Bal Harbour is a lot like the rest of the Miami Beach area.

It’s packed with plenty of luxury condos and homes, including waterfront and oceanfront condos. It’s got sunny skies, white, sandy beaches, warm turquoise waters and cool ocean breezes, along with plenty of beautiful people. In other words, it’s paradise.

But all that idyllic, outdoorsy stuff isn’t the only reason people think of Bal Harbour as heaven on earth.

For some people, the best, most wonderful, most amazing thing about Bal Harbour…is a mall.

But then again, the world-famous Bal Harbour Shops isn’t just any mall. There’s not an Old Navy in sight. There’s no food court offering greasy pizza or fast food. And the only Gap in the place is for kids.

Instead, the Bal Harbour Shops is a very different kind of mall. Think less “mall” and more “temple.” If shopping is your passion, a visit to the Bal Harbour Shops is more like a pilgrimage than a shopping trip — kind of like taking in the Sistine Chapel, the Pyramids and the Taj Mahal all at once.

The reason? The Bal Harbour Shops is a mecca devoted solely to the very best in fashion. Anchored by top end department stores Saks Fifth Avenue and Nieman Marcus, this collection of over 80 shops reads like a Who’s Who of the biggest names in design – from (dare I say it?) Armani to Zegna.

While prices are all definitely perched at the high end of the spectrum, there’s something for just about every taste, with legendary brands like Chanel, Dior, Prada and Versace standing side by side with new industry stars like Tory Burch and Custo Barcelona. There are jewelry stores like Bulgari and Tiffany, shoe stores including Jimmy Choo and Tod’s, and just about everything else a fashionista could ever desire.

Okay — except, maybe, a bargain.

by Lisa Canfield