Palm Beach, FL

Palm Beach is a small, historic town on a narrow barrier island across the Lake Worth Lagoon from West Palm Beach, famous for Gilded Age mansions, Worth Avenue and its winter social season. Visitors come to bike the Lake Trail, tour Henry Flagler’s Whitehall, browse galleries and spend time on quiet public beaches.

Where is Palm Beach?

Palm Beach sits on an 18-mile barrier island in Palm Beach County, never more than about three-quarters of a mile wide, directly east of downtown West Palm Beach. Three bridges connect it to the mainland: the Flagler Memorial Bridge to the north, the Royal Park Bridge in the middle and the Southern Boulevard Bridge to the south. Palm Beach International Airport (PBI) is about 15 minutes away. A1A runs the length of the island as South and North Ocean Boulevard.

Things to do in Palm Beach

Worth Avenue is the town’s best-known street, with about 250 shops, galleries and restaurants set around Mediterranean-style courtyards and narrow vias that are worth wandering. The Lake Trail is a 4.7-mile path along the Intracoastal Waterway from near Worth Avenue toward Lake Worth Inlet, ideal by bike in the morning. Whitehall, Henry Flagler’s 1902 Beaux-Arts mansion, is now the Henry Morrison Flagler Museum and the best introduction to the island’s resort history. The Society of the Four Arts has galleries, gardens and a concert hall, and the Church of Bethesda-by-the-Sea dates to 1889.

For the beach, Palm Beach Municipal Beach, also called Midtown Beach, sits near the east end of Worth Avenue and Royal Palm Way with lifeguards and metered street parking. Phipps Ocean Park on the south end of the island and R. G. Kreusler Park, a county park, are quieter options. Driving South Ocean Boulevard passes landmark oceanfront estates.

When to visit Palm Beach

The season runs roughly November through April, when the town’s population more than doubles and galas, gallery shows and museum events fill the calendar. Summer is much quieter and hotter, with afternoon storms, and hurricane season runs June 1 through November 30. Street parking is metered and tightly enforced year round.