Mid-and-South Beach Miami were among the top ten when The New York Times named its 53 places to go this new year.

"The iconic Eden Roc Resort and Fountainebleau Miami Beach  --  faded glitterati handouts designed by Morris Lapidus  --  will reopen in 2008 after multi million-dollar renovations, returning Mid-Beach to its former glory," writes the Times.

As for South Beach, the Times says:

 South Beach will also welcome a red carpet of designer hotels: the Angler's Boutique Resort by Gianni Versace's former decorator (Wallace Tutt); the Tides South Beach, which is being revamped and the Mondrian South, which is also being renovated.

The only other place in the US to make the top ten was Death Valley, which the Times say was expected neat year to have a "dazzling spring bloom.:

Death Valley is home to more than 1,000 species of wildflower, and in that special spring after a web fall and winter, the brown desert landscape is carpeted with Technicolor fields of  Blossoms," says the Times.

Report by David Wilkening