8 Best Sights in Boca Raton, Palm Beach and the Treasure Coast

Under the shimmering golden dome of the city's original town hall is a vital repository of archival material and special exhibits on the area's development, run by the Boca Raton Historical Society. With advance reservations, you can experience a 40-minute guided tour of Boca Raton's original town hall and a small museum. The Boca Raton Historical Society also runs tours for groups Monday through Thursday (10 am–noon), which take patrons around the museum's exhibits. 

Changing-exhibition galleries on the first floor showcase internationally known artists—both past and present—at this museum in a spectacular building that's part of the Mizner Park shopping center; the permanent collection upstairs includes works by Picasso, Degas, Matisse, Klee, Modigliani, and Warhol, as well as notable African and pre-Columbian art. Daily tours are included with admission. In addition to the treasure hunts and sketchbooks you can pick up from the front desk, there's a roster of special programs that cater to kids, including studio workshops and gallery walks. 

This hands-on center in Sugar Sand Park has interactive displays designed to enhance 5- to 12-year-olds' understanding of everyday physical sciences. Outside is a reconstructed Science Playground and a classic carousel and tot lot. Day camps are run during school breaks and are open to visitors.

A big draw for kids, this stellar spot has four huge saltwater tanks brimming with sea life, from coral to stingrays to spiny lobsters, and touch tanks, plus a sea turtle rehabilitation center. Nocturnal walks in spring and early summer, when staffers lead a quest to find nesting female turtles coming ashore to lay eggs, are popular; so are the hatchling releases in August and September. (Call to purchase tickets in advance, as there are very limited spaces.) This is one of only a handful of centers that offer this. There is also a nature trail and butterfly garden, a ¼-mile boardwalk, and a 40-foot observation tower, where you're likely to see brown pelicans and osprey.

This residential area was developed by Addison Mizner starting in 1925 and is beautifully landscaped with palms and cycads. Its houses are mainly Mediterranean in style, many with balconies supported by exposed wooden columns. Explore by driving northward on Paloma Avenue (Northwest 8th Avenue) from Palmetto Park Road, then weave in and out of the side streets.

The ocean with its namesake reef that you can wade up to is just one draw: a fishing zone on the Intracoastal Waterway across the street, a 9-hole golf course next door, and the Gumbo Limbo Environmental Education Center at the northern end of the park can easily make a day at the beach into so much more. But if pure old-fashioned fun in the sun is your focus, there are tons of picnic tables and grills and two separate playgrounds. Pack snorkels and explore the reef at high tide, when fish are most abundant. Swimmers, be warned: once lifeguards leave at 5, anglers flock to the shores and stay well past dark. Amenities: lifeguards; parking (fee); showers; toilets. Best for: snorkeling; swimming; walking.

Perched high up on a dune, a large open-air pavilion at the east end of Palmetto Park Road offers a panoramic view of what's in store below on the sand that stretches up the coast. Serious beachgoers need to pull into the main lot a quarter mile north on the east side of A1A, but if a short-but-sweet visit is what you're after, the 15 or so one-hour spots with meters in the circle driveway will do (and not cost you the normal $15 parking fee). During the day, pretty young things blanket the shore and windsurfers practice tricks in the waves. Quiet quarters are farther north. Amenities: lifeguards; parking (fee); showers; toilets. Best for: sunset; swimming; walking; windsurfing.

At 76 acres and including extensive nature trails, this is by far one of the largest ocean parks in the southern half of Palm Beach County and a great pick for people who want more space and fewer crowds. Big groups, including family reunions, favor it because of the number of covered picnic areas for rent, but anyone can snag a free table (there are plenty) under the thick canopy of banyan trees. Even though the vast majority of the park is separated from the surf, you never actually have to cross A1A to reach the beach because tunnels run under it at several locations. Amenities: lifeguards; parking (fee); showers; toilets. Best for: solitude; swimming; walking.