sun and surf comes to mind yet the Sunshine State is a haven for arts and culture that will satisfy even the most discerning travelers.
From museums to performing arts centers to equity theater, Florida packs a plethora of prized places to captivate visitors from northern cities and beyond.
This story will focus chiefly on where to go and what to do while visiting the West Palm Beach and Palm Beach area.
Visiting the Flagler Museum
This area teems with interesting things to do. A visit to the Flagler Museum is among the best. If you’ve never been, plan to go there first. Henry Flagler was a man of many talents, and from the 1880s until the early part of the 20th century he helped develop Florida into what it is today – a bustling economy. A founder of the Standard Oil Corp., Flagler turned his attention to Florida later in life, commissioning architects John Carrere and Thomas Hastings to design Whitehall, the 75-room, 100,000-square-foot mansion, built from 1900 to 1902. He and his wife used it as a winter retreat. Both architects trained at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, apprenticed at the New York firm of McKim, Mead and White, and practiced the Beaux Arts style of architecture. The mansion is an imposing structure with exquisite furnishings. Spend a couple of hours here. Savor the journey. These are the same architects who designed other Gilded Age landmarks including the New York Public Library and Henry Clay Frick’s mansion, a museum on Fifth Avenue. Flagler also commissioned the duo for his Hotel Ponce de Leon in St. Augustine, Florida.
The Flagler Museum is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from 12 noon to 5 p.m. It’s closed Mondays, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, and New Year’s Day.
Planning Performances at the Kravis Center
Depending on your interests, consider the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts 701 Okeechobee Blvd, West Palm Beach. A variety of concerts and road companies of Broadway shows are among the options. If you prefer legitimate theater, Palm Beach Dramaworks, 201 Clematis St, West Palm Beach, is the place. There is one play left for the 2025-26 season: the world premiere of Vineland Place from May 15-31. The play by Steven Dietz, is a thriller about a young writer Henry Sanders who is hired to finish a novel by the author’s widow. The 2026-27 season features five plays including The Light in the Piazza, written by Craig Lucas (book) and Adam Guettel (music and lyrics) scheduled to open Feb. 12, 2027, and Harold Pinter’s The Birthday Party to open April 2, 2027.
Scheduling Concerts and Plays in Advance
When you’re planning a trip that includes the arts it’s essential to know where you want to go, your schedule and the venues’ hours of operation. If you’re going to be in the area just a long weekend, and the museum you wish to visit is closed on Mondays or the play you’re eager to see closes the day before you arrive, you’ll be disappointed you didn’t plan ahead.
Viewing World-Class Art
The Norton Museum of Art, 1450 S Dixie Hwy, West Palm Beach, sparkles with American, Asian, Contemporary, and European permanent collections to interest art lovers of many stripes. The early Modern period includes Realist, Impressionist, and Post-Impressionist work by Gustave Courbet, Claude Monet, and Paul Gauguin. The Modern Collection has paintings and sculpture by Constantin Brancusi, Georges Braque, Marc Chagall, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, and Chaïm Soutine.
Among the American paintings, sculpture, and works on paper are approximately 1,000 works from the 18th century to 1960. Ralph Norton, the museum’s founder, first collected American art, and include oil paintings by George Bellows, Charles Demuth, Edward Hopper, Georgia O’Keeffe, Robert Motherwell, and Charles Sheeler; sculptures by Paul Manship, Theodore Roszak, and William Zorach; and watercolors by Charles Burchfield, Winslow Homer, and John Marin, among others.
Strolling Clematis Street and CityPlace
While you’re in West Palm, visit Clematis Street and CityPlace. Clematis Street is home to restaurants, boutiques, nightclubs, historical landmarks, and antique shops, is has a lively South Florida vibe all its own. Dine al fresco then walk via Rosemary Avenue right to CityPlace, a collection of restaurants, retail, fountains, 20-screen theater, and historic buildings. If the weather is warm or balmy, wander the outdoor plaza. The area is ablaze with colored lights during the December holidays.
Italian-Style Dining and Shopping
We dined at Eataly located in the Harriet Himmel building, which dates to 1926. The grilled salmon was tasty but, in general, the prices are on the high side but worth the experience. According to Reg Architects, the building was originally the First United Methodist Church, is “one of the finest examples of Spanish Colonial Revival architecture of its time.” It anchors CityPlace. At Eataly, an upscale chain, the West Palm location has grocery items, hands-on pasta classes, storewide tastings, and pasta, pizza, pastries, and gelato to purchase.
If you go in December, it’s still typically warm enough to view the kaleidoscopic lights while strolling through the outdoor shopping and arts area.
