Fisher Island, a Very Private Miami Getaway

Fisher Island Hotel and Resort

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I boarded the ferry off MacArthur Causeway just before it curves and heads straight into South Beach. Parked alongside a Mercedes-Benz and the latest Jaguar, the boat shuttled us across Government Cut to what was once the private retreat of William K. Vanderbilt. (The Gilded Age millionaire traded his 250-foot yacht for developer Carl Fisher’s private island in 1925.) The mansion he built along with a handful of cottages — and more recently a brand-new beach club — make up the Fisher Island Hotel and Resort, which also includes a number of seaside condo rentals. Recently transformed into luxurious hideaways, the historic bungalows have secluded courtyards with Jacuzzis and poster beds with super-thick mattresses (see photo).

Lunch at the Beach Club was gazpacho soup dressed up with a scoop of basil sorbet, followed by a lazy hour lounging on chaises just steps from the intimate ocean-side beach, where the water is amazingly clear and cool. Resort guests receive their own golf cart; we drove past eye-candy yachts docked at the marina en route to the Porto Cerva restaurant for a steak dinner. However, the highlight of the weekend was playing the nine-hole executive golf course (not a blade of grass out of place), making par on “Flamingo Point,” a 173-yard challenge that has its own flock of flamingos, and playing past mega-ships on the “Portside” hole that runs alongside the Port of Miami’s shipping channel. Depending on the season, garden-view guest rooms can be found for $400 a night, and Stay-and-Play packages offer four nights for the price of three. Hard to imagine this piece of paradise is just minutes from South Beach — but it is.

Tags: Fisher Island Club | Fisher Island Hotel and Resort | islands | Miami | South Beach