Lay of the Land: Delray Beach, FL
A healthy mix of art, angling, and alfresco dining mingles among the sand and salt air of this Atlantic Coast destination.
Orientation Nestled between West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale on Florida’s east coast.
Nearby Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway and Florida’s Everglades.
Date incorporated 1911.
Namesake A Detroit neighborhood.
Notable for Old School Square, anchoring the historic downtown shopping district at the corner of Atlantic and Swinton avenues.
Beaches
There’s plenty of sand in Delray Beach, a full four miles of Atlantic beachfront – some of it visible from your Delray Sands Resort balcony. If sunbathing isn’t your style, explore the area on the water with a sunset cruise accompanied by steel drum symphonies or fishing charter to pull in kingfish, snapper, and grouper.
Garden Walk
After exploring the mile-long path at Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens that weaves through six different gardens – each representing a style unique to the ninth through twentieth centuries – bookend the day with a visit to the on-site open-air terrace restaurant. Serving some of the best sushi around, the Pan-Asian Cornell Café earned the Food Network’s approval in 2007, when they called it one of the top three dining experiences in the country.
Art
What to do with vacant warehouses on East Atlantic Avenue? Start a grassroots working colony of artists, known as Artists Alley. The best way to tour the 18 galleries that now reside here is on the First Friday Art Walk, when all doors stay open until 9 p.m., including the Addison Gallery and Boca Raton Museum of Art. In the famed Old School Square, Delray Beach Center for the Arts includes an outdoor pavilion with its own free Friday-night BYOB (blanket, that is) concert series from October through January that features local cover and tribute bands.
History & Culture
Vintage Louis Vuitton is a rare find, but you can’t buy the wares on display at Delray Beach’s Museum of Lifestyle & Fashion History, where you can get up close with hallowed couture through exhibits like Hats, Handbags, and Gloves: From Past to Present, showcasing pieces from Chanel, Celine, and Eric Javits.
The Great Outdoors
A Loxahatchee Everglades Air Boat Tour is known in this part of the ’Glades for its unique airboat outfitted with six rows of stadium seating (and therefore, not a bad seat in the house for gator and sea turtle spotting) and a character of a guide who goes by “Wild Lyle.”
Food & Drink
Happy hour comes in the form of a tropical Rhum Rhapsody drink at Sandbar, cocktails above a one-of-a-kind saltwater fish tank at 50 Ocean, and “country Celtic rock” at Boston’s on the Beach.
Where to Stay Opal Grand Oceanfront Resort & Spa | Delray Sands Resort
