Best Things to Do in Lake Worth Beach, Florida

For a city of around forty-five thousand people occupying a compact grid, Lake Worth Beach offers an unusual amount — largely because it has its own beach, its own lagoon habitat, and an arts culture that generates a genuine events calendar.

The pier and the beach

The municipal beach sits across the Intracoastal on the barrier island, and it's one of the more pleasant public beaches in the county precisely because it isn't a destination.

The pier runs out over the Atlantic and is the centrepiece — open for fishing, walking and watching, with a restaurant at the landward end that has become an institution. Sunrise from the pier is the local ritual worth adopting.

The beach complex includes a restored historic casino building, now holding shops, a restaurant and event space, along with a swimming pool overlooking the ocean. The building is genuinely handsome and worth looking at properly rather than walking past.

Practical notes: parking is paid and fills on good winter weekends. Go early, or go in summer when the whole problem disappears.

Snook Islands Natural Area

On the lagoon side, and the city's best natural asset.

This is restored habitat — mangrove, seagrass and oyster reef rebuilt in what had been degraded lagoon bottom — with a boardwalk, fishing platforms and a kayak launch. Wading birds, fish and the occasional manatee use it heavily.

Paddling here is the standout. The water is protected, shallow and calm most mornings, and it's a completely different experience from the ocean side. Launch early, before the wind builds.

It's free, it's a few minutes from downtown, and a great many residents never go — which keeps it quiet.

The art

The city's creative culture is visible rather than theoretical:

• The mural program covers a substantial number of walls downtown and in the surrounding blocks, and it changes. Walking it deliberately, camera in hand, is an hour well spent.
• The galleries along and near the downtown avenues are working spaces rather than tourist shops.
• The cultural council presence downtown runs exhibitions and programming.
• The theater, in a 1924 building, runs a full season of productions and is one of the longest-running community theaters in the region.

The Street Painting Festival

The city's signature event, held annually and drawing very large crowds.

Artists chalk enormous works directly onto the downtown pavement over a weekend, the streets close, and the whole city turns out. It is genuinely impressive, genuinely free, and about as clear an expression of what this place values as you could design.

Plan around it — either to attend, or to avoid the parking.

Bryant Park

The waterfront park on the lagoon between downtown and the bridge, and the city's main outdoor gathering place.

Concerts, festivals, a playground, open green space and a boat ramp. It's where much of the events calendar physically happens, and on an ordinary afternoon it's simply a good place to sit by the water.

Golf

The city runs a municipal golf course on the lagoon — walkable from downtown, playable without a membership, and with water views that private clubs charge a great deal for.

For a small city to own a course like this is unusual, and it's one of the better-value rounds in the county.

Live music and nightlife

The downtown supports a genuine live music scene for its size — venues, bars with stages, and a calendar that runs most weeks. Combined with the restaurants, it means the city has actual nightlife, which distinguishes it from most of its neighbors. Our dining guide covers where.

The pool at the beach

Easy to overlook next to an ocean, and genuinely worth using.

The beach complex includes a public swimming pool set above the sand with an Atlantic view, which is an unusual municipal asset and a pleasant alternative on days when the surf is rough or the wind is up.

It's also the practical answer for anyone who wants to swim laps rather than swim in waves, and for households where not everyone wants salt water.

Nearby

• West Palm Beach, minutes north, for the arts complex, the larger downtown and the airport.
• Delray Beach, south, for a more polished downtown.
• Palm Beach, across the water, for Worth Avenue and the estate district.
• The wildlife refuge and the western wetlands, out past the interstate, for airboats, trails and birding.

Cycling the city

Worth its own mention because the grid makes it genuinely practical rather than merely possible.

Flat, compact, with short blocks and relatively low traffic speeds away from the arterials, the city is one of the few places in Palm Beach County where a bicycle is a serious transport option rather than exercise equipment. A fair number of residents near the downtown use one as their primary way of getting about.

The route east over the bridge to the beach is the ride worth doing — a few minutes, a view from the top of the span, and a beach at the end of it.

Seasonal timing

Winter into spring is the events calendar at full strength and the best weather, with the street painting festival the peak.

Summer is hot and stormy by afternoon. Do the beach and the paddling early, and use the galleries, the theater and the restaurants for the middle of the day. Parking becomes trivial.

Hurricane season runs June through November.

Fishing the pier and the lagoon

Accessible, cheap and genuinely good, and one of the more democratic things the city offers.

The pier is open for fishing with a modest fee and no boat required, and the regulars there know exactly what's running. On the lagoon side, the platforms and shoreline access at the restored habitat fish well on moving water.

Bring a Florida saltwater license, check current regulations for whatever you're targeting, and go early or late. It's also one of the easier ways to meet people who have lived here a long time.

Where to start

Sunrise on the pier, then paddle Snook Islands on the same morning, then spend an evening downtown.

Those three cover the ocean, the lagoon and the culture — the three things this city actually has that its neighbors don't. Once you've done them, the quieter local finds are where it starts to feel like home.