Vizcaya Museum and Gardens

This post will begin a monthly series on attractions in the Miami area that you should visit in the winter months, places you can't enjoy in the summer because of the heat. The first place I recommend is the Vizcaya Museum and Gardens, which is a National Historic Landmark . Vizcaya has something for everyone: history, antiques, a decadent villa, and palatial gardens. I have included pictures of the barge and gardens, but there's no photography allowed inside the mansion.

I visited Vizcaya this April (and it was already hot!), but I was really impressed. I had no idea Miami held such a gem! There are two main attractions at Vizcaya, the mansion and the enormous, beautifully landscaped gardens. You can tour them in any order, although the mansion is nice and cool, so it is a good break if it is hot out.

I personally love any type of historical residence, so I loved meandering through all 34 rooms of the villa, taking in all the marble, the murals, the rich textiles, antique furniture and tapestries. The whole thing was built in the 1910's to look like an old Italian villa. The furnishing and decoration are reminiscent of some of European castles minus the excessive gilding.

I recommend the guided tour of the house, which includes all of the rooms on the lower floor. It meets every half-hour or so in the central courtyard, and takes about 45 minutes. The guide will clue you in to the oldest and most valuable antiques, and all of the history and peculiarities of the house. James Deering really spared no expense in building and decorating this estate. There are beautiful views from the house of both the gardens and the bay. The top floor with all of the bedrooms (each with a different theme) is open to tour on your own. Vizcaya mansion holds one of the largest antique collections in the country. Some of my favorites in the Vizcaya mansion were the music room with a muraled harpsichord, the breakfast room, with a two-walled seascape mural and Asian decor, and the luxuriantly silky "Espagnolette" guest room (click here to see photos of these rooms and more).


The gardens at Vizcaya were reminiscent of Linderhoff castle, with the mansion opposite of a large hill ('The Mound'), with a grand pool in between. The gardens are like visitng another house all together, linked together as a series of 'rooms', including a 'Secret Garden' and the 'Maze Garden'. Aside from the magnificent landscaping, there are sculptures and lots of neat little accents, like coral rock planting baskets and shell murals. It seems everywhere you look stands a whimsical statue, and around every bend lies a romantic corner. Very inspiring. They are expanding their restoration of the gardens, and also of the surrounding buidling that were the Vizcaya's 'village', including a dairy and blacksmith shop. With all these improvements, Vizcaya can just get better.

Vizcaya Museum and Gardens is one of my favorite places I have visited in Miami...it provides a serene and majestic break from the hustle and bustle of the city, beyond the beaches and nightclubs. When you're at Vizcaya, it's easy to imagine you yourself are a wealthy early 20th century industrialist.

For more information on visiting Vizcaya Museum and Gardens, click here .