It's big, it's glitzy, it's glamorous. The white half-moon sweep of the original Chateau frontage is an icon of the beachfront scene. But with its three new towers, the massive new Lapis spa, manicured palm-fringed lawns with serried ranks of designer loungers,
pools and decks, bars and cabanas, the resort straddles the full block from bay to beach.
When the Fontainebleau first opened in the mid-50s, everyone came here. Ladies delighted in taking the elevator to the mezzanine-level cloakroom to drop off their pastel-dyed mink stoles (high style in Miami at that time), before making their big entrance down the grand staircase to the lobby.
Post-2008 and a major re-vamp, the staircase-to-nowhere is still the big opening number for the chandeliers and glittering marble of the entrance lobby. This is a place to be seen to be lounging - if you're not swirling a martini in the adjoining very-blue Bleau Bar. (Those chandeliers, by the way, are by Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, who was also behind the Beijing Olympics Birdsnest stadium.)
In the ocean-view guestrooms the sleek blue-and-white decor reflects views as wide as the sky. You can swim laps in the Lapis spa pool, groove with the cool crowd in the truly enormous Liv nightclub, then recover with some serious lounging around the outdoor pools. And if the only thing stopping you from making that booking for "the Bleau" is the thought that your pampered pet will miss out on the fun, hey - this is Miami: the Fontainebleau welcomes them too.
