Day tour in Delray Beach Fl.

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Right off i95 between West Palm Beach and Ft Lauderdale lays the charming city of Delray Beach. Established in 1894, it was the very first African-American community. Its history is rich and preserved to the day.

Declared “10 best Little Beach Towns in Florida” by Coastal Living, “Top Ten Beaches in Florida” by Travel Channel, and having received “All-American City Award” it is a must visit place. It is just an hour drive from Miami and will provide an absolutely exciting experience.

A little disclosure here: Unfortunately the day of our visit was stormy as you will see on some of the pictures. but on a positive side, we will have to come back to take more pictures. Yay!

The best way to see the city is with CHAT (Cultural Heritage Alliance for Tourism) We absolutely fell in love with Delray during our day visit and a private tour with Chat and Delray Beach Visitor Center .

I usually like to explore places on my own but lately came to appreciate guided tours as nobody can tell you so many exciting stories behind the scenes.

Our first stop was at The Spady Cultural Heritage Museum which besides offering a look at a house of Solomon D. Spady who came to Delray in 1922 as the third African American public school principal/teacher, hosts wonderful art exhibitions that rotate constantly.

After leaving the museum we had a short walk to Donnie’s Place. If you have never taste soul food this is a perfect place for you to begin. Food prepared by Donnie himself and this place gets packed for lunch. If going by yourself note they close at 5 pm so opt for breakfast or lunch there.

From there we got on the car and drove through the streets of the city observing a combination of mid-century modern, art deco and colonial styles mixing with new construction modern architecture. Through Pineapple Grove where it is all about pineapples and you see them everywhere. as an art on the street walls, as banners on light poles and even tuny details on the buildings. also passed by an Artists Alley where Arts Warehouse is located rode around and could appreciate a mind-blowing 100ft Christmas tree towards Arts Garage .

Arts Garage is strategically positioned on 2nd avenue and as its name states, is located inside the garage building. It is a wonderful place, rescued from closing by the current administration and offers countless cultural activities. Bright and spacious exhibition space hosts new emerging artists for free. There are tons of concerts to entertain any taste, open mic nights, jazz weekends, classical concerts, poetry and much more. Besides hosting events Art Garage also invests in education and offers many classes for kids and adults. (in case you decide to stay and spend a week where you can join one of their programs)

As you probably noticed Delray is a highly cultural city So if you are really into arts you probably will highly enjoy “First Friday Art Walk” with more than 30 galleries, museums, and studios to visit. It is like little ArtBasel but every month.

We drove (because of the rain) along Atlantic Avenue and stopped at the real Irish Pub. Blue Anchor Pub It is not an official part of the tour but I invite you to stop by and ask their story. I say it is a real pub because it was brought whole and reconstructed. It is also a haunted bar. Ask the story and ask why they ring the bell

To finish the tour we drove to a nicely kept area where we visited a little Jamaican eatery called Sweet Sensational . It is small as most of the food is ordered as pick up. And the food is prepared by the owner herself, like for her own family. As I am writing this I am craving that chicken curry and oxtail. Served with traditional rice with beans as a home-style meal to share among your group.

As a bonus stop, we crossed to the West side of the highway to check out a unique brewery that uses salt water in reparation of their beers. I don’t drink beer but the place is very cool. Salt Water Brewery offer tours and tastings for beer lovers and host countless exciting events.