6 Best Sights in Delray Beach, Palm Beach and the Treasure Coast

If you're looking for a place to see and be seen, head for this wide expanse of sand, the heart of which is where Atlantic Avenue meets A1A, close to restaurants, bars, and quick-serve eateries. Lounge chairs and umbrellas can be rented every day, and lifeguards man stations half a mile out in each direction. The most popular section of beach is south of Atlantic Avenue on A1A, where the street parking is found. There are also two metered lots with restrooms across from A1A at Sandoway Park and Anchor Park (bring quarters if parking here). On the beach by Anchor Park, north of Casuarina Road, are six volleyball nets and a kiosk that offers Hobie Wave rentals, surfing lessons, and snorkeling excursions to the 1903 SS Inchulva shipwreck half a mile offshore. The beach itself is open 24 hours, if you're at a nearby hotel and fancy a moonlight stroll. Amenities: food and drink; lifeguards; parking (fee); showers; toilets; water sports. Best for: partiers; swimming; windsurfing.

The boonies west of Delray Beach seem an odd place to encounter one of the region's most important cultural centers, but this is exactly where you can find a 200-acre cultural and recreational facility heralding the Yamato Colony of Japanese farmers that settled here in the early 20th century. A permanent exhibit details their history, and all together the museum's collection has more than 7,000 artifacts and works of art on rotating display. Traditional tea ceremonies are conducted monthly from October to June, along with educational classes on topics like calligraphy and sushi making (these require advance registration and come with a fee). The six main gardens are inspired by famous historic periods in Japanese garden design and have South Florida accents (think tropical bonsai), and the on-site Cornell Café serves light Asian fare at affordable prices.

Quiet and green, this has the opposite vibe of the main beach a few miles up. What it also has are lush pine trees under which are picnic tables, nature trails through the dunes, and a boardwalk that takes you to the shore—in addition to restrooms and showers conveniently located on the ocean side of A1A (rather than across the street in the parking lot). Chair rentals are available, and as at the municipal beach, all lifeguards are certified EMTs. A surf wheelchair is on hand for first-come-first-served use, with a limit of two hours per person. Amenities: lifeguards; parking (fee); toilets; showers. Best for: solitude; swimming; walking.

This restored home that dates from about 1924 is a small museum run by the Delray Beach Historical Society. It's furnished as though the original inhabitants still lived there and filled with period relics, including a pump organ donated by descendants of a Delray Beach pioneer family. There's a garden of native plants out front and two small bungalow-style buildings on the property that have displays on the town's architectural evolution and history. The cottage is a block north of Atlantic Avenue and right across from the Delray Beach Center for the Arts at Old School Square.

The chief landmark along Atlantic Avenue since 1926 is this sunny Mediterranean-revival-style building, which is a member of the National Trust's Historic Hotels of America. Stay a night here or simply walk through the lobby to the parking lot where original garages still stand—relics of the days when hotel guests would arrive via chauffeured cars and stay there the whole season. The bar is a locals' gathering spot.

Instrumental in the revitalization of Delray Beach circa 1995, this cluster of galleries and event spaces was established in restored school buildings dating from 1913 and 1925. The Cornell Museum of Art & American Culture offers ever-changing exhibits on fine arts, crafts, and pop culture, plus a hands-on children's gallery. From November to April, the 323-seat Crest Theatre showcases national-touring Broadway musicals, cabaret concerts, dance performances, and lectures.