🇬🇧 Manchester → 🇺🇸 Miami · 1 week

Walk Ocean Drive on South Beach at 7am — before the sun umbrellas go up and the crowds arrive, the restored Deco facades glow in the morning light and you'll have the beach almost to yourself. This is the version of Miami Beach the postcards never show.

Visit Wynwood Walls on a weekday morning (opens 10am, free on weekdays) and explore the surrounding blocks — the neighbourhood extends far beyond the main walls. The Margulies Collection at the Warehouse (private, ticketed) houses one of the world's best private contemporary art collections and is regularly overlooked.

Order a cortadito at a Little Havana ventanita (walk-up window espresso counter) on Calle Ocho — Versailles Bakery at 3555 SW 8th St is the most famous, but La Carreta a block east is where locals actually go. Standing at the counter with a colada is peak Miami.

Take the free Brickell City Centre water taxi (runs on weekend afternoons from the Bayside Marketplace) across Biscayne Bay to the Venetian Islands — a chain of residential artificial islands with a waterfront walking path and jaw-dropping views back toward the downtown skyline.