The savvy traveler of today not only knows about TSA PreCheck—they also know to read up on the history of where they’re about to holiday. And those headed to Palm Beach should familiarize themselves with two people: Henry Flagler and Addison Mizner, who together put Palm Beach on the map. Without their contributions, the storied town would certainly not be the beachside Xanadu it is today, where glossy green lawns sit adjacent to sandy beaches and no one waits till cocktail hour to get things shaking.
The convenient thing about Palm Beach is that without even trying—it is a city of leisure, after all—you’re bound to learn a bit about Flagler and Mizner when visiting. Two of the most impressive and imposing estates on the island, Whitehall and The Breakers, were developed by Flagler—the railroad tycoon who stitched Florida together with train tracks in the late 19th century. Mizner, on the other hand, came to Palm Beach decades after. His interventions were of an aesthetic nature; he was the architect of the Everglades Club, Via Mizner, Sanctuary of Riverside Baptist Church, and the private vacation homes for such families as the Vanderbilts and the Singers. Mizner’s mish-mash of Mediterranean Revival and Spanish Colonial Revival defines the visual culture of Palm Beach, setting it apart from the neighboring Deco dreamland of Miami. (Speaking of Miami, it’s a mere hour-ish journey away on the celebrated Brightline train.)
Save for the introduction of swanky beachside condos in the 1960s and the Trumpification of Marjorie Merriweather Post’s Mar-a-Lago, little has changed in Palm Beach since it was made famous by Slim Aaron’s snaps and Lily Pulitzer’s printed shifts. For decades, an itinerary has included cocktails at The Breakers, dinner at Renato’s in Via Mizner, a shopping trip down Worth Avenue, and a dip in the pool of the pink The Colony Hotel. That said, Vogue’s recommendations below are sure to guide you for years to come.
Where to Stay
The Colony Hotel
You could say The Colony is experiencing a bit of a renaissance, but you could also say the best is yet to come. Since its opening in 1947, the pink-hued hotel on Hammon Avenue has lured history’s usual Palm Beach suspects—Judy Garland, Lena Horne, John Lennon, Sophia Loren, Frank Sinatra, and Estée Lauder. It’s a photogenic place; back in 1961, it served as the destination for fashion shows photographed by Slim Aarons, and today, it’s all over your Instagram. With 89 rooms and a lobby splashed with pink de Gournay wallpaper, The Colony should be at the top of your hotel list. If not to stay, then for a cocktail beneath the hanging garden on the terrace. In 2014, Carlton Varney (protegee of the zany more-is-more decorator Dorothy Draper) designed the rooms, and in 2022, the entire hotel received a complete refresh from designer Mimi McMakin (co-founder of Kemble Interiors with her daughter Celerie). Plus, there are residences designed by some of our favorite tastemaking brands: The Chairish Villa (filled with antiques similar to those you might find on the site), The Goop Villa (designed by Ronen Lev with Gwyneth Paltrow’s seal of approval), and more residences from Aerin Lauder, Mark Sikes, and Serena & Lily. The latest is the new Cabana Bungalow, which comes replete with three bedrooms, a large private terrace, and a semi-private pool. In Cabana fashion, walls are upholstered in vivid Schumacher fabrics, ceilings boast bold patterns, and curated antiques—like a vintage birdcage—lend an intimate, lived-in feel.
The Brazilian Court Hotel
If pink belongs to the Colony, then yellow is the color of The Brazilian Court Hotel—you’ll know you’ve arrived when you spot a butter-hued structure with a terracotta roof. Those looking for a discreet haven should look no further. Opened on New Year’s Day in 1926, the hotel was expanded by famed society architect Maurice Fatio, who managed to maintain intimacy despite imposing a larger footprint. The hotel’s 80 rooms are situated around a courtyard, and a pool is less a place to see and be seen and more a chance for hotel guests to enjoy a dip in privacy. Famous guests who have checked in include Gary Cooper, Greta Garbo, Audrey Hepburn, and the Kennedy family. Onsite is the noteworthy and not-to-be-missed Cafe Boulud and a spa offering post-beach blowouts and more. Plus, as of this year, the hotel offers complimentary sunset cruises (the only property in Palm Beach to do so) and excursions down the Lake Worth Lagoon via a 44-foot Solaris Power yacht decked out in Brazilian Court’s signature yellow and white stripes. Because if you don’t do Palm Beach by boat, did you really do Palm Beach?
