The Kinora Guide to Palm Beach

The Breakers

1 South County Road, Palm Beach

The grand dame, opened by Henry Flagler in 1896, rebuilt after two fires, and standing today as one of the most complete expressions of Gilded Age hospitality in America. Five hundred and thirty-eight rooms, a half-mile of private beach, two golf courses designed to be forgiving, a spa that takes itself seriously enough to justify a full day. Yes, it’s larger than the boutique hotels on this list. It’s on the list anyway because staying at The Breakers once is a piece of Palm Beach worth having in your head. Come for a milestone. Come for the buffet. Come to see what old-world luxury still looks like when it’s kept up properly.

The Brazilian Court

301 Australian Avenue, Palm Beach

An 80-room Spanish Colonial enclave from the 1920s, quietly one of the best small hotels in the state, tucked one block back from Worth Avenue in a way that keeps you in the middle of everything without ever feeling like it. Two garden courtyards, a poolside that stays quiet by design, and Café Boulud downstairs handling breakfast, lunch, and dinner. If you want to know what Palm Beach felt like fifty years ago before it started performing for cameras, this is where you find out.

The Colony

155 Hammon Avenue, Palm Beach

Painted pink because of course it is, the Colony has been the social spine of Palm Beach for eighty years and is currently doing some of the best programming in the state. Rooms that lean into color and pattern in a way that shouldn’t work but does. A pool scene that turns into a lunch scene that turns into a dinner scene. The Swifty’s downstairs pulls the same crowd that used to eat at Swifty’s in New York, which is to say the crowd you’d want at dinner if you had the choice.

White Elephant Palm Beach

280 Sunset Avenue, Palm Beach

The Nantucket-born hotel’s Palm Beach outpost, opened a few years ago, and one of the more considered new arrivals on the island. Thirty-two rooms in a low-slung 1946 building, an aesthetic that borrows the best of coastal New England without pretending it belongs on the Atlantic side of Florida. Lola 41 downstairs handles the food. The pool is quiet. The service is warm. Worth staying at when you want Palm Beach to feel a little less Palm Beach.

The Chesterfield

363 Cocoanut Row, Palm Beach

A boutique hotel with English country-house DNA — dark wood, leaf-print wallpaper, monkey paintings in the hallways, and Leopard Lounge downstairs, which has been the after-dinner spot on the island for decades. Fifty-three rooms, all different, most eccentric in a good way. If you don’t want Palm Beach to feel like Palm Beach, if you want it to feel a little more like a country house you’ve somehow ended up in, this is the answer.

Café Boulud Palm Beach

at The Brazilian Court, 301 Australian Avenue

Daniel Boulud’s Palm Beach room, and one of the best French kitchens south of New York. Executive Chef Christopher Zabita runs a menu that leans into French discipline with Florida ingredients — stone crab in season, local snapper, sweetgrass corn from up the coast. The courtyard terrace is one of the great Palm Beach dining rooms. The bar handles walk-ins. Come for lunch to see it in daylight. Come for dinner to see it in candlelight. Both are the point.

Buccan

350 South County Road, Palm Beach

Chef Clay Conley opened Buccan in 2010, and it has been the hardest reservation in Palm Beach ever since. Small plates, wood-fired everything, a menu that changes seasonally and always has at least one dish worth writing home about. The tuna crisp is the most-ordered dish in the room and deserves its reputation. The corn agnolotti is the reason regulars come back. Multiple James Beard nominations, an OpenTable Top 100 designation, and a bar scene that stays loud in the best way.

Renato’s

87 Via Mizner, Palm Beach

The Italian classic tucked into Via Mizner off Worth Avenue, in a lantern-lit courtyard that feels like a small piece of Italy relocated to south Florida. Old-guard service, a menu that hasn’t needed changing much in thirty years, and one of the most romantic rooms in Palm Beach. Order the lobster ravioli. Order the veal. Order the tiramisu even if you thought you were done. Some places earn the right to keep doing what they’ve always done. Renato’s is one of them.

Meat Market

191 Bradley Place, Palm Beach

A steakhouse that doesn’t take itself too seriously, in a room designed to hold up over multiple courses and a bottle of something red. Dry-aged beef, a raw bar that punches above its weight, and one of the better wine lists in Palm Beach. The kind of place you go for a birthday, an anniversary, a Tuesday night when you want to eat well without a fuss. Reservations matter. So do the sides.

Le Bilboquet

at the Royal Poinciana Plaza, 340 Royal Poinciana Way

The New York room’s Palm Beach outpost, in the Royal Poinciana Plaza, and the answer to “where should we do lunch.” The Cajun chicken is the reason. The see-and-be-seen patio is the second reason. Everyone eventually ends up at Le Bilboquet on a Palm Beach trip. Go on a Wednesday to skip the weekend crush. Go on a Saturday to understand why it’s crowded.

HMF at The Breakers

1 South County Road, Palm Beach

Named for Henry Morrison Flagler, HMF is the see-and-be-seen room at The Breakers, and easily the most fun bar-restaurant on the island. Small plates from all over the world, a serious cocktail program, and a room that stays loud from seven until close. Come for the room. Order things you don’t recognize. Have another drink. You’re in Palm Beach.

Leopard Lounge at The Chesterfield

at The Chesterfield, 363 Cocoanut Row

The bar that has been the after-dinner room on the island since the ‘90s, still with the same leopard-print carpet, still with a piano player who takes requests. Order a martini. Order two. The crowd tilts old-Palm-Beach in the way you’d hope. The kind of bar you close down without meaning to.

