Advertisement
Canada markets close in 3 hours 56 minutes
  • S&P/TSX

    22,189.29
    +82.21 (+0.37%)
     
  • S&P 500

    5,253.61
    +5.12 (+0.10%)
     
  • DOW

    39,784.10
    +24.02 (+0.06%)
     
  • CAD/USD

    0.7387
    +0.0015 (+0.20%)
     
  • CRUDE OIL

    82.66
    +1.31 (+1.61%)
     
  • Bitcoin CAD

    96,492.98
    +3,019.88 (+3.23%)
     
  • CMC Crypto 200

    885.54
    0.00 (0.00%)
     
  • GOLD FUTURES

    2,234.80
    +22.10 (+1.00%)
     
  • RUSSELL 2000

    2,133.14
    +18.79 (+0.89%)
     
  • 10-Yr Bond

    4.1850
    -0.0110 (-0.26%)
     
  • NASDAQ

    16,398.74
    -0.78 (-0.00%)
     
  • VOLATILITY

    12.86
    +0.08 (+0.63%)
     
  • FTSE

    7,964.72
    +32.74 (+0.41%)
     
  • NIKKEI 225

    40,168.07
    -594.66 (-1.46%)
     
  • CAD/EUR

    0.6839
    +0.0034 (+0.50%)
     

The Palm Beaches offer a luxurious Floridian getaway unlike any other

image

[Rise and shine the way the rich and famous do in the Palm Beaches, Florida. / Tori Floyd]

Canadians have been flocking to Florida for decades now as snowbirds seek a reprieve from the cold and blizzards back home. But for many, two main Florida destinations are top of mind in south Florida: Fort Lauderdale and Miami.

North of those two counties, however, is the Palm Beaches, with its 16 miles of unbroken beach stretching along Palm Beach Island in the Atlantic.

image

[Palm Beach County extends from Jupiter in the north all the way down to Boca Raton in the south, and includes Palm Beach Island, where many of the area’s most famous residents live. / Google Maps]

ADVERTISEMENT

The area has gone through a revitalization in the last ten years, seeking to broaden its appeal beyond the golfing crowd. On a recent trip to the Palm Beaches, I expected to see little for me, a twenty-something who doesn’t make six-figures and who doesn’t know a wedge from a nine-iron. (Or ever want to).

[No future golfer here. I’m just in Florida for the sunshine and the food. Got plenty of both here at the Breezes Ocean Kitchen. / Tori Floyd]

Driving around Palm Beach Island (and you really should be driving; it’s not pedestrian-friendly), it’s easy to feel like an outsider; residents on that little strip of land have an average net worth of $23 million, with 32 billionaires calling this place home. It’s the richest zip code in the entire United States.

But Palm Beach Island is just one of the 38 cities and towns that make up The Palm Beaches, and as you explore the full breadth of the county, you’ll see that it’s more than just a playground for the rich and famous. There’s plenty of good livin’ to be had for regular folks, too.

image

[Regardless of whether you’re in Florida for the golf or other adventures, you have to try the local delicacies, like Key Lime Pie made with real key limes. This slice can be ordered at Longboard’s. / Tori Floyd]

OMG, is that….

It’s difficult not to fall to the temptation of going celebrity spotting while you’re in the Palm Beaches. Actor Burt Reynolds was the first to put Palm Beaches on the map for elaborate houses, and since his arrival, countless others have found home (or one of their homes) there.

image

[The shops were empty when I visited, but during opening hours, you may spy a celebrity shopping at one of the high end retailers on Worth Ave., or down one of the adjoining Vias like this one. / Tori Floyd]

You can gawk at the homes of the rich and famous on one of the tours of Palm Beach Island, like the one I went on with longtime resident Leslie Diver. She’ll take you through the neighbourhoods of some of the new and old homes of the rich and famous, ranging from U.S. media figures like Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter, to former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney (plus, you can see where Conrad Black used to live, before running into a spot of legal bother).

One thing you won’t see while touring Palm Beach Island are any TV or movie crews: because of the number of residents who would rather keep their private lives as private as possible, there are municipal laws against filming or photographing any of the residences for commercial use.

image

[You can’t take photos of the homes of the rich and famous, but you can snap some of their hangouts, like The Breakers hotel, founded by Flagler. Sofia Vergara and Joe Manganiello were married at the Breakers last November, and held their wedding reception in this very room. / Tori Floyd.]

Food

If you leave this city hungry, you’re doing something wrong. There are restaurants jam-packed into every corner of the county, with a range of offerings to suit every palate and level of sophistication. In Delray Beach alone, you’ll find more than 80 restaurants packed into just five square blogs. We stopped in at Salt7 for an evening of steak and seafood, both popular choices with locals and tourists alike.

