The best thing that Transport and Tourism Minister Ewart Brown ever did, in my humble opinion, is hook us up with a new, direct flight to Miami. Not only is the city one of the hottest of hot spots in the United States, it is also a hub for flights to Central and South American making dozens of Latin American countries now more easily accessible to Bermuda residents.

Miami makes an ideal weekend getaway - with the direct flights departing Thursday mornings (arriving in Miami at 11 a.m.) and returning on Sunday evenings, the timing could not be more perfect. So what does Miami have to offer?

A multicultural metropolis dotted with culture, fashion, fabulous food, architecture and pulsing beats, all attractively framed by South Atlantic Ocean and beaches. If that's not enough for you, don't worry it's also stuffed, chock a block, with beautiful people.

The centre of Miami tourism is the beach, and in particular the unique landscape of South Beach, where models and stars mingle with tacky tourists in the plethora of fun watering holes along Ocean Drive and Collins Avenue.

The city has eclectic population which was spiced up with the arrival of Cubans after the Revolution (and Mariel boatlift) and later Dominicans, Haitians, Puerto Ricans, Jamaicans and Bahamians. With 50 percent of Miami residents speaking Spanish at home, the official language of the city is definitely - Spanglish.

While the other neighbourhoods of Miami have much to offer, South Beach is our choice for our first tester weekend and there is more than enough there to keep us busy.

The sheer bounty of hotels in South Beach, can make one of the first tourism decisions - where to stay - one of the most difficult.

South Beach offers opulent, five star hotels like the star studded Shore Club, Raleigh and Delano along side Art Deco classics and the usual safe chain blandness of Howard Johnsons and Best Westerns.

The Art Deco hotels give South Beach is unique look and atmosphere, however. These hotels sprung up in the 1930s in an effort to stimulate tourism. The boom the city was looking for did not materialise until after the Second World War, but the Art Deco buildings offer the fashion of their hopeful era with porthole windows, streamlined features, bas reliefs and tropical motifs. They also offer a lot of neon, giving South Beach at night its distinctive glow.

The buildings are now protected and treasured gems but in the 1970s, when Miami tourism had fallen to a sleepy low, they fell under threat from ever-hungry skyscraper developers. The Miami Design Preservation League was formed in 1976 and its members, quite literally strapped themselves to the buildings to stop the bulldozers and wrecking balls.

To them we should all be grateful because as Miami fortunes picked up again - which many have tied to the kitschy 1980s TV drama Miami Vice giving the city a kick of glamour - these landmark buildings were renovated extensively and now offer modern, sleek or funky and ultracool interiors behind their Art Deco facades.

There is so much selection in this hotel range - which tends to average between $150-$200 a night - it took days to select the right hotel.

Offering a selection of five hotels and a cheeky slogan - ‘Sleep Around' - is the South Beach chain. They have five hotels in the heart of the South Beach action and caught our attention with their ‘extra' offerings which include a free airport shuttle, complimentary breakfasts, welcoming drinks and cool bars with ‘free' happy hours in the evening.

Alas, in the end we chose Mercury Resort which had none of these extras but, located off the strip a bit, offered the possibility of sleep at night, a pool and hot tub in an attractive courtyard. We immediately felt good about our choice when the hotel manager, ‘Michael from Somerset', took our reservation.

The Mercury is an all suite hotel. All the rooms have small kitchenettes and Jacuzzi bathtubs large enough for two. The hotel is beautifully furnished and softly lit with wonderfully comfy Temperpedic beds.

Another bonus at the Mercury is proximity to three well recommended South Beach eateries - Shoji Sushi and Nemo Seafood are located on the ground floor of the building while the famous Big Pink diner is across the street. All pack solid reputations for their specialities.

The Big Pink is a hot pink landmark with an extensive menu of yummy treats to fuel you up for your forays into the heart of South Beach.

