Readers Voted This Iconic Palm Seashore Lodge One in all Florida’s Perfect — Right here’s What It’s Love to Keep

“Is that woman in the pool sipping a martini?” I requested my husband, Rob. We each put unwell our paperbacks and watched because the tan visor-and-bikini-clad visitor picked up her chilled glass — slick with condensation at the out of doors, stuffed with a nebulous sunny liquid at the within — and casually waded from one facet of the curving oasis to the alternative.

It was once 11:58 a.m.

“She looks happy?” he responded with a shrug and a grin.

And so was once each alternative customer absorbing the Palm Seashore solar on the Colony Lodge that summer season Saturday morning. The nation integrated solo vacationers, content material to be pampered on an opulent lounger; packs of designer-clad youngsters, tapping away on their telephones; and households with babies, longing for some play games. And later there have been the celebratory brunches (multigenerational birthday events, milestone anniversaries) drawing in citizens to Swifty’s, the Colony’s finest, indoor-outdoor white-tablecloth eating place. I watched because the tables adjoining to the pond, cooled by way of fanatics and a dangling grassland, stuffed with locals decked out of their Dior. A DJ was once quickly there to stock the vibe upbeat.

Certainly, in 2024, the toasting, the smiling, and the selfie-taking occur 24/7 on the Colony, a Palm Seashore mainstay since 1947. The site may now not be extra high: the attribute, a light crimson and white trimmed L-shaped development, sits at the western finish of Hammon Road and is each a stone’s throw clear of the seashore and the fashion designer stores of Significance Road. And with move to Florida within the “off-season” months changing into extra customery — our aviation from Brandnew York Town was once packed in July — the lodge is now necessarily a year-round vacation spot.

The 50s and 60s put the Colony at the people social map, with well-known visitors like Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra, and Sophia Loren losing in for elegant events. One may argue that the lodge is now in a 2nd, extra inclusive occupation. In 2016, the lodge was once bought by way of Andrew and Sarah Wetenhall, who prepared about renovating the attribute for the twenty first century. In 2020, Mimi McMakin and Celerie Kemble from Kemble Interiors freshened up the foyer, or “The Living Room,” with a customized, hand-painted de Gournay wall protecting. It’s an eye-candy mural the place you’ll in finding a number of Johnnie Browns, Addison Mizner’s mythical puppy spider monkey, hiding some of the arms and greenery, at the side of flamingos, alligators, and panthers. A number of seating grounds permit visitors to sit down and whisk all of it in, the high perch being the central field, anchored by way of a hand-carved customized pagoda. “This hotel has always been the heart of Palm Beach, and I wanted to ensure it continues to be a place where memories are made for generations to come,” Sarah Wetenhall informed Exit + Sleep.

And although the lodge nonetheless attracts a gradual current of Palm Seashore people sorts, the younger, attentive team of workers and at ease vibe form for a shoulders-down, comfy revel in. Social media has additionally performed its phase, with playful posts of monogrammed slippers and poolside backgammon giving sturdy out-of-office vibes. No person batted an optic when my 9-year-old son, Bobby, and I walked into the lounge in flip-flops, shorts, and T-shirts nearest sweating it out on the seashore (although I made up our minds to seek advice from the lodge’s unique Dolce & Gabbana boutique at every other moment). Bobby was once passed a scavenger hunt card at check-in, prompting him to search for the numerous Johnnie Browns discreetly painted at the wall protecting. The guests I noticed ranged from 8 months vintage to 80, and all discovered their satisfied park — even the pampered canines. “The Colony Hotel, which we refer to as ‘the Pink Paradise,’ is so much more than just a place to stay,” says the attribute’s basic supervisor, Bruce Seigel.

This is what to anticipate whilst you suppress into the Colony Lodge, which Exit + Sleep readers voted the Refuse. 2 lodge in Florida in our 2024 International’s Perfect Awards.

The Rooms

If you wish to have a cookie-cutter lodge visitor room, keep in other places.

