Fisher Island Hotel & Resort

Fisher Island Hotel & Resort Review

Assuming you don't have a private yacht, there are three ways to gain access to Fisher Island just off South Beach: you can either become a club member (initiation fee alone: $25,000), be one of the 750 equity members who have vacation places here (starting price: $8 million), or book a night at the club hotel (basic villa: $900 a night). Once you've made it, you'll be welcomed at reception with champagne. Considering you get a private house, a golf cart, and a fenced-in backyard with a hot tub, villas are a value for a memorable honeymoon or other lifetime event, if not a casual weekend. Families should stay in one of three former guest cottages of the former Italianate mansion of William K. Vanderbilt (in 1925 he swapped Carl Fisher his yacht for the island), which forms the centerpiece of this resort. A 9-hole golf course, the surprisingly affordable Spa Internazionale, and 18 lighted tennis courts (hard, grass, and clay), kids' programs, and 1 mi of very private (and very quiet) white-sand beach imported from the Bahamas means there's plenty of sweet nothing to do here. Oh, and there are eight restaurants and a fun sunset tiki bar to choose from—Porto Cervo is the best Italian restaurant nobody knows about. The Garwood Lounge features nightly piano and seats just 16. Remarkably, this true exclusivity and seclusion is minutes from South Beach.