The Vineta Hotel
There are hotels where the lobby is the main event, designed as much for the people dropping in for a drink as those actually staying there. The Vineta Hotel is almost the opposite. Oetker Hotels’ first U.S. property occupies a pale-pink Mediterranean Revival landmark dating to 1926—most recently known as The Chesterfield—but after a nearly three-year renovation, it has been pared down to just 41 rooms and suites. Paris-based designer Tino Zervudachi handled the interiors, and the attention to detail is extraordinary: terrazzo floors, Venetian plaster, rattan latticework, scalloped headboards, marble, intricate tilework, and beautifully bordered carpeting that continues into the closets. It has the particular polish of an Oetker hotel; if you’ve stayed at Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc or Le Bristol Paris, you could probably identify the family resemblance without ever seeing a logo.
The same attention extends downstairs to Coco, the hotel’s Mediterranean restaurant, where the menu was developed in collaboration with Sébastien Broda, executive chef of Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc, and several dishes—including the Eden Roc sea bass and Steak Diane—have made the journey from Antibes to Palm Beach. Those who remember The Chesterfield’s wonderfully over-the-top Leopard Lounge should look up: a discreet leopard worked into Coco’s sculpted ceiling pays homage to its predecessor.
The loveliest surprise, however, may be the mosaic-tiled pool. Rather than functioning as another Palm Beach stage on which to see and be seen, it’s tucked discreetly behind the hotel, surrounded by greenery and striped loungers—a genuinely private place to disappear for an afternoon. There’s no traditional gym or spa, but fitness equipment can be delivered to your room, private yoga and Pilates sessions arranged, and massages and facials brought to you; bicycles and fully set-up beach days are also available. During sea-turtle nesting season, the hotel can even connect guests with local conservation experiences. It’s all part of what makes The Vineta work: the luxury is in the details, but also in the sense that those details have been designed primarily for the people actually staying there.
Four Seasons Resort Palm Beach
The Four Seasons Resort Palm Beach is one of the few hotels on the island where there’s very little reason to leave. The 207 rooms and suites, all with furnished balconies, were given the Martin Brudnizki treatment, which means Palm Beach’s unofficial uniform of pink and green appears everywhere—alongside wicker, florals, palms, and just enough pattern. The ground-floor cabana rooms are especially clever: their terraces put you within steps of the pool and beach.
And the beach is a very good one. The hotel occupies a pristine stretch of sand with the kind of attentive Four Seasons service that extends all the way to your beach chair—food and drinks included—plus paddleboards, boogie boards, and two oceanfront pools. It’s particularly well set up for families: the complimentary Kids For All Seasons program is the only fully hosted kids’ club on Palm Beach, with shell hunting, sandcastle building, and crafts, while a separate Tot Room caters to younger children with their parents.
There’s enough happening elsewhere on the property to fill the rest of the day. Florie’s, the only U.S. restaurant from Mirazur chef Mauro Colagreco, centers its Mediterranean menu around live-fire cooking; Seaway sits beneath sea grape trees beside the ocean and specializes in seafood. And the spa is a proper one, with 10 treatment rooms, a eucalyptus steam room, and a saltwater whirlpool. Add tennis, fitness classes, and bicycles, and you begin to understand why some guests barely make it beyond the property.
