Palm Beach understands glamour in a way few places do. Leisure is turned into an art form, and style is born from it's own quiet code. Legacy defines the city, but now it feels newly charged.
The essentials remain exactly as they should be: immaculate golf courses, luminous stretches of beach, and the unhurried rhythm of island life that no amount of outside attention has managed to accelerate. Worth Avenue continues its elegant procession of storied façades and polished storefronts, while Royal Poinciana has quietly become the insider's axis - where shopping, dining, and the art of people-watching proceed at an impeccably dressed, deliberately unhurried pace.
Just across the bridge, a different energy is building. West Palm Beach is mid-transformation, animated by ambitious development, buzzy new neighborhoods, and an influx of designers, restaurateurs, and retailers - beloved New York outposts among them - drawn by a city that suddenly feels full of possibility.
Stepping into The Colony feels a bit like walking onto a Palm Beach movie set: pink stucco, retro-tropical prints, a mischievous monkey mascot, and service that’s somehow both polished and genuinely warm. Opened in 1947 and long a favorite of high-society regulars, the hotel has evolved into a storybook clubhouse and true social hub for Palm Beach, with a constant swirl of trunk shows.
Born from a beloved Nantucket institution, White Elephant Palm Beach feels like its freshly polished, sun-seeking cousin. Instead of leaning into nostalgia, it channels an easy, contemporary kind of glamour: Mediterranean Revival bones, creamy stucco, stately-but-relaxed interiors, and the sense that you’re staying in a low-key, beautifully put-together beach house.
The Brazilian Court doesn't announce itself - it reveals itself. Spanish Colonial architecture, leafy courtyards, trickling fountains, warm ocean breezes: the whole effect is less hotel than tucked-away private residence, quietly glamorous in the way that only genuine age and restraint can produce. With just 80 rooms, it offers the intimacy of a true boutique stay wrapped in an old Palm Beach sensibility that has never needed updating.
Few resorts in America carry a mythology quite like The Breakers. An Italian Renaissance grande dame set on 140 oceanfront acres, it feels every bit as cinematic as it sounds - and has for well over a century. Henry Morrison Flagler founded it in 1896, drawn to this particular stretch of sand where the Atlantic crashes ashore, and in doing so established the template for Palm Beach glamour that everything since has been measured against.
Le Bilboquet, the New York classic, finds its Palm Beach home just off Worth Avenue along the charming Via Encantada - a courtyard approach shaded by palms, thick with tropical foliage, and scented faintly with jasmine. Inside, the mood is France by way of the sea: polished without effort, elegant without gravity, anchored by a welcoming bar at the room's heart.
Tutto Mare, the newest concept from the Tutto il Giorno restaurant group, arrives at The Royal Poinciana Plaza with a quiet distinction: Palm Beach's first intracoastal waterfront restaurant. Tutto il Giorno has long carried a coastal Italian spirit, and Tutto Mare brings that sensibility south - honoring the historic Royal Poinciana Playhouse while opening a fresh Mediterranean chapter on the waterfront.
Buccan has earned its place as one of Palm Beach's most beloved dining rooms the old-fashioned way: by being genuinely, consistently good. James Beard–nominated chef Clay Conley builds his menu around vibrant seasonal ingredients and a lineup of shareable plates designed for mixing, matching, and losing track of time - all of it delivered with a warm, laid-back sophistication that manages to feel both upscale and utterly unpretentious.
Tucked inside The Brazilian Court and steps from both Worth Avenue and the beach, Café Boulud Palm Beach occupies a natural place at the slightly more formal end of the island's dining scene - and wears that distinction gracefully. The setting offers options to match any mood - the elegant dining room, the bar with a well-made martini and something to share, or the leafy courtyard terrace.
Raptis Rare Books occupies a singular place on Worth Avenue - and, arguably, in the rare book world at large. The shop specializes in fine first editions, signed and inscribed volumes, and landmark works spanning every field of human knowledge, with a particular gift for sourcing historically significant titles in exceptional condition. Browse long enough and you'll encounter the full range of what makes collecting so compelling.
Nili Lotan's Royal Poinciana boutique arrives in Palm Beach carrying exactly the energy the label has always traded in: refined minimalism cut with French ease and just enough rock-and-roll to keep things interesting. The full women's ready-to-wear and accessories collections are here - tailored separates, supple leathers, fluid silks, and those signature pieces that have a way of slotting effortlessly into a modern wardrobe.
Living with Ivey has quietly become Palm Beach's destination for clean living done beautifully. The boutique curates a considered edit of holistic essentials - mineral sunscreens, family-safe cleaning products, non-endocrine-disrupting fragrances, and carefully formulated body and skincare - chosen with the kind of discernment that makes the switch from conventional to clean feel less like a sacrifice and more like an upgrade.
Authentic Provence is Palm Beach's destination for the kind of European antiques that stop you in a room: monumental pieces for the home and garden, each chosen for its provenance, craftsmanship, and the particular gravity that only centuries can produce. Curated by Susan and Wolfgang Hofherr, the collection moves across French and Italian design traditions.
