Last week, Thiago and I escaped from New York and went to spend a long weekend in Florida – more precisely in West Palm Beach. We were crazy to enjoy a beach, heat, pool and bought the passage on time – kind, two weeks before. We left on a Thursday, early in the morning, and returned on Sunday morning, too. As Florida is a destination for many people, I thought it would be worth writing a little about our days there.
Firstly, I think it is good to make it clear – West Palm Beach is not Miami. This is another town, which is north of Fort Lauderdale. By car, to Miami, it’s about 1h and 15 minutes. I’m clarifying this because a lot of people who saw me posting on social media thought I was in Miami. Overall, this is a cheaper destination than Miami and we also wanted to visit a place we did not know yet. Our goal was not to explore anything – just relaxing – because we only had three whole days. Below, you check out some tips that I thought would be valid.
Hotel – we stayed on Singer Island, where most of the hotels and resorts in West Palm Beach are located. It is about a 20-minute drive from the city’s airport and it is a super quiet beach. You will see a hotel next to the other. We stayed at Hilton Singer Island Oceanfront/Palm Beaches Resort, and our room rate included breakfast (with pancakes, omelette, waffle, potatoes, fruit, bread, yogurt, juices, etc), fitness center, bikes, access to the pool (with towels), chair and umbrella on the beach. Our room was super spacious and equipped with TV, desk, coffee maker. The Wi-Fi was free and excellent. All the staff were super friendly and helpful. It is a good family hotel with a lot of accessibility. The only downside of staying at Singer Island is the access to restaurants. On the island itself, there are few options – most of them are restricted to hotel restaurants. So every night we requested an Uber to go to downtown to have dinner.
Transportation – to get out of the airport, we use Uber – Lyft also works well in the city. We always requested an Uber Pool or Lyft Line, and we ended up paying les for the rides – from the hotel to downtown we spent about $5 or $6 and we never waited more than 7 minutes for a car. The airport is small and there is also a bus service. As our idea was just to enjoy and relax, we got out only to a walk by the beach and the dinners at night.
Food – as I mentioned, our hotel had a great breakfast. On the first day, we decided to look for a restaurant for lunch and went to Guakamole, a Mexican restaurant at Singer Island. I don’t recommend, the food was okay. After this frustrated experience, we ended up having lunch at the hotel – the menu included salads, burgers and sandwiches – and we went out for dinner at night. We have been at excellent restaurants. The first was Hullabaloo, a trendy gastropub. We ordered the zuchini chips (delicious, $5) and a portion of fried calamari ($14). Then we ordered a pizza and shared it. We ended up having some pizza leftovers since the appetizers were super generous. The pub also has a selection of very interesting beers. The next night we went to dinner at Lynora, a famous and traditional Italian restaurant. Very nice atmosphere – and they have fresh pasta. We ordered the ravioli and also the gnocchi with pork – $25 each – yes, a bit pricey but worth every penny. The pastas were delicious! On our last night, we were in the mood to eat sushi and went to the Kabuki Sushi Thai Tapas and ordered three rolls – two classic and one special. Try the Lava Drops – it’s fried sushi, a delight. Prices were great – simple rolls are $6 and specials $14 on average. Tip: Clematis Street is full of restaurants.
City Place – a kind of shopping center, with movie theaters, ice cream, stores and other restaurants. It’s cool to walk at night, it’s an illuminated promenade – we went there and had ice cream, the vibe is super nice.
I think that’s it! I do not have much more to say, because, as I said, we were in relax mode! It is a very different place from Miami. And the beach is so beautiful!
Laura Peruchi is a Brazilian blogger, author, and entrepreneur. She has lived in Manhattan with her husband since 2014. Since then, she has shared on her blog varied content about the Big Apple. From travel tips, including unusual things to do, shopping tips, etiquette, restaurants, and a lot more, her blog has become a reference in Portuguese (also available in English) for anyone planning a trip to New York City.
