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Relax at the Mandarin Oriental hotel in Miami.

If running 42 kilometres isn't your idea of fun in the sun, there are plenty of other ways to savour Miami. Here are five quintessentially South Florida ways to enjoy the city:

TAKE A DIP

Surrounded by a Spanish castle in the centre of Coral Gables, the Biltmore pool is the largest hotel swimming spot in North America. At 22,000 square feet, it's enticingly empty because it's too big to heat. "Only Swedes and Canadians swim in it," the Biltmore staff says.

GRAB A JOLT

Served in thimble-size paper cups, this sip of café Cubanos would seem small for grocery-store samples. They're not free, though they are sweet. Grab one from the sidewalk lunch counters along Calle Ocho in Little Havana. Think pure espresso punch.

SEE SOME CELEBS

More accurately, the DiLido Beach Club at the Ritz Carlton on South Beach is the place to see and not be seen. It's the only eatery on the strip that fronts directly on to the beach. That, and the fact that it's the Ritz draws the boldface names in. Literally within minutes of arriving, I overheard an Anderson Cooper sighting. Then Katie Couric strolled by.

ROLL IN THE MUCK

Offering mud that is sourced, oddly enough, from the Antarctic, the Spa at the Mandarin Oriental was the only spa in Florida to win Forbes magazine's Five-Star Award last year. While the mud wrap is sumptuous and the views over the ocean spectacular, the real razzle-dazzle here is the strobe-light showers with countless nozzles of water.

BOWL IN THE CLOUDS

Or golf, swim, cycle, play on a purple, pro-quality tennis court or on a regulation-sized basketball court - the JW Marriott Marquis' sports complex 19 storeys above the Bay of Biscayne provides it all. Plus free weights.

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