Frommer's South Florida including Miami and the Keys [Paperback]

Lesley Abravanel (Author)

Book Description

Series: Frommer's Complete Guides | Publication Date: August 29, 2002

You'll never fall into the tourist traps when you travel with Frommer's. It's like having a friend show you around, taking you to the places locals like best. Our expert authors have already gone everywhere you might go--they've done the legwork for you, and they're not afraid to tell it like it is, saving you time and money. No other series offers candid reviews of so many hotels and restaurants in all price ranges. Every Frommer's Travel Guide is up-to-date, with exact prices for everything, dozens of color maps, and exciting coverage of sports, shopping, and nightlife. You'd be lost without us!

Completely updated every year (unlike most of the competition), Frommer's South Florida including Miami & the Keys is the only guide you'll need to discover the best of South Florida. Our author, a longtime resident, will show you the loveliest beaches, the hottest restaurants, the top shopping, and the most sizzling nightlife in Miami. You can take your pick from affordable art deco motels, retro resorts, or the trendiest boutique hotels in South Beach. Choose a Cuban cafe or a sleek sushi bar, a raucous stone crab feast or an elegant steakhouse.

We'll also take you down to the Keys, for fabulous snorkeling, diving, and deep-sea fishing, winding up in Key West, with its outrageous beach bars and nightclubs. The guide also includes the best of nearby Fort Lauderdale, Palm Beach, and West Palm Beach, and an excursion to the Everglades, for amazing bird watching and a look at one of the world's most unique ecosystems. You'll even get a free color fold-out map and an online directory that makes trip-planning a snap!

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Experience a place the way the locals do. Enjoy the best it has to offer. And avoid tourist traps. At Frommer's, we use 150 outspoken travel experts around the world to help you make the right choices. Frommer's. Your guide to a world of travel experience.

Choose the Only Guide That Gives You:
* Outspoken opinions on what's worth your time and what's not.
* Exact prices, so you can plan the perfect trip no matter what your budget.
* Off-the-beaten-path experiences and undiscovered gems, plus new takes on top attractions.
* The best hotels and restaurants in every price range, with candid reviews.

About the Author

Lesley Abravanel is a freelance journalist and a graduate of the University of Miami School of Communication. When she isn't combing South Florida for the latest hotels, restaurants, and attractions, she is on the lookout for vacationing celebrities, about whom she writes in her weekly nightlife and gossip column, "Velvet Underground," for both the Miami Herald and its weekly entertainment newspaper, Street. She is also a contributor to Star Magazine and is the Miami correspondent for Black Book Magazine.

Product Details

• Paperback: 426 pages
• Publisher: Frommer's; 3rd edition (August 29, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764566644
• ISBN-13: 978-0764566646
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 6.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,795,326 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars South Florida Savvy, October 18, 2001

By 

Liz Wolk (Fort Lee, NJ United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Frommer's South Florida including Miami & the Keys 2002 (Frommer's Complete Guides) (Paperback)

This book was better than any tour guide. I drove from Jupiter all the way to Key West stopping in Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale and Miami. Ms. Abravanel's advice was unbiased in an otherwise jaded market (she is the only Miami Beach travel writer I have read, to claim the Delano Hotel overrated...which it is!!!). Her restaurant recommendations were more helpful and insightful than any Zagat guide could have been. And mostly, her witty writing style made reading a pleasure. I look forward to more Frommer's with her at South Florida's helm.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Clear and Enjoyable writing style sets this guide apart., January 4, 2003

By 

Allan M. Gathercoal "fdoamerica" (Norcross, GA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Frommer's South Florida including Miami and the Keys (Paperback)

Tourism generates over {$$$$} billion annually for the Florida economy, which is more than twice the entire GNP for Cuba. That is why there is a fierce fight for the Florida travel guide market. Frommer's is one of the best guides available.

This South Florida guide is somewhat more expanded than "Frommer's Florida" Guide (see my review). If you are going to visit just MIAMI, the EVERGLADES, PALM BEACH, FT. LAUDERDALE or the KEYS, then you will find this guide more compact, lighter and a bit cheaper.

The same great writing style that is in the Frommer's state guide is found in this more compact companion. The accommodation and dining recommendations are reliable and on the money. This guide lists the best restaurants that South Florida has to offer. A lodging and restaurant index would be a definite plus for this guide. As it stands now, if you have a restaurant you want to look up, you have to go through all the listings in the city you are in until you stumble across the name you seek or miss seeing it completely.

The rating system is labored and difficult to understand. The explanation of the "new star rating system" is buried in the book and not indexed. It was by quirk that I found it. Strange.

The Internet web site addresses provided for hotels could be more comprehensive considering that this is a 2003 guide. In today's world of "connectivity" you can visit the hotel sites and see the accommodations and rates prior to making reservations. And, website/email addresses are restricted to the lodging listings even though many of the restaurants now have their own websites with photos and menus and email to makes reservations.

However, there are two significant areas in this guide that could use improvement: maps and hotels/restaurants.

Regarding the maps: the maps in the guide are lackluster. More and better maps would greatly help the user.

What put this guide on top of the competing guides is the clear and enjoyable writing style of the review. The introductions of the regional areas are the best of the guides I reviewed. You will do well if you have to chose just one South Florida guide and you select Frommer's.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Better than Gremlins and better than E.T.!!!, September 17, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Frommer's South Florida including Miami and the Keys (Paperback)

Well, not really, but i've lived in south florida for 13 years and this book is a must have for anyone who lives down here or is thinking about visiting. Everyone thinks they have a true grasp of the miami scene, but this author actually does.