• 1. Where to Stay
• 2. Where to Eat
• 3. What to Do
• 4. Insider’s Tip
• 5. An Oddball Day

Enjoy the polished guestrooms at AVIA.    (Photo: Courtesy of AVIA)

Surround yourself with palm trees and tiki torches at Hotel Maya (from $135), where you can sip a Peruvian Kiss ($11), a citrusy blend of Pisco and Campari, on the waterfront patio. Inside, all 195 rooms feature eccentric design flourishes—lime-green shutters and stone mosaic headboards—that conjure up images of old Miami.

See a design mash-up of new and old at the 35-room Varden Hotel (from $119), which first opened its doors in 1929 and was reborn in 2008 as a European-style boutique property.

Pretend you never left New York at one-year-old AVIA (from $159), a sleek downtown lodging that evokes Gotham with modern, angular furniture and in-room snacks from Dean & Deluca. Still, the standout feature is completely California: a year-round outdoor rooftop pool with views across the bay.

Published on Dec 16, 2010 as a web exclusive.