Boca Raton – The Spanish city in the heart of the Gold Coast
Boca Raton, also known as Boca, is one of the legendary living spots for sun migrants in Florida. The city has become a cultural staple, appearing in popular culture as a main migration destination for Jewish retirees from the New York metropolitan area who come to enjoy the sunshine and lifestyle of Florida. Boca is a new city, without a city center but with several interesting attractions and mainly lots of residential development projects alongside canals, lakes, and the Atlantic Ocean coast.
How much time should you spend in Boca Raton?
It's recommended to dedicate half a day to explore Boca Raton.
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What must you see and do in Boca Raton? ????
- Sports memorabilia at the Sports Immortals Museum
- Turtles and a giant aquarium at the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center
- The historic pseudo-Spanish village of the Boca Raton Resort
- The charming beach of Red Reef Park
- Shopping at Plaza Real and art at Boca Raton's Art Museum
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What is Boca Raton?
Boca Raton is one of the most well-known cities on the Gold Coast. It's nestled halfway between Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach, known as a top living destination for retirees flocking to Florida with the wave of sunshine migration.
- Boca officially has around a hundred thousand residents, but it's an integral part of the massive Miami metropolitan area, connected with surrounding communities like Pompano Beach to the south and Delray Beach to the north.
- The city's name means 'Rat's Mouth,' named after the Boca Raton Lake on whose shore it sits. The Spaniards gave it this name due to the rat infestation that overwhelmed their ships when anchored.
- The city was founded in 1924, making it quite old compared to the surrounding Gold Coast cities. This part of Florida has seen a building boom in the past sixty years, and everything about it shines with a fresh and vibrant feel.
- The city's construction is associated with Addison Mizner, an architect from a family of diplomats who designed the city with noticeable Mediterranean and Spanish influences.
- The city's roots began with the Boca Raton resort that Mizner built, which then grew into the village of Boca Raton and eventually the entire city.
- Since its construction, Boca has become a popular spot for both vacation and residence. Many wealthy individuals built their winter homes here, and a large number of people started moving to the city beginning in the 1930s.
- In recent decades, the city has developed as a preferred residence for elderly Jews from the New York metropolitan area, with numerous senior living projects being built. This migration is part of American popular culture, exemplified by the fictional "Del Boca Vista" community where Jerry Seinfeld's parents live in the legendary series.
Map of Boca Raton
How to get to Boca Raton?
How to fly to Boca Raton?
Miami International Airport (MIA) – Miami International Airport is the gateway to Florida and the Gold Coast. It is accessible from almost every corner of the world and the US, including a very convenient direct line from Ben Gurion Airport.
The massive airport has three terminals and 130 departure gates. The largest operator at the field is American Airlines, which has dozens of regular lines within the USA, as well as to most of the Caribbean islands and Central and South America. The airport is a 40-minute drive from Boca Raton.
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Fort Lauderdale–Hollywood International Airport (FLL) – Fort Lauderdale's airport is well-connected with domestic flights within the USA. The airport has 4 terminals and mainly serves flights of American low-cost carriers. There are also flights from the field to Canada and many destinations in the Caribbean islands. It is located right in the center of the city, a bit south, about a 5-minute drive from Las Olas Boulevard. The travel time from Fort Lauderdale Airport to Boca Raton is about half an hour.
Boca Raton is a city without a distinct center. The three main roads in the city, like in all of the Gold Coast cities, are the I-95 highway, Route 1, and the barrier island road A1A.
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How to plan a trip route in Boca Raton?
The trip in Boca Raton exclusively relies on a car, driving between the attractions that are worth visiting and also simply enjoying a road trip.
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- You can combine your city tour with a linear route along the Gold Coast. The city's location between Miami and Fort Lauderdale to the south on the way to Palm Beach to the north and onwards to Disney World and Cape Canaveral, makes it a convenient stop and short trip destination.
- It's worth driving on the A1A coastal road in Boca, known as Ocean Boulevard (as in many of the cities the road passes through).
- Most of the sites are along Ocean Boulevard on the barrier island, such as the Boca Raton Resort by Lake Boca Raton and Gumbo Limbo.
- The Boca Raton Museum of Art is located on Federal Highway, Route 1 axis within the city.
- It's also worth dropping by the Lynn University campus, west of the I-95.
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All the Attractions in Boca Raton ????
The Boca Raton Resort
The Boca Raton resort is the foundation of the city's entire development. In the early 1920s, Addison Mizner planned a large vacation village on the western shore of Lake Boca Raton. Much of Mizner's Mediterranean village plan was not completed, but what was built became the base for the modern settlement of the city, which then developed rapidly.
Mizner's vacation village was a Spanish-style resort that still preserves the architectural charm of the past. Even today, the resort is active, and you can vacation there or simply go for a stroll. At the back of the resort is a huge golf course, built on the park Mizner planned as part of the resort.
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Address: E Camino Real, 501, Boca Raton
Boca Raton Museum of Art
The Boca Raton Museum of Art is located where one might call the city center. It's situated at the end of Plaza Real, which is a kind of urban boulevard with Spanish influence, lined with shops and restaurants. In the heart of the boulevard is a green section with rows of palm trees. The boulevard is home to what's known as Mizner Park, and at its end is the amphitheater named after him, Mizner Park Amphitheater. At the end of the boulevard, on the path to the theater, stands a tall Spanish-style clock tower.
The museum is located close to the amphitheater. It opened in 1950 as the exhibition space for the local artists' guild. Over the years, the museum received several private legacies and accumulated an impressive collection of European and American art. The museum's collection includes paintings by Henri Matisse, Edgar Degas, Marc Chagall, and more. The collection also features quite a few major American artists.
Address: Plaza Real, 501, Boca Raton
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Gumbo Limbo Nature Center
The popular Gumbo Limbo visitor center is located in Red Reef Park on the barrier island in the northern part of the city. It's a fantastic spot for a family outing, where you can connect with the nature and wildlife of the tropical coast. At the education center, you can observe the care of sea turtles at the on-site turtle rehabilitation center and see local fish species in a large aquarium. From the center, you can venture onto trails through the large and shady mangrove forest of the reserve.
Address: N Ocean Blvd. 1801, Boca Raton
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The Beaches of Boca Raton
The barrier island of Boca Raton offers great beaches along its length. The beaches include urban recreational areas as well as the beach of the Red Reef Nature Reserve. The most tourist-developed beach is that of the South Barrier Island, at the outlet of Lake Boca Raton to the ocean, known as the Boca Raton Inlet. On this beach, there are several resorts right on the shore. North of the resorts, there's the beautiful natural beach of South Beach Park, a cool sandy beach backed by the green park. Further north is the natural beach of the Red Reef Nature Reserve.
Sports Immortals Museum
The innovative museum is located on the Federal Highway (Route 1) in the northern part of Boca. It's a unique museum that combines the intriguing American passion for collecting sports memorabilia with the concept of halls of fame, which is also common in America.
The museum has an enormous collection of historic sports items, mainly related to American sports like baseball, basketball, football, and hockey. You can also see the soccer jersey of Brazilian giant Pelé, Babe Ruth's cap, and more. The collection contains numerous rare cards, mostly from the era when they began to be collected with Marlboro cigarette boxes.
Address: N Federal Hwy. 6830, Boca Raton
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