise

Head three miles north of Cardozo Hotel to Mid-Beach for a Sunset Champagne Cruise with Miami Aqua Tours.The Heritage of Miami II – the only commercial schoonersailing in Miami Beach – gently plies the intercostal waters for two hours, offering a breathtaking vantage of the Miami skyline at sunset amid unlimited champagne refills.

Saturday

9 a.m. | Beach Morning

It wouldn’t be a visit to Miami without spending some time on South Beach, with two-miles of sugar-white sand, emerald waters, and iconic pastel-colored lifeguard stands just across the street from your guest room. Umbrellas and lounge chairs are available for rent; for those who can’t sit still, the beachfront Lummus Park’s paved promenade winds from 5th to 15th street for Rollerblading, running, and plenty of people watching.

1 p.m. | Art Deco District

Rent a Citi Bike from the dock station on 13th Street ($6 an hour), just a block west of Cardozo Hotel, to explore South Beach’s Art Deco architecture district. The main drags of Ocean Drive and Collins Avenue, in particular, are home to hundreds of historic pastel-colored retro-fabulous structures from the 1920s through ’40s (including Hotel Cardozo built in 1939). Must-see buildings: Jerry’s Famous Deli, The McAlpin-Ocean Plaza, and the Bass Museum of Art. Grab lunch at one of the many sidewalk restaurants.

5 p.m. | Wander the Wynwood Art District

This trendy arts hub is the center of “cool” in Miami right now, having undergone a renaissance that transformed the once-quiet neighborhood of neglected warehouses into 70 art complexes, galleries, and performing art spaces. Peruse the Wynwood Walls, a set of giant outdoor murals in the heart of the district created by some of street art’s biggest names, including Shepard Fairey.

8 p.m. | Dinner at Joey’s

Located next to the Wynwood Walls, this modern Italian restaurant features white marble tables, polished concrete floors, a huge dining-room mosaic mural, and “the best pizza in the United States” – as alleged by Food & Wine magazine. Try their best-selling “Joey”– tomato sauce, mozzarella, portobellos, shallots, and oregano on a thin crust – and watch it being thrown in the open kitchen.

Sunday

11 a.m. | Brunch at Eating House

Located in Coral Gables, this laid-back restaurant with a graffiti-decked interior is famous for two unique brunch dishes: the chicken and waffles (bite-size pieces of fois gras waffles, fried chicken, and candied bacon presented on a skewer) and the Cap’n Crunch pancakes topped with a candied version of the cereal. 

12:30 p.m. | Vizcaya Museum & Gardens

Walk off some of that breakfast by among the 10 acres of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century European-inspired gardens at this 1910 estate. Perched on Biscayne Bay in Miami, the property’s most impressive feature is the breakwater, carved out of Florida limestone to mimic the shape of an ornate Venetian barge.