Little Haiti

Little Haiti was settled in the 1950s by Haitian and Caribbean immigrants and is now the cultural heart of a much larger Caribbean community in Miami. It covers roughly 60 city blocks north of Downtown, bounded by NW 20th Street, NW 6th Avenue, Biscayne Boulevard and I-395.

What to actually look at

The district's spine is NW 2nd Avenue, and the landmark everybody photographs is the mural at the corner of NW 2nd Avenue and NW 21st Street: a large painted hand and the words of the motto of the Northside Alliance, the community organisation that has held the neighbourhood together for decades.

The other anchors are the Caribbean cultural centre and the plaza next to it, the bakery counters along NW 2nd, and the small bars that fill the blocks behind the churches. The neighbourhood does its best work at weekends, when there is a genuine market atmosphere rather than a daytime one.

Food worth stopping for

Haitian patties, accra, fried plantain and griot are the order of the day, and the Haitian grocery counters on NW 2nd sell the spices and imported staples that the whole neighbourhood cooks from. A patty and a juice box is the standard local lunch.

Where it sits on our route

Little Haiti is stop six on the Miami Vice City small-group tour, with a stop at the cultural centre and a Haitian patty on the way through. It is the quietest of the eight stops and, for a lot of guests, the one they remember most.

The murals

Northside Alliance has been commissioning and maintaining murals across the district for more than three decades, and they are about place rather than about art: they name the community's history, its founders and its demands. The most photographed is the hand on the corner of NW 2nd Avenue and NW 21st Street, and the block behind it is the one to walk slowly.