The Ritz-Carlton Key Biscayne

The Ritz-Carlton Key Biscayne is the Miami resort for people whose Miami is the water: the island's oceanfront anchor across the Rickenbacker — twenty minutes from South Beach, a vacation's distance in temperament — where the setting does the arguing: the Atlantic here runs the county's calmest resort water (the key's position gentles the surf — the beach day actually swims), the sand spreads resort-serviced but island-quiet, and the grounds run old-school grand: the eleven-court tennis-and-pickleball garden with its teaching program (among the country's ranked resort tennis operations — the clinics book like spa slots), the 20,000-square-foot destination spa (the island's wellness anchor), the oceanfront pool pair (family and calmer), kids-club programming at full Ritz spec, and the dining spread from the beachfront grill's toes-in-sand tier to the lobby bar's cigar-and-rum Cuban lean (the key's village, with its Cuban bakeries and bike culture, is the resort's neighborhood — the island reads more Latin-family-weekend than scene, which is the charm). The island completes the pitch: Bill Baggs' lighthouse beach and state park next door (this guide's Cape Florida entry — the resort's guests borrow its wildness), Crandon's golf and beaches north, the causeway's windsurf flats, and the skyline-at-a-distance views that remind you what you are successfully avoiding. Fit: families on the calm-water formula (the county's best resort swimming for small kids), tennis-and-spa trips, couples choosing island hush over beach scene, and every return visitor who has graduated from Ocean Drive.