The Best Hotels and Resorts to Book Near the Port of Palm Beach

This is the ultimate golf getaway for miles around. The Ocean Course – Florida’s oldest – is one of two lush greens that will challenge at every hole. You’ll certainly find a crowd to play with in the Flagler Club – an ultra-exclusive 25-room-and-suite boutique hotel atop the Breakers. (There are more modest guest rooms below, with ocean and resort views.) Even if you aren’t dining at the exclusive Flagler Steakhouse, you’ll be spoilt for choice – from baguettes at the Ocean House to sushi at red-lit Echo. Stiff after the game? Loosen up with a workout in the ultra-modern Ocean Fitness center.

Why stay at the Brazilian Court? Where to start? There are the elegant, airy studios with wisteria-pattern wall panels and snow-white bedding. There’s Café Boulud, by super-chef Daniel Boulud, where French- and Italian-accented food is served on the warm-breezy terrace. There’s the year-round outdoor pool, edged by designer chaise lounges; and the round-the-clock fitness center, if you’ve overdone it on the caviar-loaded blinis and champagne. You don’t simply stay at the Brazilian Court; you experience it with all five senses.

Lucky are the few who get to bag property in Palm Beach Shores. Secure one of these resort villas and your second home will be probably nicer than your main residence. If you can’t own, then borrow – naturally, these chic beach-side villas are for rent. Multiple pools and restaurants – for pizza, cocktails and casual bites – surround them, creating select, home-like living. Step out and you’ve got world-class shopping, dining and golf. But the white-sand beach and laid-back scene on Singer Island will probably keep you on this side of the Blue Heron Bridge most days.

Why stay in any old hotel when you can really roll out the Palm Beach lifestyle at this Singer Island resort? Gazing around your ocean-facing condo with a full kitchen and a dreamy balcony, you’ll probably decide to hang around all day. Amenities are impressive. There’s a spa – SiSpa, popular for therapies including a 50-minute Glowing Mermaid facial – and two outdoor pools. The natural assets are awesome, too: long stretches of white-sand beach that bring the lucky ones flying south every winter. If you’ve got the time to really explore, Peanut Island is the place to drop an anchor and crack a cold one.

It’s got a central location in West Palm Beach, but it’s all about subtlety and tranquility at this cool check-in. Simple rooms are spick-and-span – unobtrusive decoratively, as this is a corporate hotel, with media and work centers. Weekenders love it, too, for the generous healthy lobby breakfast and the fitness-center workouts. It’s handy for the Norton Museum of Art as well. There’s a bar, but you’ll need to step out for lunch and dinner. Top tip: carouse around the eating and drinking spots on Clematis Street, the historical heart of Downtown West Palm Beach.