John Lewis

1111 Lincoln Road car park in Miami doubles as a gallery for the Art Basel Miami Beach art fair

cultural intelligence Miami Marlins baseball stadium. There are works by Joan Miró, Roy Lichtenstein and Larry Rivers, and every time the Marlins slug a home run, a towering sculpture by Red Grooms becomes a flashing riot of giant flamingos and leaping fish out in the left field.

The newest star in town is the Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM), a gorgeous, pale Herzog & de Meuron pavilion anchoring a 29-acre, sculpture-dotted cultural park on Biscayne Bay. Collector Jorge M Pérez handed over $35 million to bag the naming rights – but you don’t need to be rich to enjoy America’s seaside art paradise.

WHERE TO eat Area 31 (area31restaurant.com) offers 16th-floor views as fine as its fusion cooking.

Versailles (versaillesrestaurant.com) is the self-proclaimed ‘World’s Most Famous Cuban restaurant’, and has provided bargain feasting for more than 40 years.

WHERE TO STAY Stay in an art hotel, such as the glamorous W South Beach (wsouthbeach.com) or the 92-suite Sagamore (sagamorehotel.com), which hosts Cricket Taplin’s extensive contemporary collection. don’t miss Take a Miami art walk (artofmiami.com/ events-4/art-walks). Wynwood is the most famous but there are others every weekend.

MIAMI

cities of culture Combine a little substance with your stay at these newly invigorated destinations, boasting inspiring art, compelling museums and impressive architecture

it’s a cool new player on the global cultural stage, as Norman Miller discovers Once a city famous for Miami Vice, seafront Deco and émigré Cubans, Miami is emerging as a new must-visit destination for fans of modern art. Art hotels, such as the W South Beach, come adorned with Warhol, Hirst and Basquiat, and even car parks get in on the act; 1111 Lincoln Road (above) was designed by European architects Herzog & de Meuron, and is used as a hip venue for the December arts extravaganza, Art Basel Miami Beach.

It was this offshoot of the prestigious Swiss art fair that established Miami’s place on the global cultural stage. Jostling with art dealers and collectors, I eye the creative outpourings from 4,000 artists, and observe affluent buyers swan into the most desirable events. But I’m happy unwinding with outdoor films in SoundScape Park,

sprawled on a recliner, as the mammoth screen flickers beneath the night sky.

I stretch my legs on the famous Miami art walk around Wynwood, an industrial neighbourhood turned art mecca, courtesy of more than 70 contemporary art spots, and share opinions with other ambling aesthetes by the Wynwood Walls street-art showcase.

In the land of individualism, it’s no surprise that Miami is home to outstanding private collections, such as the Margulies Collection at the Warehouse and the Rubell Family Collection. My favourite is the de la Cruz Collection, where Latin American stars such as Gabriel Orozco, Arturo Herrera and Ana Mendieta are highlights of a body of work that proves contemporary art can be beautiful as well as clever. Plus it’s free and in the hip Design District.

Contemporary art lovers tired of white-walled galleries should visit the

Wynwood Art District, Miami

Travel info British Airways, American Airlines and Virgin Atlantic fly regularly to Miami.

Return fares start at £450. Miami Tourism: miamiandbeaches.com

The imposing façade of Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam

AMSTERDAM

this is the year to visit the vibrant city, says Suzanne King, as its key museums reopen after years of renovation If you’ve never visited Amsterdam (or haven’t been for a while), now’s the time to go. With its three landmark museums, the Rijksmuseum, Stedelijk and Van Gogh, fully opened following major building work and restoration, the city started 2014 in better cultural shape than ever.

The first golden rule for any museumbound visitor? Book tickets in advance and get there early if you want to admire the artworks in relative calm. Allowing myself a lie-in on day one is a rookie mistake, and I end up viewing the paintings in the Van Gogh Museum through a forest of other people’s iPads and cameraphones.

Lesson learned, I’m up bright and early for the Rijksmuseum next day, and the reward is a mere handful of people in front of the Rembrandts and Vermeers. Without the coach parties, it’s also easier to enjoy the biggest artwork of all: the building itself, especially the Great Hall and Gallery of Honour. Austerely whitewashed during a 1920s renovation, their interiors have now been recreated in all their original glory – considered so excessively ornate by a staunchly Protestant King William III that he refused to step foot in the building.

Leaving the museum, I head to the Spiegelkwartier, heart of the city’s art and

antiques trade, where you can windowshop for anything from old Delft tiles and 17th-century oil paintings to a Warhol print or Picasso vase. There’s equally interesting mooching to be done in the Nine Streets, the former leather-tanning area, with its mix of specialist shops – try Laura Dols for vintage clothes and accessories or De Kaaskamer for hundreds of different cheeses.

