David Paul Appell - Frommers EasyGuide to Miami and Key West 2014

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Miami resident David Paul Appell is a Columbia Graduate School of Journalism alumnus who is the former executive editor of Arthur Frommers Budget Travel and Caribbean Travel+Life. In addition to freelance writing, he co-directs the travel social network and group blog Tripatini.com as well as EnLinea Media, a provider of online content and social-media-management services. Appell speaks seven languages, collects stray dogs, and dabbles in Buddhism.

ABOUT THE FROMMER TRAVEL GUIDES

For most of the past 50 years, Frommers has been the leading series of travel guides in North America, accounting for as many as 24% of all guidebooks sold. I think I know why.

Though we hope our books are entertaining, we nevertheless deal with travel in a serious fashion. Our guidebooks have never looked on such journeys as a mere recreation, but as a far more important human function, a time of learning and introspection, an essential part of a civilized life. We stress the culture, lifestyle, history and beliefs of the destinations we cover, and urge our readers to seek out people and new ideas as the chief rewards of travel.

We have never shied from controversy. We have, from the beginning, encouraged our authors to be intensely judgmental, criticalboth pro and conin their comments, and wholly independent. Our only clients are our readers, and we have triggered the ire of countless prominent sorts, from a tourist newspaper we called practically worthless (it unsuccessfully sued us) to the many rip-offs weve condemned.

And because we believe that travel should be available to everyone regardless of their incomes, we have always been cost-conscious at every level of expenditure. Though we have broadened our recommendations beyond the budget category, we insist that every lodging we include be sensibly priced. We use every form of media to assist our readers, and are particularly proud of our feisty daily website, the award-winning Frommers.com.

I have high hopes for the future of Frommers. May these guidebooks, in all the years ahead, continue to reflect the joy of travel and the freedom that travel represents. May they always pursue a cost-conscious path, so that people of all incomes can enjoy the rewards of travel. And may they create, for both the traveler and the persons among whom we travel, a community of friends, where all human beings live in harmony and peace.

Arthur Frommer

T he bright lights and thumping clubs of Miami Beach; the vast, unspoiled expanse of Everglades National Park; and the back country of the KeysSouth Florida has a little something for everyone. And dont be fooled by the glammer-than-thou celebrity playground known as South Beach. While the chic elite do, indeed, flock to Miamis coolest enclave, its surprisingly accessible to the average Joe. For every Philippe Starckdesigned, bank accountbusting boutique hotel on South Beach, there are Deco digs that are much less taxing on the pockets. For each pan-Mediterranean-Asian-fusion haute cuisine restaurant, theres a down-home, no-nonsense Latin bodega serving up hearty fare at surprisingly cheap prices.

Beyond all the glitzy, Us Weeklymeetsbeach blanket bacchanalia, Miami offers an endless number of sporting, cultural, and recreational activities to keep you entertained. Its variety of beaches includes some of Americas best. Plus, it has an array of shopping and nightlife activities including ballet, theater, and opera (as well as all the celebrity-saturated hotels, restaurants, bars, and clubs that have helped make Miami so famous).

Leave Miami for the Keys or the Everglades, and youre in for another one-of-a-kind experience, amid landscapes like no other in America. You walk (and drink) in the footsteps of Hemingway, get up-close and personal with the areas sea life, soak up the serenity of unspoiled landscapes, and much more.

THE best SOUTH FLORIDA EXPERIENCES

Relishing the View from Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park: You havent truly seen South Florida until youve checked out the view from the southern point of Key Biscayne. Whether its the turquoise water or the sight of Stiltsvilleseven still-inhabited aquatic cabins dating back to the 1930s, perched smack in the middle of the Biscayne Channelit may take a little coercing to get you to leave..

Channeling Andy Warhol in Miamis Wynwood Arts District: After waiting for years for this arty, funky area to come into its own, Miamis hipsters and artists have finally been rewarded with a neighborhoodstill on the raw, edgy sideof galleries, studios, and even a few cool .