Lantana Beach

Lantana Beach is a great beach for a long walk. It is long and narrow with a seawall backed by fancy hotels, one with Spanish architecture, turrets, and an abundance of palms. The condos here are not ugly like in other parts of Florida. The water is calm and serene, with little bouncy waves. People swim while others lounge on the hotel chairs set up on the beach. Cafe-goers walk down the wooden steps to the beach and take photos of the sky and sea. Shells line the shore. The sand is pale, clean, and soft. On weekends, families fill the beach with colorful umbrellas, spades, and buckets. You can snorkel near to shore in the crystal clear water and see hundreds of tropical fish gathered around the rocks. We went swimming in February and the water was blissfully warm!

Behind the beach there is a playground with tall slides amidst lovely palms that curve lazily toward the ground.
Just a short walk from the beach is Lantana Nature Preserve, with a cement path that offers a short walk through beautiful jungle along the intracoastal waterway. Definitely check it out!
For a lovely meal under stripey yellow umbrellas right above the blue-green water, eat at Breeze Ocean Kitchen in Eau Palm Beach Resort. 
For a delicious treat, go west over the drawbridge to the 200 block of Ocean Avenue in Lantana town, walk around and grab a pastry at Palm Beach Bakery and Cafe. It's so pleasant to sit outside in the shade at the outdoor tables of this little Finnish bakery watching the world go by. Just north of Lantana Beach, Lake Worth Beach has everything a holiday beach should have: pier, promenade, restaurants on the dune, restaurant on the pier, ice cream shop, and playground with blue-green ocean view.
For a nice 1.5 mile hike on a cool winter day, check out Hypoluxo Scrub Natural Area. It's a seven minute drive south.
From March to September, swimming is risky because of sea lice, small jellyfish that get under your swimsuit or t-shirt and then sting you when pressed. The bigger your clothing in the water, the more you get stung, so don't wear a t-shirt! Sea lice cases, and intensity of reaction, have increased in recent years. Palm Beach County has the most cases, because the Gulf Stream passes closest to the shore here. If you are being stung, you might feel a slight prickly sensation while in the water, but the real reaction will start later, when the jellyfish are pressed under your clothes, when you sit or lie down at the beach.

Directions

Lantana Beach is located where E. Ocean Ave dead ends at the sea, in Lantana. There is a large parking lot where you pay a quarter for 10 minutes. Dune Deck Cafe is located here as well.
Exit Highway 95 at Lantana Rd and head toward the ocean. Turn right on Dixie Hwy and then turn left on Ocean Ave and keep driving until the end. At the end, turn left into the parking lot. You will need a lot of quarters for the meters.
Dune Deck Cafe, 100 N Ocean Blvd, Lantana, FL 33462, call (561) 582-0472.

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