Miami Design District

Miami Design District is a cool place to visit! It's easy to park in the Palm Court Garage and start your explorations there. Grab a meal or drink at St. Roch Public Market on the upper level. Here you can sit outside on the relaxing swings under hanging flowers. The public market has huge windows looking out on leafy branches and there is plenty of seating indoors and outside. There is food from around the world including Jaffa, a Middle Eastern cafe, and Dal Plin, an Italian cafe. The only affordable meal is a small slice of pizza at Dal Plin for $6, otherwise a meal will cost you $15-18. A nice feature of the public market is that there is a station with glasses of water for free. 

Next check out the incredible blue glass building. If you walk along the same level you will find a giant sculpture of a man with glasses. Go downstairs to the palm grove with hammocks. Plush monkeys swing above you! There is a glass dome sculpture leading down to the parking lot. Continue north along the pedestrian-only street past designer stores with beautiful displays. Here your kids can play on the glittery play equipment between the stores!
Then walk to 41st Street where you will find a parking garage (across from ICA Miami) with an incredible exterior of black and white designs and animal god sculptures, and next to it, cars sideways on the exterior of the structure! This is really fun to check out. 
Go in the free Institute of Contemporary Art Miami. It's a beautiful building with a garden outside with huge leafy hedges and sculptures. On weekends a violinist plays on the first floor. The art is hard to relate to but you can ask the docents to explain it. When you enter, ask for a scavenger hunt bag for your child and he/she will have a ton of fun in the museum, and win a prize at the end that will entertain them for a long time afterward! 
While here, check out the De La Cruz Collection, another free modern art museum.
Throughout the Design District there are other sculptures on the street to check out. At the corner of 1st Ave and 40th Street there is a sculpture like a squished red plastic cup!
Just as a warning, the other members of my family absolutely hated this area! It was too pretentious for them, and set the day off on a bad note. So be careful who you bring here!
Just south, check out Wynwood Walls, where graffiti artists make a colorful neighborhood and there are cool restaurants with leafy courtyards. It is a six minute drive away.

Directions

Miami Design District is located near the intracoastal, north of Wynwood Walls. The address for Palm Court Parking Garage is 165 NE 38th St, Miami, FL 33137.

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