Boca Raton

The omakase menu at Morimoto feels celebratory but moves fast. Chef Masaharu Morimoto has sushi master status and a Top Chef win under his apron and knows how to create a well-paced, tasty experience you’ll come back for. The menu features classic Japanese sushi rolls and local seafood like littleneck clams in the miso soup. It’s a small space and immensely popular with hotel guests, so be sure to reserve and request a seat at the center of the action: the sushi bar.

The dining room at Casa d’Angelo is a refined, grown-up affair—with its white tablecloths and floor-to-ceiling wine cases of bottles from what looks like every vineyard in Italy. The choice is staggering. A rotating cast of nightly specials draws a loyal South Floridian crowd. Still, deep down, every guest wants a slab of chef Ricky Piper’s many-layered lasagna with a generous slice of tiramisu for dessert. Pasta is handmade in the kitchen every day, and gluten-free varieties are available. Plus, for the exceptional staff, no request is too much.

Bad coffee on any given morning can ruin our mood, but on vacation, it can ruin our day. Boca café and juice bar the Seed is the brainchild of two local women who wanted quality beans and organic cold press to be a daily given, not a rarity. The menu hits all the right notes, with American classics like drip coffee and iced tea alongside Earl Grey, matcha lattes, and nitro cold brew. The acai and dragon fruit bowls are hearty, healthy, and portable for the beach or the airport. And like everything else at the Seed, the cold smoothies and juices—boosted with protein, flax, spirulina, or turmeric—hit the spot on muggy, hot Florida mornings when eggs and toast feel like too much.

Museums are the unsung cultural heroes of smaller cities. The lines are shorter, the curation is generally more daring, and thanks to fewer tourists, you can actually see the art up close rather than from deep in a crowd. In that vein, the Boca Museum of Art is an art lover’s gem in Mizner Park that’s very worth driving for. The permanent collection includes sculpture and contemporary, African, and pre-Columbian art as well as a stellar photography collection (don’t miss Dorothea Lange’s iconic images of the Dust Bowl era). March 2020 will see the arrival of a series of self-portraits by prominent American artists and a selection of Edward Steichen murals. For those visiting with children, check out the galleries on Saturday mornings—they offer painting classes for children. And the outdoor sculpture garden is ideal for little legs to run off one too many ice cream cones. Daily docent tours at 2 p.m. are the way to go if you want to fully appreciate the breadth of the museum’s offerings and learn about the intricacies and symbols within each piece.

Boca Raton Resort & Club’s sprawling estate is more like a dreamy Floridian village than a hotel, a village complete with a golf course, several restaurants, stretches of manicured gardens, its own marina, and a private beach. And the Waldorf group, which manages the Boca Raton Resort & Club, is not about to rest on the club’s long-established popularity. The resort keeps getting better. The polished Yacht Club—effectively a hotel within a hotel—has reopened following an extensive renovation, and the nautical waterfront rooms, customizable minibars, and next-level service make it an easy favorite. Staying in an ocean-view Beach Club room feels like having a sleepover on a private island—powdery white sand and afternoon naps in a luxe cabana included. For the wellness-led traveler, the cardiologist-run Biostation excels at functional medicine, while sports enthusiasts have their pick of simulated surfing at Flow House, Orangetheory classes, and of course, 365 acres along Lake Boca. All the while, the familial service and clever landscaping across the grounds summon all the intimacy of a boutique hotel.

Granted, the name of this spa isn’t especially compelling, but once you walk in, you’re instantly enamored of the place, which is a gorgeous enclave with blooms literally hanging from the ceiling (an atmospheric flourish if ever there was one). Organic kojic acid, “fitness facial” protocols that aim to work face muscles for a toning effect, organic enzyme peels, cryotherapy, and microneedling constitute the spectacular treatments that leave you gleaming. But it’s the aestheticians, who are knowledgeable, passionate about the spa’s holistic ethos, and incredibly informed about skin health, that make this place legit.