Nice or vice in sunny Miami?

With speedboats and cruisers lined up like cars along Biscayne's private islands, the white, palatial waterside houses stood every bit as sleek and glamorous as they were in the opening sequence of Miami Vice.

Most tourists head for the ten-mile stretch of sands of South Beach, only 30 minutes from Miami airport and one of the most popular areas of a city that has more than ten million visitors annually.

Friends had warned me about the crime rate. It is true that most big cities in the U.S. are dangerous but it is possible to avoid trouble spots - and the authorities make it extremely difficult for anyone to go astray.

Renowned for its playful nightlife, South Beach can get noisy but not nasty; they water drinks down too much for that. Over-zealous use of ice usually results in some sort of slush when spirits are ordered - so have a beer or wine instead.

All roads on South Beach lead to Ocean Drive, the bustling main strip that runs in front of restaurants, bars and small art deco hotels, where only brilliant sunshine can do justice to the David Hockney colours.

I didn't know whether to stare at pink limousines, bronzed rollerbladers or hotels daubed in lilac, peach and banana yellow, so I let my camera snap away like a nervous tic.

Very little about Miami Beach is genuinely low-key, except, curiously, the former home of one of the world's most lurid designers, Gianni Versace. I walked past the Amsterdam Palace several times before I noticed tourists posing for photographs on the marble frontsteps where he was gunned down.

A few blocks north of the palace, past the noisiest bars, was my refuge, the small and neat Winter Haven hotel. Its clean, airy, art deco interior and furnishings reflect its glamorous past.

A minor irritation is that, with no car park, the hotel charges a daily rate of £12 for a valet service. But with fuel only £1.10 a gallon, a large Earl Grey at Starbucks at 82p, a McDonald's cheeseburger 27p and a bottle of mineral water 50p, I began to feel a little better.

With grains of sand a few feet from the lobby, the Winter Haven is well-placed for lazing on the beach without being in the shadow of the monstrous chain hotel complexes of North Beach.

However, the sight of homeless drunks and druggies slumped under palm trees opposite the Winter Haven shocked me. I always wore flip-flops on the beach, I never knew what I might step on.

Mosquito repellent became a firm friend, too, as I discovered the tenacity with which the beasties were determined to attack my legs.

Whether on Ocean Drive or the main streets of Collins and Washington Avenues, I found something exhilarating about the boutiques selling wall-to-wall swimwear and cheaper designer clothes.

At the Levi's Store on Collins Avenue, if I'd been feeling less bloated after my diet of bagels, shrimp salads and cocktails, I'd have picked up a black J-Lo bikini with diamante for £60. Diehard Armani, Banana Republic and Gap fans will find themselves justifying no end of 'essentials'.

Four miles to the south is Key Biscayne Island and the deserted beaches of Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park (£2.80) where I spent hours squinting at waves left by fishing boats, believing I'd finally spotted one of Florida's endangered manatees.

Culture in Miami was fairly elusive (apart from the Museum of Modern Art, £3.50), but the city does have its surprises: I had no idea that the world's largest population of Holocaust survivors reside in Miami Beach until I wandered past the Lincoln Road Mall to the open-air Holocaust Memorial.

Lily ponds and rose arbours encircled an enormous bronze sculpture of a hand reaching for the sky with emaciated bodies, some clinging and some falling from the wrist.

Strangely, the city makes very little of the fact that the monument is here. In contrast, two pages of my Miami guidebook were devoted to Little Havana.

I say don't bother. There was a tiny park where Cuban pensioners play dominoes, a few bars serving cafe cubano (strong thimblefuls of coffee), a cigar factory and stray chickens in the street. But there was no hub, just a sprawl of tatty Laundromats and pawn shops. People live there - it's not necessarily fascinating for tourists.

However, Coco Walk in Coconut Grove was great, full of real young things. It was a preppy 'village' of shops and bars with artists in residence. I was one of many still in the galleries and restaurants at 2am.

Miami is not for the stressed-out; it's not a gentle city but a blast of decadence and fun. I rose above the aggressive driving, lingered over daiquiris and let the heat do its worst. The heady mix of Caribbean, Cuban and Latino living makes the polo shirts and chinos of Middle America seem a million miles away.

Then again, how edgy can a city truly be that uses digital traffic screens on Ocean Drive to flash 'NO LOUD MUSIC. NOISE STATUTE ENFORCED' on a Saturday night.

Travel Facts

America Direct (0870 889 0848, www.americadirect.co.uk) offers a three-night break in Miami from £429 per person. This twin-share price includes return Virgin Atlantic flights from London to Miami and accommodation with breakfasts at the Winterhaven Hotel on Ocean Drive.

For a free information pack about Florida, contact Visit Florida on 01737 644 882. The Visit Florida website is at www.flausa.com.