By Jill Klosterman, Travel Correspondent

Spacious Suites with Private Balconies Overlooking Turquoise Sea

The chime of cowbells, cymbals, and timbales reverberates around the pool deck. Standing in the shade of a palm-thatched cabana, a musician sways in sync with his Caribbean rhythms as he plays island-inflected covers of songs such as “All Night Long” and “The Girl from Ipanema” and swimsuited children dance giddily. Despite an endless flurry of poolside and oceanfront activity, the tone is tranquil and tropical here outside the Newport Beachside Hotel & Resort, a 12-story oceanfront getaway just a few minutes north of bustling Miami Beach.

On the private balconies of the resort’s one-bedroom Oceanfront suites, vacationers nibbling chocolate-dipped strawberries and sipping champagne look out on the turquoise waters and sun-kissed beachgoers from another vantage point. Inside, a sliding wooden wall with frosted glass panels separates each suite’s living and sleeping areas, preventing the king- or queen-size bed from making inane small talk with the apricot-colored couch. In the bathroom, a jet-equipped bathtub with a detachable shower wand ably rinses away sand and sunscreen.

In the morning, friendly receptionists happily direct guests to the poolside café—one of four on-site eateries—where a buffet-style breakfast runs the gastronomic gamut from eggs and bacon to french toast and baked goods. After breakfast, guests can follow the sound of trickling waters to the Aveda Seven Seas Spa and Salon, where padded recumbent chairs in the dimly lit waiting area cradle patrons as they sip more champagne from crystal stemware. Massage therapists employ a custom array of aromatic products to knead and stretch stressed sinews during each 50-minute signature massage, leaving patrons suitably relaxed to stroll upstairs and out to the beachfront for a nap beneath a palm-canopied tiki hut set on the resort’s 500-foot expanse of white-sand beachfront.

Sunny Isles Beach, Florida: Tropical Enclave on Miami's Northern Coast

A renaissance of redevelopment swept Sunny Isles Beach in the late 1990s, transforming its main thoroughfare, Collins Avenue, from a rambling row of motels into a luxury strip of oceanfront high rises and resorts. Bounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and the Intracoastal Waterway to the west, the city perches halfway between Miami and Fort Lauderdale, with 2.5 uninterrupted miles of ocean beaches spanning its length. Newport Beachside Hotel & Resort occupies a coveted oceanfront plot, standing next to the landmark, half-mile-long Newport Fishing Pier, the only remaining public pier in Miami-Dade County.

Dispatched daily at 9:15 a.m., lifeguards parade along the sand to take their positions overseeing the city's beaches, including Samson Oceanfront Park, a relatively easy walk's distance from the resort. Here children carom from the beach's playground to its covered pavilion to beg parents for permission to zip down the playground’s curled, yellow slide. Even closer to the resort, Jet Ski King rents jet skis, banana boats, and waverunners for aquatic amblings over Atlantic Ocean waves.

After a day of outdoor recreation, vacationers can make the short trip south to the well-known hot spots of Miami Beach or rest and refuel at Newport Beachside Hotel & Resort's gourmet eatery, Kitchen 305. At dinnertime, a relaxed vibe prevails, augmented by flickering red lights and live crooners. Contemporary American entrees such as baby-back ribs arrive on palette-shaped dishes, and all-you-can-eat lobster towers on plate after plate after plate. At about 11 p.m., the restaurant transforms into a nightclub, with spandex-clad clubbers crowding the dance floor for the chance to demonstrate their best moves and uncanny Fred Astaire impressions.