When it comes to that idyll of cool sophistication with typically tropical overtones, beautiful Boca Raton has it in spades. Having started life as a boom town in the great Florida land expansion of the early 1920s, founded by renowned architect Addison Mizner, this uber-chic destination has maintained its air of cool refinement with effortless ease.

 

It is home to gorgeous beaches, magnificent resorts, beautiful parks and elegant shopping, an upscale exercise in holiday grace and style without being loud or snobbish. This is also the place to come for magnificent golf courses, headline concerts at Mizner Park Amphitheater and the culture of the Boca Raton Museum of Art.

 

Of course, there are plenty of beach-based activities, notably sailing, scuba-diving, fishing, parasailing and even fly-boarding, plus boat adventures of just about every kind, including catamarans, powerboats and party cruises, while you can head inland to try an airboat ride or eco-tour, visit the family-friendly Gumbo Limbo Nature Center and take a guided marsh tour or bird walk at Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge in nearby Delray Beach.

 

You will definitely want to check out some of the classy shopping that Boca is renowned for, with three major centres geared towards a distinctive retail experience. Royal Palm Place is known as the Pink Plaza to locals for its Mediterranean colour scheme and styling, with a mix of boutiques, restaurants, salons and spas, while the Town Center at Boca Raton is one of south Florida’s top luxury shopping destinations, boasting 220 stores from Apple to swanky Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue.

 

Finally, Mizner Park is a modern nod to its founding father, a beautifully landscaped open-air mall and entertainment district specialising in nothing but the best, from its Lord and Taylor department store to Ruth’s Chris Steak House, and including its own cinema and outdoor performance centre.

 

All of this holiday grandeur can also be enjoyed at the five-star Boca Raton Resort & Club, a Waldorf-Astoria property originally designed by Mizner and dating back to the 1920s. Here, amid the Spanish-style halls and colonnades, there are enough activities to keep anyone busy for a week, accompanied by 13 restaurants, bars and lounges, seven swimming pools, a marina, award-winning Spa, tennis club and its own private beach club.