VANCOUVER SUN
Florida has long been a destination for sun seekers, snowbirds, socialites, Disney fans and baseball lovers, but today, it’s also ripe with new experiences aimed at a younger crowd. The Sunshine State has a lively new energy, thanks to redevelopment efforts launched in the last few years, which is helping to fuel a boom in tourism and attract new residents.
I travelled to Martin County, The Palm Beaches and Miami to discover what’s on offer beyond its theme parks and beaches.
Stuart, Martin County, Florida
“He ate it, he ate it! Oh my God, he touched me!”
The little girl beside me is the only one yelling, but the rest of us leaning into the stingray tank, hand-feeding fish to the sleek and graceful stingrays, are just as enthralled.
Stingray feeding is just one of the activities offered at the 57-acre Florida Oceanographic Coastal Center. This research and education hub is located on Hutchinson Island in Stuart, a city between Orlando and Miami on the state’s Treasure Coast. The center also features nature trails, a sea turtle pavilion, a game fish lagoon, and the recently opened Ocean EcoCenter, which houses interactive exhibits focused on the area’s rich ecosystems.
Across the street from the EcoCentre is The Elliott Museum, which hosts historical exhibits and collections including vintage cars, baseball and Americana. The displays are impressive, but I’m here for something quite different—sound healing.
Deena Rahill ushers me into what feels like a portal into a spiritual wonderland. Crystal sound bowls line the room, anchored by a massive gong and rain drums. Rahill, originally from Montreal, performs vibrational sound healing—an ancient practice that aims to reduce anxiety and downshift the nervous system.
The vibrations generated by the instruments lull me into relaxation while I’m taken on an energetic journey via various tempos and temperaments. After an hour, nudged by Rahill’s gentle voice, I return to reality, feeling calm and grateful.
Going from feeding stingrays to participating in the Elliott Museum’s new HI Mindfulness Forums program is a nod to Florida’s foray into old-world-meets-new in Martin County. The county is a fabulous, place to enjoy Florida’s sun and sea—it’s blessed with more than 35 kilometres of beaches.
“Old Florida” is alive and well here, but today it combines whimsical artist communities with luxury oceanfront retreats and downtown districts such as the one in Stuart, named “America’s Happiest Seaside Town” by Coastal Living magazine.
West Palm Beach and Delray, Palm Beaches County, Florida
With windswept hair, I whiz through the sun-soaked streets of West Palm Beach in a Circuit, a free electric shuttle, that transports folks around the southern Floridian city’s downtown core.
Even on a Wednesday afternoon, Clematis Street – the historical heart of downtown— is buzzing with wine-sipping patrons on patios nestled between latte-laden cafes and designer boutiques.
I jump out at The Square, an open-air retail and cultural centre that has helped drive West Palm Beach’s revitalization— attracting top hoteliers, restaurateurs and retailers.
Today’s West Palm Beach is a far cry from the city’s humble beginnings. Palm Beach County, which comprises 39 cities and towns, was developed by oil-tycoon Henry Flagler in the late 1880s and early 1900s into a playground for the wealthy—America’s first ritzy resort towns. At the time, West Palm Beach housed the workers who built these towns.
Over time, the Palm Beaches continued to attract the rich and retired, and the city of West Palm Beach started coming into its own as a business centre but with significant pockets of poverty and crime. Clematis Street, once bustling in the 1920s, became a desolate urban core in the 1970s and ’80s, until a historic preservation movement prompted a new look in the 1990s and 2000s.
A few years ago, cities such as West Palm Beach and Miami started marketing to out-of-state companies with the aim of creating financial and tech districts. As a result, young urbanites have moved in breathing new life into places such as West Palm Beach. Both of these cities’ downtown cores are becoming more livable, attractive and hip, with a bevy of new hotels, restaurants and galleries.
The sprawling Norton Museum of Art underwent a US$100-million expansion in 2019, which helped to solidify West Palm Beach as an art destination. The Ben, an Autograph Collection hotel, has become a public gallery space, while new high-rise apartments have transformed once-neglected neighbourhoods into venues for dining and shopping.
I head south to Delray, another city with a recent influx of younger transplants. This becomes apparent as I stroll through Florida’s largest food hall, the new Delray Beach Market — a beautiful foodie haven with more than 25 diverse vendors — and the Marriott’s hipster hotel/condo, the Aloft Delray Beach. The loft-inspired suites are within walking distance of a vibrant restaurant scene and Delray’s famed downtown beach.
After checking in, I walk over to Atlantic Avenue, passing packed patios, to dine at Lionfish, a James Beard Foundation Smart Catch Leader restaurant that boasts sustainable, local seafood and innovative cocktails.
I get my steps in by walking to the Silverball Retro Arcade to relive my best ’90s life with a few rounds of Pac-Man.
The next morning, I find a moment of zen at the Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens. Founded as a farming colony by Japanese émigrés more than 100 years ago, the museum features six lush gardens inspired by famous gardens of Japan.
You can’t visit Delray without stopping at Delray Municipal Beach, named the top beach in the southeastern U.S. by Travel Holiday magazine. Even on a weekday morning, the lounge chairs are quickly snapped up and the volleyball courts are packed.
Miami, Florida
Miami has long been a destination for the hip and hard-bodied, but lately it’s been on a rapid development spree. Travellers used to flock to South Beach, but today the city’s attractions spread far beyond its southern tip.
Miami’s Wynwood neighbourhood is where the cool kids go to see and be seen. Hundreds of large-scale works by famous street artists colour the Wynwood Walls, an outdoor museum that tells the story of the area’s evolution.
Next, I head downtown to Brickell City Centre, which offers an indoor-outdoor shopping, dining and lifestyle experience in a modern, multi-level and artsy environment.
All that window shopping can make a gal thirsty for a cocktail. Sugar, an urban rooftop bar, sits atop the trendy and beautifully designed EAST Miami hotel, a bumping spot on a Friday night with gorgeous views of the city.
The hotel is close to the Phillip and Patricia Frost Museum of Science, a grand and modern 250,000-square-foot, partially open-air museum beside Biscayne Bay. The LEED-certified building is as thoughtfully designed as the exhibits it houses.
But the museum’s best part, hands down, is the Frost Planetarium. With glorious 8K projection and surround sound, it takes you on a dazzling visual odyssey to outer space. After flying through the solar system, I emerge into the brilliant Miami sunshine—ready to embrace Florida’s future.
Where to stay in Florida:
Martin County: Marriott Hutchinson Island Beach Resort, Golf & Marina
The Palm Beaches: Aloft Delray Beach
Miami: JW Marriott Marquis Miami and Loews Miami Beach Hotel
The writer was hosted by Visit Florida.