Beware however, this is the United States and the portions are HUGE. The Big Pink actually encourages you to take home half your order in a doggy bag to enjoy as late night snack!

With some food in your belly, you should be ready to dive into South Beach. First, get your bearings, stroll up Ocean Drive along Lummus Park. With the ocean on one side and Art Deco hotels, restaurants, clubs and shops on the other, this little enterprise could take all day.

Ocean Drive and its parallel streets of Collins and Washington Avenues are the very definition of buzzing. Whether mid-afternoon with people heading to the beach to see and be seen or early evening as beautiful hostesses attempt to draw you into to the requisite happy hour (or hours) at every watering hole, this place is alive with laughter and energy.

If for some unknown reason, you are in bad mood in the centre of all this frivolity, head straight to Ocean Drive's Wet Willies and order yourself an ‘Attitude Adjustment'. This alcoholically potent snowcone-like concoction will quickly turn your mood around. To avoid a brain-freeze yet get back into the Ocean Drive groove quickly, you can take your Attitude Adjustment away in a plastic cup to enjoy as you stroll. It is legal to walk around the beach, and centre streets of South Beach with alcohol provided it is in a plastic cup and all of the bars and restaurants in this area will provide you with one at your request.

In addition to public spaces along the beach, many hotels and restaurants offer chairs, umbrellas and refreshments for patrons. These areas can be a great spots to enjoy the scantily clad beach scene.

We head for the famous Nikki Beach Club to see what it's all about.

Nikki Beach is a high end beach club chain with outlets in Miami, Saint Tropez, St. Barth's and Buzios, Brazil. Basically its concept - and Dr. Brown I hope you are reading here - is an outdoor, daytime club. It's an open area next to the beach littered with white leather lounging beds for two or three or four or five of your friends and ringed with more traditional lounging chairs and highly coveted tee-pees (where are you are most likely to spot a lounging star or true VIP) and curtained, raised couch-like contraptions. There are also showers if you need to cool off and a spirited dance-floor if you need to heat up to the DJ's pumping tunes.

To secure a circular or double bed style lounger at Nikki Beach you have to opt for their bottle service - a common concept in Miami. If a patron is willing to buy a bottle, they have general rights to toss anyone out of the comfy perch they may have secured. The more expensive the bottle is that you have purchased, the more power you have to relocate el cheapos beneath you.

After getting a rundown on this ‘comfort of the richest' policy from our server Arturo, we take a look at the “bottle menu” and find, amid the $200 bottles of vodka and $600 bottles of champagne, very normally priced bottles of wine. Ordering a $35 bottle of Argentinian Malbec, our spot on the circular lounger is secure. Ironic in that for two beers from the bar we paid $16 and had no seating rights whatsoever. For those with a group of friends then, a $200 bottle of vodka can make good sense… it makes no sense for a couple unless they are seeking an alcoholic coma in addition to a lounger.

So we lounge and sip our wine and indulge in the treasured South Beach past-time of people watching. Nikki Beach, with its expense and exclusivity, is said to be a haven for the beautiful where no one will bother the young romping models or rich things and where anything goes. As in most of South Beach, topless sun-bathing - and dancing and drinking and whatever else you may choose to do - is not only tolerated but encouraged. Every male I know tends to get all excited at this kind of news. But everywhere I have ever been in the world where this is tolerated/encouraged it is not the nubile young 20-somethings that take advantage of it but more likely their mothers or even, grandmothers.

Nikki Beach proves to be no exception. The only topless person around is a generously chubby woman in her 50s strutting around with distended belly in full swing to the mortification of what appears to be her teenage son. The man who appears to be her husband, alternatively, seems bemused by the whole spectacle, from which most people in the crowd are studiously averting their eyes.

While a few, umm… ladies, well into the 40s are sporting thong bikinis, most of the beautiful young things are conservatively attired by comparison in normal bikinis and even sarongs, cover-ups and loose pants while they dance and frolic.

