Recently in Miami Category

What better spot to use your Free Weekends than the Sunshine State for a family vacation? Last summer, SPG Platinum member Joseph Montague, brought his wife and two children (ages 2 and 8 months) down from Mobile, Alabama, and the whole family enjoyed a memorable week together on the Florida coast using their Free Weekend Night Awards. "We had a great time swimming in the salt water pool, watching the sun set from our room, as well as enjoying the local restaurants and beaches," Montague said, an SPG member since 2001. By the second weekend, the family had made their way up to Miami, where they checked in at the chic W South Beach. "It was a top notch hotel. We were actually concerned that we would feel a little out of place with our children, but as soon as we arrived, everybody was friendly and welcoming. We felt right at home and enjoyed having a drink on our balcony in the evenings while listening to the ocean."

This year, Montague and his family are saving up for a few nights in Madrid at the Westin Palace. "We certainly enjoy the Free Weekend promotions," he says.

Did you spend a Free Weekend Night at a Starwood hotel last year? Share your story with SPG at SPGFacebook@starwoodhotels.com, and register to start earning your 2010 Free Weekend Nights! Plus, you could win Free Weekend Nights through May 25th with the SPG "Passport to Free Weekends" contest. Follow SPG on Twitter @SPGInsider and "like" SPG on Facebook to receive all the clues.

Miami has an incredible beach scene, fantastic food, and unbeatable nightlife, but it wouldn't be the world class city that it is without its amazing array of cultural attractions. Among the most impressive is the Wolfsonian, a Florida International University museum dedicated to design from 1885 to 1945. The museum's mission is to show how design both affected culture and was affected by culture during this tumultuous period, and its collection shows the tension and optimism of the times through industrial design objects, furniture, glass, metalwork, and other mixed media art. Among the highlights are works from the British arts and crafts movement, such as an 1891 walnut cabinet by William Richard Lethaby and a 1905 presentation bowl by Robert Hilton. And I'm particularly intrigued by its collection of art from world's fairs and expositions since 1851, which includes catalogs and rare books, furnishings, sculpture, paintings, and ephemera. Something about their design evokes a message of hope and resolve that transcends any era. The Wolfsonian is located in the heart of the Art Deco district in Miami Beach, just minutes from the sizzling new W South Beach.

[image via FIU]

Ah... that heady aroma of a fine blend of hand-rolled tobacco. You'd think you were in Cuba, but you're actually in Florida. Little Havana it's called, ten minutes west and slightly south of central Miami, this Cuban enclave is one of the city's liveliest districts.

Calle Ocho (SW 8th Street) is Little Havana's main drag, and it's lined with traditional Cuban restaurants, art galleries, and cigar factories. Though not known for its shopping, the area does feature a few specialty shops like Little Havana to Go (1442 SW 8th St) where you can pick up t-Shirts, books about Cuba, coffee, and a box of dominoes to take over to Maximo Gomez Park aka Domino Park right next door. Soak up the atmosphere by settling in with the locals at a game table and sip a hot Cuban coffee near a mural depicting the presidents of the Americas. Then saunter over to Lily's Records (1419 SW 8th St) to replenish your Cuban music collection with a few rare LPs. Or browse the colorful gayabera men's shirts and tropically-hued dresses for the ladies at Alfaro's Boutique (1604 SW 8th St). By now you must be itching to get back to that warm plot of white sand at the W South Beach, but before you go, be sure to pay your respects to Cuban heroes like the revolutionary poet Jose Marti on the Cuban Memorial Boulevard, a stretch of SW 13th Street just south of 8th.

It all started as a joke. Back in 1981, a handful of Miami revelers were miffed that they weren't allowed to march along with the "official" marchers in the King Orange Jamboree parade at the Orange Bowl. Apparently, their instruments - kazoos and garbage can lids - weren't regulation, and parade organizers didn't like the conch shells they wore on their heads either. So the Merry Mango Marching Band decided to form their own parade, and now, more than 25 years later, it's more popular than they could ever have imagined. The King Mango Strut takes place every year in Miami's Coconut Grove neighborhood on the last Sunday of December, and it's one of the craziest and most colorful parades you'll see in Miami. In fact, their motto is "Putting the nut in Coconut Grove." Paraders wear colorful costumes with varying levels of taste, usually satirizing the events of the day. This year's parade falls on December 27, 2009, and I'd expect to see plenty of marching tea bags, along with a cast of political characters and popular figures. Guests at the Four Points by Sheraton Miami Beach will enjoy this irreverent year-end tradition.

[image via kingmangostrut.org]

William Randolph Hearst was one of the richest tycoons of his day, and his eccentric tastes in art and antiquities knew no limit. In 1925, for example, he purchased an entire Spanish monastery cloister - outbuildings and all - and had them shipped, brick by brick, from Segovia to the United States. The reassembled Ancient Spanish Monastery can now be found in North Miami Beach, where it serves as an Episcopal church and one of south Florida's most beautiful and unusual tourist attractions. It's often used for weddings and receptions, but visitors may tour the cloisters, chapel, interior rooms, and gardens, which boast a variety of local flowers and plants. Built between 1133 and 1141, it's the oldest building in the Western Hemisphere, and its French Altar, prayer well, and stained glass windows are a sight to behold, especially in a city where most buildings are a product of the 20th century. When you take a stroll through this breathtaking monastery, it's easy to imagine yourself transported back in time to the 12th century. Say what you will about Mr. Hearst, but he had impeccable taste. Starwood has hotels throughout Miami, including the newly opened W South Beach.

[image via Miami CVB]