Design District

While the call of the beach is powerful in Miami, sooner or later world-class art, architecture, and shopping lure most visitors to the Design District. Marc Quinn’s acrobatic Myth Fortuna sculpture of Kate Moss and Fernando Botero’s iconic Maternity are among the eye-catching installations on display in the neighborhood’s plazas and along its palm-lined streets. The new Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami (ICA Miami) opened in December 2017, and other top galleries include Locust Projects and Maman Fine Art. When it comes to the art of fashion design, major brands are well represented: Versace, Bvlgari, Harry Winston, Miu Miu, Prada, and Max Mara, just to name a few. Refuel between stops with creative comfort food (and refreshing cocktails made with hand-squeezed juice) at Michael’s Genuine Food & Drink.

This district is a creative neighborhood and also an area to slake your thirst for shopping at high-end designer stores including Christian Louboutin and Burberry. Located further north from the hotel in the area of greater midtown Miami, it runs from 43rd Street to North 36th Street (Wynwood is just a few blocks south). Crammed with restaurants and bars, this area also has more than 130 galleries and public showroom spaces during the day, if you’re into that sort of thing. While it was considered a fairly rundown district back in the day, entrepreneur and revitalizer Craig Robbins purchased a number of buildings in the area and ushered in a new wave of talent to give it much needed allure (Louboutin put the area on the luxury map when it opened in 2009). After chatting with a few locals, I realized that this would be an ideal escape to flex my credit cards during the day (although Hermès will have to wait). Photo by Bob B. Brown/Flickr.

After an rewarding lunch, walk around the Design District to find more stylistic inspiration. Lighting, tiles, and funky furniture collections, art galleries, and specialty clothing stores are fun to explore. Still in development, the neighborhood intentionally combines shopping, cultural, and culinary experiences.