The Colony’s Swifty’s Bar

at The Colony, 155 Hammon Avenue

The Colony’s poolside and dinner bar has become the room to be seen at in Palm Beach again, more than a decade after Swifty’s closed in New York. Well-made cocktails, a scene that starts at sunset, and the kind of energy that carries a night. Come early. Sit outside. Order something with citrus.

HMF Bar at The Breakers

1 South County Road, Palm Beach

Worth listing twice. The bar side of HMF is where the drinks program actually lives. The by-the-glass wine list is thoughtful. The cocktails are properly made. Come for one round. Stay for three. This is what a hotel bar is supposed to be.

The Sailfish Club

1338 North Lake Way, Palm Beach

The old-guard yacht club at the north end of the island — technically members-only, but a hotel concierge can often get you in for lunch or drinks if the timing is right. The waterfront view alone is the reason. Bring a linen jacket. Order a gin and tonic. Watch the boats come in.

Ta-boo

221 Worth Avenue, Palm Beach

The Worth Avenue institution that has been on this block since 1941 and has probably been more consistent than any restaurant of its age has a right to be. The bar is where the locals still gather at cocktail hour. The room is unmistakable — dark wood, banquettes, framed clippings from every decade the place has been open. Order a Bloody Mary at lunch. Order a martini at seven. Some rooms don’t need updating.

Sant Ambroeus Palm Beach

340 Royal Poinciana Way, Palm Beach

The Milanese classic’s Palm Beach outpost, in the Royal Poinciana Plaza. Espresso the way espresso should be, pastries flown in from their Milan bakery relationships, and a room that feels like the West Village and Palm Beach made a small deal with each other. Get there before ten to beat the brunch crowd. Get a cappuccino. Get an almond cornetto. Sit outside.

Buccan Sandwich Shop

350 South County Road, Palm Beach

Clay Conley’s daytime counter next door to Buccan, and the answer to “where do we get lunch” on the island. Sandwiches done right, salads that would justify the trip on their own, and coffee that’s better than a sandwich shop’s coffee needs to be. Take it to the beach. Take it back to the hotel. Either works.

Green’s Pharmacy

151 North County Road, Palm Beach

A working pharmacy that has served breakfast at its counter since 1938. Egg sandwiches, milkshakes, coffee, and the closest thing Palm Beach has to a real diner. The regulars are the point. Sit at the counter. Order the eggs. Read the paper. This is Palm Beach without the perfume.

A Walk Down Worth Avenue

Between South Ocean Boulevard and Cocoanut Row

Three blocks of the most famous shopping street in Florida, and one of the most photographed in America. The Vias — small covered arcades that branch off Worth Avenue — are the best-kept secret. Walk them slowly. Even if you’re not shopping, the architecture is the point. The building at 375 Worth is by Addison Mizner, who invented what became known as Palm Beach’s signature Mediterranean Revival style.

The Norton Museum of Art

1450 South Dixie Highway, West Palm Beach

Across the bridge, in West Palm Beach, and worth the fifteen-minute Uber. The permanent collection spans American, European, and Asian art, and the rotating exhibits are consistently well-curated. Foster + Partners did the recent expansion and it shows. The sculpture garden alone is worth an hour. The café handles lunch if you want to make an afternoon of it.

The Society of the Four Arts

100 Four Arts Plaza, Palm Beach

A cultural center at the north end of the island — art gallery, library, gardens, and an ongoing lecture series that pulls the best names in the country. The gardens are free and open to the public year-round. The gallery is worth timing your visit around. Locals treat this as their weekend habit. Copy them.

A Bike Ride on the Lake Trail

Along the Intracoastal, from Sunrise Avenue to the north tip of the island

Palm Beach’s best-kept fitness secret. Fifteen miles of paved path along the Intracoastal, past the mansions of North County Road, all the way to the northern tip of the island. Rent a bike from one of the shops on Sunrise. Ride at seven in the morning before the heat sets in. See a Palm Beach most guests never do.

The Flagler Museum

1 Whitehall Way, Palm Beach

Henry Flagler’s 1902 Gilded Age mansion, kept exactly as it was and open to the public. Fifty-five rooms of turn-of-the-century American opulence, including a private railcar parked on the grounds. The docent tours are worth the ticket. If you’re staying at The Breakers, this is the same guy’s other project. Both are worth the visit.

Kirna Zabête

247 Worth Avenue, Palm Beach

The New York multi-brand boutique’s Palm Beach outpost, and the best-curated women’s shop on the island. Emerging designers alongside the established ones, in a space that is more considered than most Worth Avenue storefronts. Even if you’re not buying, the browse is worth it.

Stubbs & Wootton

8 Via Parigi, Palm Beach

Custom velvet slippers, in every color and pattern, made in Spain to your size. The Palm Beach shop is the flagship, and the fittings are the point. A pair of Stubbs & Wootton slippers is one of the most Palm Beach purchases you can make. Buy them anyway. You’ll wear them everywhere else.

Classic Bookshop

310 South County Road, Palm Beach

The independent bookstore that has been on South County Road for over sixty years. Small, dense, staff picks that are actually curated, and an author events calendar that pulls serious names in season. The kind of shop that makes the whole street feel more like a real place.

Assouline

205 Worth Avenue, Palm Beach

The luxury art book publisher’s Worth Avenue outpost, and one of the most beautiful shops on the island. Coffee-table books that treat coffee tables seriously, plus a small café that has become its own destination. Buy a book. Get a coffee. Sit in one of the club chairs for as long as you want.

Rapunzel’s Closet

246 South County Road, Palm Beach

The consignment shop that Palm Beach locals actually shop at, with designer resale that occasionally rivals the boutiques on Worth. Chanel, Hermès, Oscar de la Renta — pieces that have been through one or two closets before yours, at prices that make actual sense. Worth the browse even if you don’t buy.