Bal Harbour may be one of the smallest municipalities in Miami-Dade County, but it is also one of the best known. Covering a third of a square mile, the village has long been the favored hideaway of the rich and famous (including a recent American president), and celebrity spotting is easy. Here, the main street Collins Avenue becomes a wide boulevard graced by stately palm trees and greenery. To the east, against a backdrop of the Atlantic Ocean, you find the village's two luxury resorts and gleaming condominium towers set among flowers and fountains. On the west side of Collins Avenue, low-rise apartment buildings stand next to the gated entrance to Bal Harbour's single family homes. Heading north out of Bal Harbour the road rises to a crest over the Haulover Bridge and the park beyond.

Below the bridge, boats glide out to sea through the deepwater channel alongside the popular fishing breakwater. Viewed from the breakwater, Bal Harbour beach curves in a mile-long arc of golden sand and greenery bordered by a jogging/walking path. Since its $1.8 million renourishment, the beach here has more than doubled in size. Swimming, sunbathing, and windsurfing are activities of choice.

Bal Harbour Shops is the village's crown jewel. The upscale mall is open to the sky but designed to protect shoppers from the elements in a tropical garden setting swathed in scarlet and purple bougainvillea. Here you may browse amongst a unique collection of internationally renowned boutiques and stores evoking style centers in New York, Paris, Milan and London. The latest designer fashions and accessories, precious gems and fine decorative objects may be found in the anchor stores Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue, and in shops such as Christian Dior, Giorgio Armani, Hermes, Georg Jensen, Chanel, Christofle, Tiffany & Co., Bulgari, Prada and Pratesi.

When it comes to dining, you can choose from an array of elegant cuisines - Continental, Italian, Latin, seafood, steaks, sushi and New Miami World cuisine offered by the restaurants of Bal Harbour Shops and the village's two resorts. Whether you dine indoors or outdoors in a Mediterranean-style garden café or bistro; in an elegant dining room or on a terrace overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, you will savor the ambience of Bal Harbour.