If you’re on the hunt for something in West Palm Beach, you can pick up a slice of New York-style pizza at Pizza Girls (or at their food truck), where you’ve got a whole range of pies to pick from.

image

[I dug into a slice of Little Italy while visiting, and washed it down with a cup of locally-brewed beer. / Tori Floyd]

And if you’re in the market for fine dining, Cafe Boulud, one of world-famous chef Daniel Boulud’s establishments in Florida, is offering exquisite cuisine inspired by French culinary traditions, as well as some of the fine local seafood and produce. For a three-course prix fixe dinner menu, you’ll be paying US$48 per person (plus wine, of course – and with a wine cellar offering 400 options, you really can’t forget the wine).

image

[The portions may not appear huge, but trust me, you will not leave Cafe Boulud hungry. / Tori Floyd]

If you’re not sure what you want, get a culinary tour of West Palm Beach with West Palm Beach Food Tours, which offers not just a walking tour of some of the most interesting parts of the city, but tasting stops at six different locations in West Palm Beach. Tip: if you take a Saturday tour, it will include a stop at the West Palm Beach Green Market, which was recently voted the best green market in Florida.

image

[In addition to fresh fruits and veggies, you can also buy spices, flowers, desserts, dried pasta and other unique items at the West Palm Beach Green Market. / Tori Floyd]

This is the perfect time of year to start thinking about going to the Palm Beaches with a healthy appetite, too: the Delray Beach Bacon & Bourbon Fest is happening March 18-19 for its second year.

Pampering

When you’re too stuffed to eat anymore or do anything, it’s a good time to take advantage of some of Palm Beach’s world-class spas. One of the finest you’ll find in the area is located at the Eau (as the locals call it). Eau Spa at Eau Palm Beach Resort offers a luxurious, multi-sensory experience to its guests, including a relaxing centre garden where you can have a light lunch during your spa day, meticulously-decorated treatment rooms (some including larger soaker tubs) and a scrub and polish bar, where you can customize your own body scrub using a range of natural ingredients.

image

[The Eau is also a resort, with spaces like this private pool on the property. / Tori Floyd]

A Day Pass to the spa, which will run you US$60 (or US$70 with the scrub bar), gives you access to the garden, the sauna and steam shower, the bath lounge and ‘relaxation lounge’ with cupcakes. If you really want to go all out, there’s the US$590 Perfect Day option: five and a half hours to spend in all of the above listed areas, plus a 30 minute scrub, 60 minute massage, 60 minute facial, manicure, pedicure, and hair blow out – plus a glass of champagne.

image

[And if you have time to “hang around” between treatments, nothing beats these hanging recliners at the Eau Spa. / Tori Floyd]

While I didn’t have the opportunity to indulge at the Eau Spa, I was treated to an aromatherapy massage at Kimpton’s Tideline Ocean Resort & Spa, where I was staying during my time in the Palm Beaches. The Tideline’s areas for relaxation weren’t nearly as extensive as the Eau’s, but the difference in cost may ease that loss: a 50-minute aromatherapy massage at the Tideline costs US$150.

image

[Relaxation area complete with soothing Buddha head fountain, where I reclined with a cup of tea post-massage. / Tori Floyd]

Entertainment

One of the more surprising elements of the Palm Beaches is the variety of music you’ll stumble across on your jaunt through the area. If you’re in the Delray Beach area on Friday night, you’ll be treated to a free concert in the centre of town at Old School Square Pavillion. The weekly concert, organized by the Delray Beach Center for the Arts and sponsored by local businesses, runs from October to January, and includes a little something for everyone; this year’s lineup featured rock groups, R&B singers, 70s and 80s cover bands, tributes to Motown, Bruce Springsteen and Santana, and even one night featuring “violin rock.”

If late night music in a park isn’t so much your speed, there are great concerts to be had, including a thriving opera season. When I was in West Palm Beach, the opera season was just kicking off, and the city was abuzz over the free Opera @ The Waterfront event happening that weekend near the West Palm Beach Green Market, featuring 100 musicians including baritone Michael Chioldi (who who had been spotted dining at Breeze Ocean Kitchen at the Eau just an hour or so before we got there!)

image

[Not shown here: opera star Michael Chioldi, who I apparently just missed. A lovely lunch spot at Breezes Ocean Kitchen nonetheless. / Tori Floyd]

When you’re done sampling the free acts and want to don your finery for an evening of entertainment out, the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts hosts opera events and Broadway acts, as well as modern music performances, tribute bands and more.

Nightlife

If classy concerts aren’t your idea of a good night out, there’s plenty more for you to see during your Palm Beaches evenings. Instead, try heading to CityPlace, a lively shopping area with 80 retailers by day and a thriving bar scene by night. We stopped in at Copper Blues, where we had the perfect seats to take in the bustling crowds around us just outside the restaurant, and the live band performing above the bar inside.

image

[On a Friday night, Copper Blues is packed with people enjoying the music. / Tori Floyd]

In CityPlace, you’ll also find an improv club, bowling alley and IMAX theatre, plus dozens more bars and eateries to choose from. There are so many bars, in fact, that when I paid a visit in December, I was swept up in the middle of a “Santa Pub Crawl” and was greeted by dozens of merry-makers in their best Christmas finery.

image

[Yup, this couple appears to be having just a regular night out in The Palm Beaches. / Tori Floyd]

Depending on the kind of entertainment you’re looking for, there are more nightlife options over on Palm Beach Island, including Seminole Casino Coconut Creek, and what some describe as “the greatest strip clubs in the world” (some being one of the tour guides I had on the trip, so I’ll let you take that one with a grain of salt).