The Breakers
Undoubtedly Palm Beach’s most historic hotel is The Breakers. Built by Henry Flagler in 1896 (then it was known as The Palm Beach Inn), it was the second Palm Beach hotel built by Flagler. His first, which opened in 1894, was the Royal Poinciana Hotel, and at one time, it held the title of the world’s largest wooden structure, situated on the western coast of Palm Beach beside the Lake Worth Lagoon. After Flagler’s guests requested a place to stay on the beachfront by the Atlantic, The Breakers came to be. Though the hotel burned down twice, it was rebuilt following the more recent fire of 1925; its present-day structure is inspired by Rome’s Villa Medici. With 538 rooms, to call the hotel sprawling would be an understatement. Several restaurants, shops, a golf course, and banquet rooms are on-site, and all of it is filled with the charms of old Palm Beach.
White Elephant
Though the White Elephant is a new addition to Palm Beach (it opened in 2019), it’s not without a loyal following. Located on Main Street, the hotel is the second outpost of the beloved Nantucket-based hotel of the same name. Situated in a property originally built in 1924 as the Bradley Park Hotel, the White Elephant offers all of the quaintness of Palm Beach with all of the bells and whistles the modern traveler could hope for—rooms are spacious and well-designed with relaxed yet elegant decor. The couches are upholstered in nubby linen and tossed with colorful, elephant-patterned pillows, and the fixtures in your bathroom gleam. Should you book a suite, a dream-worthy kitchen will ensure you feel right at home. Ask the concierge to set you up with a parasol on the beach or sit beneath a black-and-white striped parasol at the pool. When you’re ready for a bite, the White Elephant’s restaurant, Lola 41, has some of the best sushi in town.
Where to Eat
Bice
Even in Palm Beach, where pleasure and leisure abound, few experiences encapsulate “La Dolce Vita” like lunching at Bice on Worth Avenue. An outpost of the Milanese hotspot, the Italian eatery offers fine dining in exquisite surroundings. The courtyard transports patrons to Europe or, perhaps more accurately, a cinematic fantasy of Europe. Surrounded by antique stores and art galleries, dogs doze in the sun while their owners feast on wine and pasta.
Le Bilboquet
With eateries in all the buzzy destinations, Le Bilboquet’s Palm Beach outpost is no exception. In addition to its upscale lunch menu and glitzy dinner scene, this location serves a decadent breakfast. What a perfect way to start the day!
The Polo Room
Not to be confused with Ralph Lauren’s Polo Bar, the Polo Room takes its name from the actual sport—international polo star Nacho Figueras is a co-owner, and his Argentine heritage runs throughout the restaurant. Opened on Sunrise Avenue in late 2025, the dark, clubby room is lined with polo photography, espresso-toned paneling, and equestrian details (look for the silver horse-bit napkin rings), giving it the feeling of an especially glamorous après-polo clubhouse. It’s quickly become one of those very Palm Beach places where the crowd is as much a part of dinner as what’s on the plate.
The menu is continental with an Argentine accent: handmade steak and cheese-and-onion empanadas, raw-bar staples and crudos, housemade pastas, lobster frites with Béarnaise, and a serious selection of asado-style steaks. The Malbec-braised short rib and grilled artichokes with salsa criolla carry the theme a little further, while caviar spaghetti provides the requisite Palm Beach flourish. The restaurant’s motto perhaps sums it up best: “After the last chukker, we play here.”
Cafe Boulud
Steps from Worth Avenue, The Brazilian Court provides elegant accommodation in an ideal location. The Spanish Colonial compound is a labyrinth of courtyards filled with fountains and flowering plants. Downstairs, Cafe Boulud provides one of the finest culinary experiences on the island.
Cucina
Palm Beach, for all its virtues, is not known for its nightlife. A notable exception, Cucina, is a lunch destination by day and a watering hole for the island’s younger set at night. The music is electric and drinks flow late. The interiors are relatively forgettable, but in a town marked by ostentation, the crowd counts for more than the surroundings.
Swifty’s at The Colony
What better way to spend the day than with a poolside lunch? An Arnold Palmer and poke bowl from Swifty’s at The Colony will certainly hit the spot.
