Metropolitan Miami is a 2000-square-mile, sun-drenched vacation-land that attracts nearly 5 million visitors a year. The city of Miami, more sedate than in years past, boasts skyscrapers, palm-lined boulevards and a bustle reminiscent of Caribbean capitals. Once an offshoot of the city, Miami Beach has long since surpassed it to become the greatest ocean side resort on earth. Here, perched on an island ten miles long across Biscayne Bay, is a staggering array of hotels, motels, apartment houses and restaurants. Along one eight-mile stretch called hotel row, gleaming towers of glass and concrete stand shoulder to shoulder facing the sea. The tempo is fast, and the crowd, decked out in everything from minks to bikinis, is exuberant, fun-seeking and usually sunburned.
Off the coast of Florida, stretching 115 miles from Key Largo to Key West, are a string of islands that seem to have been flung like beads into the sea. Although the Keys have both busy resort hotels and exclusive clubs, they are famed mostly for the sub-tropical climate, superb fishing, and a tranquil, fishing-village, get-away-from-it-all sort of charm. Once a haven for pirates, and now a year-round residence for artists, writers and fishermen, the Keys show traces of all the early settlers, who included Spaniards, Bahamians, Southerners and Yankee fishermen.
At the southwest tip of Florida you'll find Everglades National Park, third largest national park in the country and the biggest sub-tropical wilderness on the continent. The park, which covers 2,100 square miles, is a half-land, half-water wonder world with acres of saw grass, strangler figs, sea grapes and wild orchids. This was once the home of the Seminole Indians, and it still teems with all sorts of wild life. There are snakes, marsh rabbits, deer, turtles, alligators, black bear and magnificent water birds. Although much of the park is impenetrable, there are two roads and a number of trails maintained by the National Park Service.
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