Designated a historical landmark in 2020, the Colony has 93 visitor rooms and suites, together with 3 penthouses, seven villas, and 4 bungalows. The visitor rooms and suites are all unabashedly colourful — yellows, pinks, and blues abound at the partitions, headboards, and ceilings — with a vintage Palm Seashore aesthetic. They’re additionally supremely comfy: It’s simple to fall into mattress nearest an extended age on the seashore when the linens, gowns, and slippers are by way of Matouk. Same old visitor rooms, of which there are 42, get started at 180 sq. toes, hour the stunning suites, that have a parlor and two toilets, are perfect for households and field from 375 to 475 sq. toes. Should you’re touring with a gaggle, it’s additionally imaginable to request a double-bed suite.

You’ll have much more field in the event you conserve probably the most 14 flats, which come with 3 penthouses in the principle lodge, 4 bungalows with their very own personal swimming pools adjoining to the lodge’s east grassland, and 7 villas reimagined by way of one of the crucial global’s peak inside personalities and carved from the Casa Mañana, a Spanish-style, Twenties property around the boulevard. “Collaborating with globally celebrated designers to reimagine the spaces within this jewel has been one of my biggest passions,” provides Wetenhall.

My people and I stayed within the “Goop” villa. Sure, dropped at you by way of that Goop. Brandnew York-based Ronen Lev designed the two-bedroom, 2,524-square-foot place of dwelling obtainable by way of two free keyed entrances. It additionally has its personal pretty swimming pond, which is shared with alternative villa visitors, the place you’ll be able to sequence foods and drinks in privateness.

We loved having the field to unfold out within the terracotta-tiled kitchen branch (observe the top rate Monogram home equipment), which has a mini desk for eating and an island for socializing. The unhidden flooring plan strikes into an opulent front room with native Palmer magazines to learn and a comfortable corner for sipping morning espresso. There also are enough of Instagrammable moments, from the palm print motif by way of Lily Pulitzer studio within the powder room to the Goop-branded facilities stocked within the two complete toilets. (Bonus: You might be allowed to whisk them house.) Arched doors and home windows remind you this can be a historical field, as do the gracious columns at the wrap-around terrace.

One of the alternative marquee villas come with Aralia, embellished in blue-and-white scheme by way of Mark D. Sikes; Poinciana, a 2,700-square-foot field finished up by way of Kemble Interiors; Lantana, a retro-leaning villa by way of Serena & Lily; and the art-studded Chairish Villa, embellished by way of the antique decor corporate with items sourced from Palm Seashore sellers comparable to Circa Who and Display Pony. Should you’re a maximalist, the closing is tips on how to cross: Your optic is continuously scanning for untouched treasures, from the leaf-print Schumacher Hospitality bedspreads to the lounge’s monkey chandelier by way of Mario Lopez Torres to the 40-plus items of artwork, with works by way of Brock DeBoer, Melo Porter, and Ron Giusti. I beloved the portray of colourful butterflies by way of the Michigan-based Hope Olson and the poolside Colony scene, a painted {photograph} by way of Lia Burke Libaire. Above the mattress in the principle bed room? A sculptural form of blown glass drops by way of Seth Fairweather.

Meals and Drink

A part of the Brandnew York to Palm Seashore migration comprises Swifty’s, the Colony’s marquee eating place. The Long island people spot will have shuttered in 2016, however it has discovered a untouched hire on week right here, with a couple of personalities and moods, relying upon the while of the age. It may be at ease on a weekday breakfast (the cereal-crusted French toast is a spotlight), convivial over a weekend brunch when the cocktails get flowing, and extra formal at dinner, particularly if you select to sit down within the air-conditioned indoors, the place there’s a round bar branch, velvet banquettes, and grasscloth-covered partitions adorned with palm timber.