Nevertheless, Nikki Beach is a brilliant place to hang around for a lazy Sunday (the party starts with brunch and stretches to 4 a.m.) or Saturday and have a laugh and a drink while you catch some rays.

Afterwards you may be ready to head to BED!

But in Miami that does not mean you are turning in for the evening it means you are going out for dinner and dancing.

BED - Beverage, Entertainment, Dining (complex) - is a popular eatery which turns to a nightclub after the last sitting.

BED is located on Washington Avenue but has no sign or number as it follows the logic that if you are not cool enough to know where it is, they don't want you there anyway. Probably not cool enough, but tipped off by a tour guide, we manage to con our way into the 10.30 dinner seating and - after a quick change of clothes as there are no shorts allowed for men - we take our spot in BED on a bed, with six new bedmates. Yes, in bed, you stretch out and eat in bed with strangers, unless your party is large enough to take a whole bed.

BED is undoubtedly a gimmick but it is a highly popular one with only two seatings a night.

The food is excellent but quite pricey - going to BED ends up being our most expensive night in South Beach.

And when dinner winds down, we are in Miami style, unceremoniously tossed from the bed as someone has bought a bottle.

If you want to stay out late, South Beach is your Mecca because its clubs don't kick off until midnight and then run through till dawn. Some of the most happening and famous joints are Crobar, Mynt, Bash and Groove Jet but Washington Avenue is littered with other options. Dress up because access is ruled by power-mad bouncers.

Two highly recommended daytime activities are the Miami Duck Tours and renting a scooter or three-wheeler scoot-vehicle at 6th and Collins. The deliciously silly Duck Tours are a combination street and water tour throughout South Beach and Biscayne Bay in a land-to-water former Coast Guard vehicle. Our charismatic tour guide showed us South Beach landmarks as well as homes of stars like Shaquille O'Neal, Marc Anthony, Sean (P. Diddy) Combs and Julio Iglesias (all located where else but Star Island), while filling us in on the history of South Florida and making us quack like ducks periodically. The quacking is somewhat eased by the fact that in true South Beach tradition, you are encouraged to drink (BYOB) on the tour.

Alternatively, renting a scoot-car from 6th and Collins for $30 and hour is probably the cheapest way to cruise Ocean Drive while drawing as much attention to yourself as you would in a Lambourghini or Ferrari. These ridiculous looking two-seater vehicles are fun and breezy and driven like a scooter. After pounding up and down the strip for a few days in flip-flops they offer a welcome respite for your feet as you zip around.

Always catch happy hour before dinner, it is a great opportunity to check out the hip bars of other hotels. The Whitelaw offers a stark white-leather interior with geometric shaped seats and delicious cocktails, the Chesterfield a leopard lounger lined porch where you can imbibe while watching the action pass by on Collins, while Delano's striking lobby Rose Bar is the place to go in the hopes of spotting a celebrity over your Mojito.

Dining selections are in such abundance that it is hard to go wrong but the Pelican on Ocean Drive is worth a taste for either lunch or dinner. The food is sublime and the atmosphere is even better. The Pelican Hotel is fun option for lodging as well as each of its 30 rooms are decorated in a different theme from ‘Jesus Christ Megastar' to the ‘Bubble Room' to the ‘Best Little Whorehouse' (rooms start at $300 a night, 305-673-3373).

Less famous but certainly familiar to those ‘in the know' is Prime 112 at 112 Ocean, hidden away at the bottom of Ocean, a culinary heaven is located behind a plain exterior. You will need reservations (305-532-8112) even early in the evening, and dress appropriately, unlike other South Beach venues Prime 112 does not consider a bikini top and a sarong to be smart casual.

Sadly, there is far more to South Beach - not to mention to rest of Miami - than can possibly be done justice to in one article or experienced over of fun-filled weekender. But with a new direct flight, luckily we can return again and again till we experience it all.