Coral Gables - Tree-lined Streets and Mediterranean Revival Style Architecture

Alhambra Towers, Coral Gables

The central district of Coral Gables feels more like a city than Miami's Downtown shopping area does, but without the crowds.

The City Beautiful
Most of the architecture is Mediterranean Revival style and Coral Gables is known as the City Beautiful. Coral Gables, often called just the Gables, is a separate city from Miami, but within Miami-Dade County.

Miracle Mile the Main Street
Even though there aren't a lot of tourist attractions, its main street, Miracle Mile, and the surrounding area are pleasant places to take a stroll and admire the buildings, for example the spectacular Alhambra Towers.

Tree-lined Coral Way
Away from the shopping and business centre, Miracle Mile is known as Coral Way (or 22nd Street), and is a beautiful road which in places is completely overhung by huge banyan trees.

Coral Way to the west of central Coral Gables is surrounded by leafy residential streets, and takes you in the direction of the Venetian Pool and the Biltmore Hotel, both worth visiting, and fairly close to Miracle mile.

To the east, Coral Way enters the City of Miami and is a tree-lined scenic drive leading to the Brickell financial district.

Venetian Pool
The Venetian Pool has a Venetian-style bridge and mooring posts and waterfalls. It was created in 1924 from an abandoned quarry and is on the National Register of Historic Places. This swimming pool is open to anyone for a small entrance fee, but it can be seen from outside, through the surrounding railings.

Biltmore Hotel
Not far away is the Biltmore Hotel, an impressive example of Mediterranean Revival architecture, completed in 1926, with a tower modelled on the Giralda tower of Seville Cathedral in Spain.

Non-residents can have a coffee or beer or a meal or snack by the enormous open-air swimming pool, said to be the largest hotel pool in the mainland United States.

Guided tours of the hotel are sometimes available. Phone 305 445 1926 for details.

Getting to the Pool and the Hotel
Both the Venetian Pool and the Biltmore Hotel are about a half-hour walk from Miracle Mile, the pool slightly closer than the hotel.

The number 56 bus from Aragon Avenue passes the hotel, but at times runs only once an hour. Alternatively the more frequent number 24 will take you part of the way, but allowing for waiting time it might be as quick to walk.

Old Police and Fire Station a Museum
This 1939 building on Aragon Avenue is currently being transformed into Coral Gables Museum.

Fairchild Gardens and Matheson Hammock Park
Although both of these gardens are within the City of Coral Gables, neither is anywhere near Miracle Mile, and they are not easily accessible without a car, although there are occasional buses.

Alligators at the University of Miami
One of Miami's principal universities, the University of Miami, is also within the Coral Gables municipal boundaries, but on US Route 1, also known as the South Dixie Highway. Alligators are sometimes seen on the campus, in fact there is a sign prohibiting swimming in the lake where they live.

The university is a half-hour bus ride from Miracle Mile (the number 56 from Aragon Avenue, in the opposite direction from the Biltmore Hotel). A Metrorail station, the University Station, is just a few minutes walk from the entrance to the campus, although many of the buildings are a good walk away from there.

Lowe Art Museum
Within the campus is the Lowe Art Museum, with permanent collections including one of Native American art and another of art of the ancient Americas.

Vegetarian and Vegan Meals in Coral Gables
You are likely to find vegan food in quite a lot of restaurants in Coral Gables, particularly on Miracle Mile, Giralda Avenue, and Ponce de Leon Boulevard.

A midday an eat-as-much-as-you-want buffet is available for $12 to $14 at the House of India Restaurant, just off the Douglas Road end of Miracle Mile, behind Denny's. There are plenty of vegetarian dishes, but not all of them are vegan.

Maroosh Mediterranean Restaurant, on Valencia Avenue, has special combo dishes at midday for under $10 including vegan food such as humus and falafel.

Bars in Coral Gables
For microbrew beers try a bar which is called just The Bar, on Giralda Avenue, close to Miracle Mile.

If you're near the University of Miami, you'll find some of the best beer in Miami at the Titanic Restaurant and Brewery, which has its own brews. It's on US 1, about a fifteen-minute walk from the Metrorail University Station.

Cheap Clothes on Miracle Mile
For cheap clothes try Ross, on Miracle Mile, and if you fancy getting involved in some amateur espionage take a look at Spy World, also on Miracle Mile.

Bookshops at Miracle Mile and Merrick Park Mall
There's a Barnes and Noble bookshop on Miracle Mile, but the service at Borders, in Merrick Park mall is much better, and Borders has computers where you can search the stock yourself.

Books and Books, on Aragon Avenue, has a smaller selection, and also a restaurant in a pleasant patio, with lackadaisical service, where there's sometimes live music.

But I stopped going there after two incidents at another Books and Books restaurant. First an unauthorized tip was added to my wife's debit card slip after she had signed it, and then a customer's dog was allowed to sit on a chair and drink water from a bowl on a table near to where my wife and I were sitting. The money was eventually refunded, but the staff didn't seem to think there was anything wrong with a dog drinking off a table.

Merrick Park Mall
Not a village, despite its name, the Village of Merrick Park is an upmarket shopping centre set around gardens, located just off Ponce de Leon Boulevard, on San Lorenzo Avenue.

It's a few minutes walk from Douglas Road Metrorail Station, or about ten minutes from Miracle Mile on the “trolley,” a free bus which runs along Ponce de Leon Boulevard from 8th Street, via Miracle Mile, to Douglas Road Station, but only weekdays till early evening.

George Merrick
The mall is named after George Merrick, a 1920s real estate developer who had a dream of creating a planned city with a Mediterranean theme. Although he certainly succeeded, he lost his money due to the 1926 hurricane and the Great Depression. He became postmaster of Miami and died at the age of 55.

His home, Merrick House, or Merrick Manor, at 907 Coral Way, is open for occasional tours.

Free Wi-fi in Coral Gables
Starbucks on Miracle Mile is a good place to sit outside and people-watch while you check your email. If you're at the Merrick Park mall, Borders bookstore also has free wi-fi and a café.

Public Transport from South Beach
It is possible to get from South Beach to Coral Gables by public transport, but it'll take you well over an hour, changing buses in Downtown Miami.

Another option, sometimes slightly quicker, but not at the weekend, would be to take a train from Government Center Metrorail Station in Downtown to Douglas Road Station, then the free trolley.

Directions to Coral Gables Using Google Transit
To get to any of the locations mentioned anywhere in Coral Gables, whether by bus and train or driving or walking, do a search by clicking on the Google Transit link in the right-hand sidebar of this blog.

However, you won't find details of the free trolley.

If you need help using Google Transit read the following post: Directions in Miami - Walking, Driving, Bike, Buses & Trains.