Tom Whitaker, the English-born govt chef, has crafted a menu that deals just a little of the whole lot, and the parts are beneficiant. Signature dishes come with the hefty cobb salad, overwhelmed avocado on toasted nine-grain toast, completely dry Maryland crab desserts, and the decadent bacon-wrapped meatloaf, which we shared with all of the desk. Those American classics are balanced with the extra eclectic, world fare, together with Chef Tom’s “British” fish and chips; roast cauliflower, coconut, and pepper curry; and beer-braised birria beef and cheese empanadas. Get dressed accordingly in the event you’re going for dinner, and reservations are extremely really helpful, given the forged native turnout.

Head to the Purple Paradise Cafe, simply off the principle foyer, for a blind sandwich, smoothie, or morning pastry and occasional run. Our favorites? The Greek salad, which had simply the correct amount of feta cheese; the grilled rooster panini with solar hard tomato and pesto; and the comfortable chocolate chip cookies. For a blind afternoon drink, we additionally opposed by way of the lined bar at the back of the pond, which has a handful of high-top tables and low-level seating spilling out onto the garden.

Location

The wonderful thing about the Colony is that this is a shorten move to Pam Seashore’s expansive, white sand coastline, which by no means feels overcrowded. We worn the antique crimson Land Rover Defender 100, or Seashore Runner, parked out entrance, as a trip to whisk us over. As soon as there, a useful seashore butler arrange pink-and-white striped chairs and took our lunch sequence, handing over meals from the Purple Paradise Cafe and aqua in a Yeti cooler. Since maximum visitors choose to hold by way of the principle pond, this was once an finest possibility at the days we would have liked a modest extra privateness. And the Atlantic waves had been calmness enough quantity for swimming.

Motorcycles are distant to borrow for using up and unwell the 14-mile-long, 4-square-mile barrier island, which is fantastically maintained. One of the branch’s easiest eating places, together with Bice, the go-to for brilliant Italian; Le Bilboquet, for French fare and a late-night scene; Renato’s, a vintage since 1987, and Pizza Al Fresco (our favourite spot for a blind dinner, with finest Margherita and cloudy truffle pies) are only a shorten move or automotive trip away. If probably the most lodge’s two Volvo XC90 Inscriptions had been idling on the porte cochère, we might whisk a distant trip to maximise our moment; it additionally is useful if any person to your birthday celebration has mobility demanding situations.

Actions and Reports

Even though it has a smaller footprint than one of the crucial alternative, better Palm Seashore branch motels, the Colony makes up for it with considerate programming that brings visitors in combination, like Sunday bingo, Monday minutiae evening, and shortly, Tuesday mahjong. We beloved that there was once a DJ spinning by way of the pond to stock the temper glorious and upbeat — you’ll be able to be expecting to look one there from Thursday to Sunday at numerous hours. Throughout the season, from the top of October to Would possibly, visitor audio system loose in for “The Living Room Series” for choose conserve signings and tastings; celebrated gallery Voltz Clarke additionally does a pop-up, rotating exhibition of recent items within the Solarium. Should you play games tennis, collect your racquets; visitors can get entry to the within sight Seaview Landscape Tennis Heart, which has seven courts.

After all, there are enough of items to revel in within the higher Palm Seashore branch, together with the Henry Morrison Flagler Museum, housed in Whitehall, the tycoon’s 1902 mansion; West Palm Seashore’s Norton Museum of Artwork, which has over 8,200 works and a brilliant sculpture grassland with items by way of Jenny Holzer and Keith Haring; and the fashion designer stores of Significance Road and Royal Poinciana Plaza. In case your tastes incline extra towards antique, head to West Palm Seashore’s Vintage Row and Design District. For kid-friendly sights, the Cox Science Heart and Aquarium and the Palm Seashore Zoo and Conservation Nation do business in simple, welcome breaks.

Accessibility

The Colony has one ADA-compliant visitor room and all family areas are obtainable.

Getting the Maximum Price Out of Your Keep

We worn Icon Chauffeured Products and services to get to and from the airport; they had been advised and courteous. The lodge is a part of the Virtuoso community, which deals early arrival and leaving, in accordance with availability, complimentary breakfast, a $100 credit score, a welcome amenity, and a complimentary improve.