The Setai Miami Beach

The lobby floor at The Setai was salvaged from Shanghai's Old City and brought to Collins Avenue brick by brick, which is a long way to go for a floor. The hotel began as the Dempsey-Vanderbilt, designed by Henry Hohauser and opened in 1937. It calls its style Asian Art Deco and carries it through in teak in the suites, and in pergolas of dark wood and a still pond in the courtyard. Behind it, since 2004, stands Jean-Michel Gathy's tower of Ocean Suites, where the higher ocean-facing suites look down through floor-to-ceiling glass on the beach, umbrellas and all. Towards the sea, three infinity pools lie in an avenue of palms, each at its own temperature: 75°F for lengths, 85 for lounging, 90 for the family pool. Past them is the hotel's beach, with cream loungers under umbrellas that carry its palm-tree mark.

Recommended for grown-ups who want South Beach within walking distance and a beach of their own to come back to: the Bass Museum of Art is a block north, and Ocean Drive and the Art Deco Historic District are five blocks south, about fifteen minutes on foot. The Valmont spa has seven treatment rooms, five of them for couples, and like the gym it admits no one under 16; beach yoga at weekends is free. Children are welcome all the same, with the 90-degree family pool and babysitting to be arranged, but there is no kids club, so families come as guests rather than as the point. Dinner is South Asian at Jaya, in the open-air courtyard, or Japanese at Japón, which keeps a private Kyoto Room for six to sixteen: by South Beach standards, a quiet night in.