Coral Gables

One of Miami’s most well known neighborhoods, this grand community was planned by developer George Merrick and built to attract the wealthy. Established in the 1920s, Coral Gables grew up around the luxurious Biltmore Hotel and its golf course. An elegant icon of the Gilded Age, the Biltmore still attracts the wealthy and powerful. Beneath a canopy of colorful royal Poinciana trees and jungle-like banyan trees, elegant Mediterranean-style homes are built with native fossilized coral. Home of the University of Miami, it’s also the nation’s center for tropical plant research, with two significant research centers maintaining spectacular ...

One of Miami’s most well known neighborhoods, this grand community was planned by developer George Merrick and built to attract the wealthy. Established in the 1920s, Coral Gables grew up around the luxurious Biltmore Hotel and its golf course. An elegant icon of the Gilded Age, the Biltmore still attracts the wealthy and powerful. Beneath a canopy of colorful royal Poinciana trees and jungle-like banyan trees, elegant Mediterranean-style homes are built with native fossilized coral. Home of the University of Miami, it’s also the nation’s center for tropical plant research, with two significant research centers maintaining spectacular botanical collections. The Fairchild Tropic Botanical Garden (known to locals as Fairchild Gardens) offers 83 acres of natural and planted areas to explore, with niche gardens, greenhouses, and special collections such as the Rainforest, the Spiny Forest of Madagascar, and the Tropical Fruit Pavilion. Trendy and chic, Coral Gables is a community catering to upscale tastes, with two fashionable shopping districts – the Miracle Mile being the largest draw – and hundreds of unique bistros and restaurants offering a spectrum of cuisines, from Cuban to Irish, French, and Brazilian.

About the Expert

Sandra Friend has written 12 books about Florida, including the Explorer's Guide (Countryman Press) series to Florida.