Tipped off by a local, I end the afternoon at the Stadsarchief, once the country’s largest bank and now home to the city archives. In the former vaults, evocative old photos, historic documents and maps are displayed in the extraordinary Art Deco surroundings of a grand, columned hall, with glass-tile mosaics on floors and ceilings, and wrought-iron chandeliers overhead. It’s unusual, atmospheric and fascinating – and so far off the usual tourist trail, there’s not a single other person in sight. So I take my time – after all, it’s not every day you get a museum to yourself.

WHERE TO eat Head to the NH Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky (nh-hotels.com) for a cut-above brunch, served in the impressive 19th-century The Great Hall of the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

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cultural intelligence

In the Rijksmuseum, I enjoy the biggest artwork of all – the building itself Winter Garden. In the Nine Streets area, treat yourself to delicious chocolates and cakes at Pompadour tearoom (pompadour-amsterdam.nl) or check out the contemporary Asian menu at Nooch (nooch.nl).

don’t miss The doll’s houses in the Rijksmuseum. On the same floor as Rembrandt’s The Night Watch are two fabulous 17th-century doll’s houses, recreating the life and style of the times in detailed miniature form, from the silk hangings on the walls to the Chinese porcelain in the parlour cabinet.

Travel info KLM has flights to Amsterdam from airports around the UK (klm.com). For tourist information, try visitholland.com Minimalist luxury at the Conservatorium hotel in Amsterdam

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GLASGOW

Suzanne King GOES to this year’s commonwealth games host city to discover a fine array of cultural offerings My, it’s a handsome city, Glasgow. When I haven’t been there for a while, I forget how much of a looker it is – but then I go back and marvel at the broad streets, the grand villas and lovely parks and gardens.

The city’s 19th-century heyday left it with a wealth of imposing Victorian buildings. Exploring the streets of the fashionable Merchant City quarter, I get a cricked neck from gazing upwards to see the decorative details on high – cupolas and carvings, friezes and finials, and, inside Glasgow City Chambers, two magnificent marble and alabaster stairwells, so lavish they’re used by film-makers to double for the Vatican or Versailles.

Looks aren’t everything, of course, and Glasgow packs plenty of substance behind its stylish façades. In the 20-plus years since it was a European Capital of Culture, the city once known for its shipbuilding and heavy industry has reinvented itself as a hub of arts and creativity.

More than 100 cultural organisations are based here, among them the Scottish Ballet, Scottish Opera and Royal Scottish National Orchestra. It has Europe’s largest civic arts collection, housed in landmark buildings such as Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, and the Burrell Collection; it’s produced great young fashion designers such as Christopher Kane and Jonathan Saunders; and it’s turned out Turner Prize winners and nominees at a rate of knots (little wonder the prize will be presented here in 2015).

It’s even been declared a UNESCO City of Music, one of just five in the world.

And this year, the already impressive cultural scene goes into overdrive, when Glasgow hosts the Commonwealth Games (23 July to 3 August). While sports fans cheer on the athletes, art lovers can raise a glass to the accompanying programme of creative events guaranteed to make summer 2014 one to remember.

The Scottish Ballet, based in Glasgow

WHERE TO eat For tasty modern Scottish food in grand surroundings, visit The Corinthian Club (thecorinthianclub.co.uk). Or wander down to the buzzing bars and restaurants in and around Merchant Square.

WHERE TO STAY The city has some interesting conversions, including the Malmaison (malmaison.com), a former Episcopal church, and the Hotel Indigo (hotelindigoglasgow.com), once a 19th-century Scottish power station. don’t miss A fascinating guided tour of the Glasgow School of Art (www.gsa.ac.uk/tours).

TRAVEL INFO For tips on how to get to Glasgow and what to do there, visit peoplemakeglasgow.com

4CORNERS, ALAMY, JANNES LINDERS, JOHN LEWIS MARSHALL, NEW YORK TIMES/EYEVINE, PA, IMAGE COURTESY OF Rijksmuseum

WHERE TO STAY The recently opened art’otel amsterdam (artotelamsterdam.com) has modern-artfilled interiors, a handy location (near Central Station and within walking distance of all the city centre attractions) and a buzzing all-day restaurant serving delicious Mediterranean small plates. In the Museum Quarter, the Conservatorium (conservatoriumhotel.com) offers minimalist-chic rooms in a dramatic neo-Gothic building that once housed a conservatory of music.

Sophie Cave’s Floating Heads installation at Glasgow’s Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum