Budget: Pelican

826 Ocean Drive, 001 305 673 3373, www.pelicanhotel.com, 30 rooms

Renzo Rossi, owner of the Diesel fashion brand, looks on the Pelican as a pet project. Each of the rooms has a different theme, and all come with furniture sourced from antique and junk shops. The Pelican's café offers Italian coffee and people-watching in equally strong measure. There is no pool, but loungers are available on the beach. From £105.

Design: The Raleigh

Nature trail on Florida's Highway One

Dolphins, alligators, tropical fish... Mark Edmonds and his children take a drive in a convertible along the Florida Keys

• Converted, in the Florida Keys

• Daily Doc: are the Florida Keys a good place to take my 14-year-old

Family Florida (and not a mouse in sight)

Cop cars, alligators, hot dogs, ice cream, fake breasts, airboats – you don’t need Disney to stay busy in the Sunshine State

• Paddling around Florida

• Converted, in the Florida Keys

• Florida's top thriller rides

Related Internet Links

• Read more than 500 USA travel articles

Related Links

• Six of the best hotels on Miami Beach

1775 Collins Avenue, 305 534 6300, www.raleighhotel.com, 104 rooms

Many of South Beach's historic hotels have been renovated out of recognition, but not the Raleigh, where the 1940s marble floors, Martini bar, and Miami's most beautiful swimming pool remain intact. The downside is that some rooms remain authentically poky, with poor views or no balconies. From £157.

Food: Angler's Boutique Resort

660 Washington Avenue, 305 534 9600, www.theanglersresort.com, 48 rooms

This new hotel might be a work in progress (half the lights weren't working in my room), but the Maison d'Azur, its restaurant, has a chef who brings an uncompromising attitude to seafood and cholesterol, with dishes such as scallops seared with champagne. Drawbacks? The pool is on the small side, and the hotel is a three-block walk from the beach. From £220.

Scene: The Delano

1685 Collins Avenue, 305 672 2000, www.delano-hotel.com, 208 rooms

People would sell their heavily worked teeth to get into the Florida Room, the new, purposefully tiny club in the basement of the Delano Hotel. But ultimately, this bar is just one scene among many. With billowing white muslin curtains, it is designed for posing, from the “water salon” (pool), sushi at Blue Door and the rooftop spa. From £254.

Times recommends

• Bogus websites are conning hundreds out of their holidays
• The complete last minute holiday guide
• Croatia: the flashing blades of Korcula