DK Travel : Miami : Coral Gables and Coconut Grove : Walks, Drives, and Historic Sites

Top 10 Walks, Drives, and Historic Sites

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1. Miracle Mile

Though not really quite a mile, nor particularly miraculous, this street and parallel ones are mostly about nice shops and elegant eateries.
2. Coconut Grove Village

This is a place to walk (see CocoWalk), but it’s probably best not to venture more than a few blocks west of CocoWalk (“Black Grove,” sadly, is uninviting).
3. Merrick Villages

Driving around Coral Gables to take in these charming residences, done up in the styles of various national and regional cultures, will take perhaps a couple of hours (see Merrick’s Coral Gables Fantasies).
4. Barnacle State Historic Site

This unusual house, lived in by the descendants of its original builder until 1973, is the area’s oldest, built in 1891 (see Barnacle State Historic Site).
5. Villa Vizcaya

A recreation of a 16thcentury Italian villa with formal gardens.
6. Biltmore Hotel

Inimitably beautiful and grand, this is one of the world’s most gorgeous hotels, opened in 1926.
7. Congregational Church

Merrick’s deliciously Baroque paean to his father, a Congregational minister, was Coral Gables’ first church and remains the city’s most beautiful.
8. Venetian Pool

Considered the world’s most beautiful public swimming pool. You could spend half a day enjoying its charms (see Venetian Pool & Venetian Pool).
9. Coral Gables Merrick House

The boyhood home of George Merrick (see Merrick’s Coral Gables Fantasies) has been restored to its 1920s look, and it’s remarkable to reflect on how modest the man’s background was compared to the grandeur of the dreams he realized. The city of Coral Gables took its name from this house. The stone was quarried from what is now the Venetian Pool.
10. Coconut Grove Playhouse

In a reversal of the usual story, this period Mediterranean-Revival building, in the Spanish Rococo style, was built in 1926 as a movie house and later converted to a theater.