Miami's design district: a morning in Wynwood

On a less than a 20 minutes Uber ride from Miami's South Beach, you’ll find a neighborhood you’d sooner expect to find in New York or LA than down in Florida. We are talking about Wynwood. Not as under-the-radar anymore as we would like it to be, but still: a great change from Miami’s beach scene. How to spend a morning around the art galleries, organic breakfast joints and the graffiti-decorated walls of Miami's Wynwood area.

Clothing boutiques from emerging designers, free art galleries, hip café’s, crowded beer breweries and buildings covered in colorful graffiti from artists all around the globe. What's not to love about Wynwood? We now know the answer: absolutely nothing. Therefore, everything you need to know about Miami's coolest neighborhood.

To start your Wynwood adventure, make sure to get dropped off at MIAM (or yum, get it?). A healthy breakfast spot in The Wynwood Building (the neighborhood’s creative hub and your first introduction to Wynwood's artsy character). Enjoy your breakfast on the outdoor terrace while you see the first groups of tourists flocking into Wynwood. And just so you know, the building’s black and white facade does very well in pictures.

The true reason we (and many others) crossed the bay this morning is for the iconic Wynwood murals. Born in 2009 as an idea of project developer and art lover Tony Goldman, who saw an interesting project in the abandoned storage sheds of Wynwood. The depressing concrete walls would make the perfect canvas for one of his most favorite and underrated art forms: graffiti. Artists from all over the world have since claimed their place on the walls of Wynwood. Art of Dutch descent ( Haas & Hahn ) can be found on the corner of Northwest 3rd Avenue and Northwest 26th street, in the building where Zak the Baker is located.

Most murals can be found between Northwest 2nd & 3rd Avenue, in the blocks between 25th and 27th street. For those who would like to know more about the art in this part of Wynwood: Wynwood Art Walk organizes daily walking tours through the neighborhood. If you are going to explore on your own like we did, make sure to visit the part of Northwest 2nd Avenue between Northwest 25th and 26th. This is where you’ll find the iconic Wynwood Walls. A small open-air museum with graffiti paintings by artists from all over the world. Most of the murals are renewed each year during Art Basel in December.

Besides the Wynwood Walls there is another reason to take your time on 2nd Ave. Many of the aforementioned emerging designer shops and trendy coffee shops are located here. Get your caffeine fix at Panther Coffee Wynwood (an easy going coffee bar with art gallery inside and a terrace outside) and shop fair-trade clothing at Nomad Tribe . Also don’t miss the overpriced, but oh-so-lovely cosmetic boutiques of Le Labo and Aesop. Both also on Northwest 2nd Ave. Finally: if you feel like going back to Wynwood after dawn, then Charcoal Garden & Bar (pictured above) is a recommendable address for dinner.

We’re ending our morning walk through Wynwood with what we came here for: art and design. Because visit to Wynwood without having visited (at least one) art gallery is like seeing Paris without the Eiffel Tower. Our recommendation will take you back to where you started this morning. Right next to The Wynwood Building you will find the Oliver Cole Gallery with almost 500 m2 of modern art by over 50 emerging and established artists. Oliver Cole is open daily from 12:00 PM to 6:00 PM.