Hidden World of Miami Design District - small group tour!

We had the best time exploring the Miami Design District with Marjorie! This was my second time in the area, but there was so much I had overlooked previously and never would’ve noticed without her guidance. I was especially excited to see ELASTIKA, as I am a big fan of Zaha Hadid. Highly recommend!

A fun and informative experience. I now feel like one of the few people who have had the pleasure to experience the Design District from an architectural and artistic viewpoint. Margery, our guide was fun and knowledgeable. The tour ran about 1.5 hours, leaving plenty of time to explore the shops before or after. Highly recommend.

I would say contact the operator before arriving to the tour I did and no one ever contacted me back. By the time me and my friend arrived there was no one there at the meeting point we end up doing our own tour spent $100 for nothing waiting on the refund

It is a nice place where you can find great designer shops, parking included cheaply we stayed two hours and paid three dollars, something economical for the parking lots I have met in America. Good option to walk, meet and distract yourself

Tour Guide Lady was great but was very dissatisfied with the presentation. We thought this was a museum of art tour not outside walking in the heat. I would never book this again

I booked this tour for my family and me because I thought it was an art tour, specifically about Design, which interests me. This tour takes place in a gentrified area of Miami called the Design District. It is filled with expensive, high-end stores like Chanel, Louis Vuitton, and Celine. In between these stores are parking garages and commissioned pieces of art. The tour is 1 hour long and ends in the Dior cafe. To get into this cafe, you must walk through the Dior store to the back and take the elevator upstairs to the outdoor cafe. Yes, it is cute, but it is tiny. I would say there are maybe six tables in total. Our guide asked us if we wanted to go to the cafe. We said yes because we wanted a cup of tea and thought it would be a nice way to end the tour. Our guide walked us in front of the line outside of Dior, which was filled with people. The woman at the door knew her name, so she obviously goes there a lot. I got the sense that she gets some kind of discount or kickback for bringing people to the Dior cafe. Once up there, our guide left. We looked at the menu. To give you some perspective of what to expect, a cup of tea was $15. I am not joking. It was a $. 70 Rishi Chamomile Medly tea bag and some hot water in a mug. They didn't even open the tea bag and put it in the water. There were three of us and we had one cup of tea, one cup of coffee, one lemonade, and one croissant. Our bill was $85.00. If I would have known how expensive this place was, I would never have agreed to go up there. Once up there, it feels odd to just leave because everybody is staring at you. The service was also lackluster. We waited 20 minutes for a server. Apparently, people go there to take pictures. If you are not into impressing people on Insta with a big Dior sign behind you, skip this part. This part of the tour left a bad taste in my mouth. Even though our tour guide was very sweet and good-natured, I think there are some things are missing and should be addressed. One, be clear about what this tour is. If it's an art tour, say that. Otherwise, say what it is: a luxury shopping tour. Two, If this is an art tour, it is important to study art & architecture. Every art tour guide should know the pieces of art inside and out and not just the names of the artists, but the meaning behind each piece, the materials used and the style. It is also important to know how long it took the artists to make each piece and to mention it throughout the tour. Three, if you are going to talk about how the developers gentrified the area and pushed out the people that used to live there, then talk about what the developers are doing to keep a sense of community in this space. If they are doing nothing, do not mention them at all. Four, bring an ipad. This iPad should have pictures of each artist and pictures of their other pieces. Use this to connect the art pieces you are showing on the tour with their other artwork. Go into the meaning of the piece. People are paying you for your experitise when going on an art tour, so give it to them. Five, be enthusiastic and inquisitive. When I spend money on a tour, I like it when the tour guide is enthusiastic and drops in a joke here or there. I also like when they ask questions like, who is your favorite artist? What brings you to this tour? And what are you hoping to get out of the tour today? It goes a long way. Six, have a QR Code that people can scan, linking them to a site where you list each piece you show on the tour (name of artist, name of piece, meaning behind the piece) and a photo of the piece in the daytime and at night so people can see the differences. Many of these pieces activate in the sunlight or light up at night, and we could not see the magic in them because it was an overcast afternoon. Seven, end the tour at the free Institute of Contemporary Art Miami, not the Dior Cafe. Just a warning. This area attracts many tourists and a lot of entitled visitors. For example, a group of tourists bombarded the street and blocked us from getting by. As I maneuvered around them, I was bumped into without apology. It turned me off, to be honest, but this is not the tour guide's fault.  If you are into high-end, luxury shopping, check this area out.

Our guide, Marjorie, was exceptional. She knew names of installations, artists, and different vantage points that were off the beaten path.

I was hoping for more art galleries. The area is mostly just high-fashion stores. It’s also very busy, and if you like to people-watch it can be interesting.

Margery is delightful! She is knowledgeable and lead a tour filled with information we would never have discovered on our own. The behind the scenes of the design district is fascinating and worthwhile. Highly recommend.

Marjorie was excellent. Knowledgeable, personable and made the tour both interesting and enjoyable. We have ahopped the District many times without noticing mosr of what she showed us.