La Goulue
For snowbird New Yorkers, the Palm Beach dining scene offers several of your go-tos—especially if you’re from the Upper East Side—including Le Bilboquet, Cafe Boulud, Sant Ambroeus. And let’s not forget La Goulue! The iconic East 61st Street French brasserie (est. 1972) touched down in Palm Beach in 2020 to great fanfare. Come for the cheese soufflé (a must), and stay for the vibes.
Le Bilboquet Market
Just off Worth Avenue on Peruvian Avenue, Le Bilboquet Market is the new daytime sibling to the perennially packed Le Bilboquet restaurant nearby. Part French épicerie, part jewel-box café, the beautifully appointed space is lined with marble counters and shelves of the sorts of things you suddenly decide you need: Petrossian caviar, smoked salmon, cheeses, good olive oils, jams, pastas, and chocolates. The pastry program comes courtesy of legendary French pastry chef François Payard, so the glass cases are particularly dangerous—filled with macarons, éclairs, Napoleons, fruit tarts, canelés, and excellent croissants.
There are sandwiches and salads if you’re after lunch, but I like it best as a post-shopping pit stop: grab one of the few seats, order a coffee and something sweet, and survey the damage after an afternoon on Worth Avenue. Or take a box of pastries with you—the sort of house gift that looks considerably more thoughtful than the effort required to procure it.
Coco at The Vineta
For anyone who spends summers at the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc—or simply wishes they did—Coco at The Vineta offers a little taste of Antibes in Palm Beach. The Mediterranean menu was developed in close collaboration with Sébastien Broda, executive chef of the Vineta’s Oetker sister property, and several Hotel du Cap signatures have made the trip across the Atlantic. Most notably, there’s the Eden Roc Sea Bass and the wonderfully old-school Steak Diane, which also appears on the menu at Eden-Roc Restaurant in France.
There are plenty of dishes unique to Palm Beach, too—crudos, handmade pastas, lobster salad, and a particularly tempting dessert list—but the Riviera influence is unmistakable. The terracotta-toned dining room opens onto a jasmine-filled courtyard, making lunch especially lovely, while dinner has a decidedly more glamorous energy. And for those who remember the building in its Chesterfield days, look up: a discreet leopard hidden in the sculpted ceiling is a wink to the wonderfully over-the-top Leopard Lounge that once occupied the hotel.
Tutto Mare
For an island surrounded by water, Palm Beach has surprisingly few places where you can actually dine beside it, which makes Tutto Mare a particularly welcome addition. Opened in early 2026 at the restored Royal Poinciana Playhouse, it’s the first Palm Beach outpost from Gabby Karan de Felice and Gianpaolo de Felice, the husband-and-wife team behind the beloved Tutto il Giorno restaurants in the Hamptons. Ask for a table on the terrace overlooking the Intracoastal and Palm Harbor Marina—the water at sunset is reason enough to come—though the Southern Italian menu, heavy on seafood, crudos, pastas, and dishes like branzino and fish cooked al cartoccio, gives the view some competition.
But the best detail is a remnant of old Palm Beach: the restaurant incorporates the former Playhouse’s legendary Celebrity Room, where the restored late-1950s Venetian Festival mural by Robert Bushnell still looks down from above. More than 100 famous faces are hidden within it, including Clark Gable, Joan Crawford, and Fred Astaire—a little bit of Palm Beach history preserved inside one of the island’s buzziest new restaurants.
What to See
Whitehall
Whitehall, also known as the Henry Morrison Flagler Museum, provides a glimpse into Palm Beach’s past. The Standard Oil tycoon employed Carrère and Hastings, the firm famed for its design of The New York Public Library, to realize this 75-room, neoclassical Beaux-Arts mansion. Every part of the house, perfectly preserved and open to the public, was intended to dazzle. Over a century later, the splendor remains undiminished.