Outdoor Activity

While the area is trying to shed its image as an exclusively golfing destination, it’s hard to do when there are roughly 140 golf courses in the area – Palm Beach County has more golf courses per square mile than anywhere else in the U.S., in fact. It’s also a popular choice for fishermen, known as the spearfishing capitol of the United States, and a great place to catch sailfish. Fishermen can also catch mahi mahi and black fin tuna in the coastal waters.

If you’re looking for something a little more unusual, you can explore the local flora and fauna by renting a waverunner, paddleboard, kayak or canoe and cruising through the intercoastal waterway, the stretch of water than separates Palm Beach Island from mainland Florida. If you do get a chance to head out on the water, you’ll have to let me know what it was like – during our trip, there was an exceptional amount of manatee activity in the intercoastal waterway, which prohibits the use of motorized vehicles in the waters.

image

[You don’t want to get too close to some of the wildlife…thankfully this guy was behind a fence at the Busch Wildlife Sanctuary. / Tori Floyd]

For those who just want a sampling of the local wildlife that you can experience in an afternoon, pay a visit to Busch Wildlife Sanctuary, where you can learn more about Florida’s array of animals as they are rehabilitated at the centre. There are plenty of birds (including dozens, possibly hundreds of vultures roaming the grounds), Florida panthers (a quickly declining species in the state – there are less than 100 left in the wild), alligators, crocodiles, turtles, snakes and more. You’ll also find some non-native wildlife at the sanctuary, too: back in the 1980s, it was trendy for wealthy home owners to keep lions and tigers as pets. Today, many of those animals have found new homes in the sanctuary.

[It became a game to spot all the wildlife at the beautiful Busch Wildlife Sanctuary. I never quite got used to the hundreds of tiny lizards moving just outside my field of vision. / Tori Floyd]

Unsurprisingly, the Sanctuary is probably one of the least luxurious stops I made on my trip, but it proved to be a real highlight: having the chance to get up close to some of Florida’s wildlife was fascinating.

image

[There are no lions and tigers roaming wild, but plenty of vultures and tortoises are, like this one I encountered in the middle of my stroll through the sanctuary. / Tori Floyd]

Culture

Henry M. Flagler, a former business partner of John D. Rockefeller, became exceedingly wealthy after co-founding the Standard Oil Corporation. In search of a southern Florida retreat, he came to Palm Beaches and declared the area to be a resort destination for the rich and famous. He went on to build hotels throughout south Florida, many of which you can still visit today including The Breakers in Palm Beach (which was voted fifth-best resort in Florida by Conde Nast Traveler last year), and also built a home for his third wife, Mary Lily Kenan, in 1902. Both Flagler and Kenan passed away just 11 years after its completion, but Whitehall still stands, now as the Flagler Museum.

image

[Henry Flagler’s famous Whitehall. / Tori Floyd]

Flagler’s historic homestead isn’t the only history you can take in while visiting Palm Beaches, either. Historic homes are scattered throughout the city – a remarkable testament to preservation, considering many of the wood frame vernacular homes were destroyed in various hurricanes throughout the years. Palm Beach Hibiscus is a bed and breakfast located in West Palm Beach, built from two of these historic homes which date back to 1917. If you don’t feel like staying the night to take in the ambiance of the home, there’s always happy hour at the outdoor patio.

image

[If you do stay here, be sure to try the Brazilian coxinha and pao de queijo. They are delightful. / Tori Floyd]

Depending on when you visit, you can enjoy of the off-the-wall (or sometimes, directly on the wall) art around the area. We visited shortly after the Canvas Outdoor Museum Show, and saw some of the street murals around town.

image

[Art created during the 2015 Canvas Outdoor Museum Show. / Tori Floyd]

In January, the county places host to ArtPalmBeach, a contemporary international exhibition of artists. For a more formal art experience, visit the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach.

Getting there

If you’d like to check out the Palm Beaches for yourself, WestJet added a direct flight from Toronto to West Palm Beach International Airport late last year. which makes it the sixth Florida city to be directly serviced by the airline (in addition to Orlando, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Tampa Bay and Fort Myers. Air Canada also has direct flights to West Palm Beach, and several other Florida destinations.

image

[And at the end of the day, is there anything quite like relaxing in the sunshine under a palm tree? Poolside at the Tideline Ocean Resort. / Tori Floyd]

Trip sponsored by the Discover the Palm Beaches tourism program.