THE FACTS ABOUT ACQUALINA

USA Miami

Rosewood Hotels, a small chain known for The Mansion on Turtle Creek in Dallas and The Carlyle in New York, has opened its first Florida property. Just north of Miami Beach, in a town called Sunny Isles Beach, Acqualina is part of a vast, 51-storey building, which is a bit intimidating until you discover that the hotel has fewer than 100 bedrooms (the rest of the tower is given over to condos). From the condo lobby you enter a series of sedate, Tuscan-themed public spaces opening onto three beautiful pools. There are four suites to a floor (on levels 5 through to 28), half of which face the ocean and half the 'intracoastal waterway' lined with tall buildings (but none near enough to mar the views). The suites are luxurious in a restrained way; the bathrooms are as large as some hotel rooms. There's a branch of Il Mulino (perennially the highest-ranked Italian restaurant in New York), which manages to do the impossible and improve on the original: the complimentary antipasti are a prelude to astounding entrées such as peppery stone crabs over linguini and a veal chop worth flying in for. There's an ESPA spa offering body masks of oshadi clay, marine algae or mud, overlooking the hotel's swathe of white-sand beach, and an extensive day camp for children. Think of Acqualina as the perfect compromise between the chaos of South Beach, 15 minutes' drive away, and the calm of the Caribbean it's close to Miami and Fort Lauderdale international airports, too. WHEN TO GO May for the South Florida Theater Festival. ROOM TO BOOK Any ocean-facing suite. CONTACT 17875 Collins Avenue, Sunny Isles Beach, Miami, USA (00 1 305 918 8000; www.acqualina.com). COST Doubles from $480; suites from $880