The Society of the Four Arts
Founded in 1936, The Society of the Four Arts is a non-profit charity organization comprised of a concert hall auditorium, two libraries, an administration building, and gardens. It’s a picturesque complex that features a building by architect Addison Mizner (now The O’Keefe Gallery building) and a library by Maurice Fatio (architect of The Brazilian Court Hotel). Don’t miss the botanical and sculpture gardens, which are perfumed by the jasmine and orchid flowers that bloom all over.
Ann Norton Sculpture Gardens
Tucked away in a serene corner of West Palm Beach, the Ann Norton Sculpture Gardens offer a tranquil escape into art and nature. The former residence of artist Ann Weaver Norton, this hidden gem features a series of monumental sculptures set amidst lush tropical gardens. Wander through pathways lined with rare palms, orchids, and native plants as you admire Norton’s abstract works, crafted from brick and stone. The historic home, a charming 1925 property, is open to visitors and houses rotating exhibitions. A visit here is a perfect complement to Palm Beach’s grand estates, providing an intimate glimpse into the world of an acclaimed sculptor and the lush beauty of her creative sanctuary.
Palm Beach Lake Trail
If you’re staying at a hotel, chances are it’s stocked with beach cruisers at the ready. Pick up a bike and cruise down Worth Avenue and onto the scenic Palm Beach Lake Trail, which runs along the Western stretch of Palm Beach. Heading north, you’ll spot yachts bobbing (and an ever-expanding West Palm Beach) to your left; and to your right, you’ll get severe real estate envy as you peek through the hedges of many historic homes.
Norton Museum of Art
For a culture fix, cross the bridge to the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach, which recently underwent an expansion in 2019 led by architect Lord Norman Foster. Outside, there’s a world-class sculpture garden with artworks by Keith Haring, Fernand Léger, Paul Manship, Ugo Rondinone, and more. Before even entering the museum, guests are greeted with Claes Oldenburg’s Typewriter Eraser, Scale X, 1999. Inside, more masterworks can be found, as can a slick eatery, The Restaurant at The Norton.
Raymond F. Kravis Center for the Performing Arts
For a bit of culture on your Palm Beach trip, check the program at the Kravis Center, home of the Palm Beach Ballet, Palm Beach Opera, and Palm Beach Symphony—and the visiting Miami City Ballet. Located in West Palm Beach, the theatre will round out almost any Palm Beach itinerary.
Where to Shop
The Church Mouse
If you’re looking for places to shop, there are plenty of big-name retailers and brands in Palm Beach. But the rare gems are hiding at The Church Mouse, a volunteer-run resale boutique that donates all proceeds to charity.
Worth Avenue
Few shopping avenues are as scenic as Worth Avenue. It starts at the beachside Worth Avenue Clock Tower and ends with a series of condos edged with balconies. On the Avenue, you can find all the shops you expect—Tiffany, Ralph Lauren, The RealReal, but beyond the storefronts are vias (or courtyards) filled with even more boutiques and alfresco restaurants. Most famous is via Mizner, which was once home to Addison Mizner, and today contains tucked-away restaurants like Renato’s and Pizza Al Fresco.
The Royal Poinciana Plaza
A piazza for Palm Beach, The Royal Poinciana Plaza contains most of the shops and restaurants to add to your travel itinerary—Sant Ambroeus, The Honor Bar, and The Palm Beach Grill. Visitors can also shop for art (at Aquavella, Sotheby’s) or garb (at Kirna Zabete, Hermès, La Ligne, Veronica Beard). Better yet, head to the Assouline shop and pick up their Palm Beach book, which will tell you everything you need to know about where you are.
Kassatly’s Inc
For a very Palm Beach retail experience, Kassatly’s is not to be missed. Billed as Palm Beach’s oldest shop (since 1928), Kassatly’s is an emporium for fine linens, luxurious sleepwear, and classic cashmere. House guests looking for something to help them avoid showing up empty-handed might want to drop in.
Source: www.vogue.com
