Travel Maven: Lake Worth, Palm Beach’s ‘Stepsister,’ a Quick Winter Getaway
Yes, Palm Beach’s upper crust folks look down their noses at their Lake Worth neighbors. They consider it the other side of the tracks.
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As soon you board your flight to West Palm Beach, the Palm Beach crowd are easy to spot; they’re the ones in first class. Men wearing blazers and ascots, women adorned in runway fashions, skin pulled tight and bejeweled.
Lake Worth is one of the best kept secrets in Florida for a sunny, fun-filled, long weekend this winter. But if you go, you must stay at the very charming Mango Inn. It’s a beautiful, classic Florida private home built in 1915. With a tropical feel, its intimacy is like escaping to a secluded Caribbean Island, the perfect place to turn off your engines and smell the roses – or should I say the hibiscus.
Full gourmet breakfasts are included, including mango stuffed French toast. The landscaped pool area is its “piece de resistance,” a heated pool that is hypnotic with cascading water fountains. The rooms are beautifully decorated and comfortable.
The spectacular Lake Worth Beach is a 10- to 15-minute scenic walk over Lake Worth Bridge. By car it’s a five-minute drive – or call a taxi for only $5.
Lake Worth’s beach is as lovely as any you’ve been to. Very clean, powdery soft white sand, roaring surf and never crowded. Rent a romantic cabana lounge for two by the hour or the day. You’ll love Benny’s on the Beach restaurant, which serves breakfast, lunch and dinner on the huge Lake Worth Pier. The huge waves breaking beneath you as you dine are breathtaking. Their seafood tastes like it just jumped out of the ocean.
In Lake Worth you can have a fabulous time without renting a car. Take a taxi from the airport to The Mango Inn for $25. A short walk away, you’ll find innovative restaurants, chic cafes, fashionable boutiques, art galleries and antique shops. My favorite restaurant was Suri Tapas Bar on Lake Avenue with an incredible creative selection of tapas. My favorites are Crispy Duck Confit Cigar, which is braised duck with caramelized onions rolled up to look like a fat Cuban cigar, and Scallops Ay Dios Mio, seared scallops over chorizo hash, and prosciutto wrapped baked figs.
If you rent a car, check out The Breakers Hotel in Palm Beach. Make reservations for their romantic massage for two. (It’s costly but you deserve it.) For golfers, there’s Lake Worth Municipal Golf Club. Culture vultures can visit the Flagler Museum. In Palm Beach, be sure to stroll down Worth Avenue, its world-famous shopping street. It’s to Florida what Rodeo Drive is to Beverly Hills.
So even if you were not considering a winter getaway this year, you can consider getting away for a deliciously long weekend in Lake Worth. There are few places as affordable or as relaxing – and it’s still relatively undiscovered and tourist-free. But since The Mango Inn has only 10 rooms and two private cottages, you must make your reservations now. It can be reached at 561-533-6900. (Leave a message if they don’t pick up.)
While strolling down Palm Beach’s fashionable Worth Avenue, you might bump into one of the well-heeled Palm Beach folks you passed in first class when you boarded your West Palm Beach flight in New York, so be sure to graciously nod hello to them and say, in your most pretentious voice, “Excuse me, but what time does the polo match start this weekend?”
Hastings-on-Hudson resident Richard Levy is a former advertising “Mad Man” creative director and now prolific travel writer. He’s also an inventor of innovative new products and is writing and illustrating a new children’s book. You can contact him at RichardLevyTravelWriter@gmail.com.
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