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This guide will help you plan your next trip to sunny, historic Coral Gables, FL.
Coral Gables is only a hop, skip, and a jump from Miami, but when you get there, you feel like you’ve been taken to a different time and place. Coral Gables isn’t called the “City Beautiful” for nothing. It was built in the early 1920s with beauty in mind. The fancy houses, storefronts, and even the bus stops aren’t your average landmarks. Many of them are made of the local oolitic limestone and have intricate details. Every part of the city was built around a theme called “Mediterranean Revival.” The city is full of beautiful entrances, fountains, and plazas. Even though Coral Gables isn’t as old as other cities in the country, keeping its history alive is a top priority.
As you walk around the city, you might think you were in Europe because of its old-world charm. The person who planned the city wanted to build “castles in Spain.” It was so well done that King Alfonso XIII of Spain gave the city’s leader the Order of Isabella the Catholic for his support of Spanish culture.
Whether you take a tram or walk through the moss-covered streets, you can see different kinds of architecture in the seven “villages” or neighbourhoods: Dutch South African, French Normandy, Chinese, Florida Pioneer/Colonial, French Country, Italian, and a French City village that looks like it was built in the eighteenth century.
Coral Gables is a great place to get away from the busy Miami area. It’s a great place for a girls’ trip or an anniversary weekend because there are so many shops and places to eat.
What do you want to see?
The Venetian Pool is both a rock quarry and a natural water source. The architecture of the site is similar to that of the Venetian lagoon, and it is also the largest freshwater pool in the United States. Tucked away in a residential area, this is a great place for families. You can swim in a beautiful area with a waterfall and caves. Drive over to Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden to keep having fun in the sun. This 83-acre property has rare palms, orchids, and other tropical plants. It has two acres of rainforest, which is the only one in the U.S. If you go when they are having a mango or chocolate festival, it will be a very sweet time.
With its open-air central courtyard, Books & Books is a great place to grab a glass of wine and browse hand-picked titles, find works by local authors, and maybe even meet a best-selling author at one of their many events. The Coral Gables Museum has local history and art, and the Lowe Art Museum at the University of Miami has modern exhibits as well as a collection of Renaissance and Baroque art. Both museums are good for people who like art.
Gables Cinema is an art house theatre that shows the best independent, foreign, and old movies. You could also see a live show at the Actor’s Playhouse at Miracle Theatre, which puts on both Broadway-style shows and local productions for adults and families.
The Shops at Merrick Park is an outdoor mall with stores like Anthropologie, Lilly Pulitzer, Madewell, and Vineyard Vines. Coco Bella is another place to look for gifts. Locals have called it “an in-person Etsy store” because it has a lot of handmade and unique items. I especially like how carefully they chose their greeting cards and small accessories. If you stay for a while, you might hear about how the shop’s owner, Esther, who is celebrating her third year as a business owner, came up with creative ways to keep things going during the pandemic, right after she bought the little shop.
After a day in Coral Gables, you’ll get a sense of the town’s character. It focuses on locals from south Florida who run small businesses and eateries. Its focus on beauty shows that you can still love tradition in the 21st century.
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