Forget the Miami Vice vision of Florida’s second largest city: a place dotted with brilliantly refurbished boutique Art Deco hotels and filled with statuesque young models and sizzling velvet-roped nightclubs. It’s time to look—really look—at Miami again. Nearly two decades after being recognized as one of the world’s most glamorous locations, the city is enjoying a more polished heyday. For years South Beach, the southernmost stretch of Miami Beach, covering First to Twenty-third Streets, was the only game in town, and if you were interested in anything more than sun, sand and late-night debauchery, Miami simply wasn’t the place for you. The best accommodations were attractive but uncomfortable; a hotel’s popularity seemed to depend not on its service or amenities but on the good looks and snooty attitude of its staff.

Today, however, Miami offers a slew of cultural, dining, retail and lodging options with which to satisfy discriminating adults. The most magnetic destination in the United States for the young and trendy has grown up. Yes, the art and food scenes in New York, London, Paris and Tokyo may still be more cosmopolitan, but as an urban-vacation address, Miami stands shoulder to shoulder with those cities. And if youth, beauty and proximity figure prominently in your enjoyment equation, it may just come out on top.

As a reporter who has lived in Miami since 1993, I’ve seen service and refinement gradually become more fashionable than slick style. Just in the past four years, Mandarin Oriental and Four Seasons have taken up residence in downtown Miami, and Ritz-Carlton has staked its claim throughout the metropolis, establishing outposts in Key Biscayne, Coconut Grove and South Beach. Rosewood Hotels and healthy-living heavyweight Canyon Ranch, the renowned spa company, will open Miami locations in the next two years. Regarding things culinary, Emeril Lagasse (of Emeril’s, at Loews Miami Beach Hotel), Eric Ripert (at the Raleigh Hotel), David Bouley (at the Ritz-Carlton, South Beach) and Douglas Rodriguez (at ola Miami) are among the top U.S. chefs who have introduced their menus to Miami this past year. And delectable hot spots Nobu and Ago have set up satellite stoves in the hip Ian Schrager–managed Shore Club hotel.