Boca Raton

Boca Raton is a city of 100,000 people (2018) on the east coast of Florida about halfway between West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale. The name boca ratón translates literally as "mouse mouth" (not "rat mouth"), and is believed to derive from a Spanish nautical term for a shallow inlet filled with jagged rocks.

Understand
Boca, as it's known by locals, is a city that was started as the project of one man, the eclectic architect Addison Mizner, who is more than anyone responsible for South Florida's Spanish-inspired architecture. Little of his luxurious plans was built, as he went bankrupt during the Florida real estate collapse of the late 1920s. It was intended to surpass Palm Beach, 30 some miles north, some of whose key mansions were designed by Mizner. Much of downtown was (and is being) built in "Addison Mizner-style" architecture, using distinctive bright orange and more subdued pinks in its Old Spanish theme with a touch of Venice.

Boca's long history of catering to the well-to-do has given it a snobbish reputation, but looking deeper one can find many terrific features that can be enjoyed on any budget. The city is very safe and enjoys a much higher standard of living than many of its neighbors, giving it a well-manicured appearance with many amenities. Moreover, visitors can appreciate the limited nightlife and great beaches any time of year as the city consistently enjoys comfortable weather.

By plane



 * Fort Lauderdale International Airport, large airport 20 miles south of Boca in Fort Lauderdale. This is often a better choice compared to Miami. Shuttles are usually available from airports and taxis are common.
 * Palm Beach International Airport, large airport 20 miles north of Boca.
 * Miami International Airport, Miami (about 45 miles/45 minutes non-rush hour.)

By car

 * Interstate 95 - five exits to Boca Raton are Palmetto Park Road, Glades Road/Spanish River Blvd, Yamato Road, and Congress Avenue.
 * Florida's Turnpike - toll road with lighter traffic and an exit for Boca Raton at Glades Road.
 * US 1, also called Federal Highway, goes through Boca in N-S direction, connecting it to other towns along the coast.
 * A1A - also goes through Boca and other coastal towns, in a scenic route along the ocean.

By bus

 * Palm Tran, Phone number: +1 561-841-4BUS (4287). Palm Beach County's public bus system runs between Palm Beach gardens and the Camino Real Transit center. Route 1 runs between Palm beach Gardens and the Boca Raton Transit center via West Palm Beach.

By rail

 * TriRail (Stations at Hillsboro Blvd., Deerfield Beach and Yamato Road, Boca Raton) goes to Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and West Palm Beach Airports. The TriRail station in Boca Raton is at 680 Yamato Road next to I-95. You can catch the local Palm Tran bus 94 to go downtown. If you need to go to a hotel on the beachfront, you will need to change to the 92 bus at the Camino Real transit station next to South Federal Highway.
 * TriRail (Stations at Hillsboro Blvd., Deerfield Beach and Yamato Road, Boca Raton) goes to Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and West Palm Beach Airports. The TriRail station in Boca Raton is at 680 Yamato Road next to I-95. You can catch the local Palm Tran bus 94 to go downtown. If you need to go to a hotel on the beachfront, you will need to change to the 92 bus at the Camino Real transit station next to South Federal Highway.

By boat
With your own boat, you can get to Boca Raton from the Atlantic Ocean on these routes:
 * Via Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale. This is a port of entry for cruise ships and other commercial vessels.
 * Via Boca Raton Inlet. Vessels can enter Boca Raton through its inlet that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the IntraCoastal Waterway (ICW). Local knowledge is required, as shoaling outside the inlet can limit access at low tide and swift moving currents cause pretty decent swells where the outflow meets the ocean.
 * Via Hillsboro Inlet, south of Boca Raton, between the communities of Hillsboro Beach and Pompano Beach. This inlet was much improved by widening the channel outside the jetties. The widening was extensive, and allows safer approaches into the inlet from more bearings.  The inlet is well marked, and has a dredge on site actively keeping the channel clear by dredging the sand that drifts into all East Coast inlets from the north.  Local knowledge is suggested, as there are reefs to the south and jetties and lots of boat traffic.
 * Via the IntraCoastal Waterway (ICW), which stretches along the East Coast from Maine to Texas. The ICW flows through Boca Raton, and has no fixed bridges across it, just 3 draw bridges that open on schedule and/or on demand.  The bridges across the ICW from North to South are at Spanish River Boulevard, Palmetto Park Road, and Camino Real Drive.

Get around

 * Tri-rail connects to Miami, Hollywood, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm. It is underused and thus runs relatively infrequently.
 * Palm Tran buses serves Boca Raton and the rest of Palm Beach County are available. . Buses run every 20–45 minutes, depending on the route.  The cash fare is $2 per trip.  A one-day unlimited pass is available for $5 from the bus. The 92 bus runs between downtown and the beach between East Palmetto Park Road and Hillsboro Blvd.  The 94 bus runs between downtown and the Boca Raton TriRail station.
 * Delray Scooter Rental, LLC,, . Scooter rentals delivered and picked up for Downtown and Beach areas in Boca Raton and Delray Beach.
 * Royal Airport Transportation Service & Taxi Cab Company - 1901 Dixie Hwy. is a commonly used transportation service in Boca Raton.

Your best bet is to rent a car to get around. Boca Raton is friendly to bicycle traffic, but the public transportation serves a limited portion of the city, and overall it's not a very walkable city outside of the downtown area.

Streets are numbered in a grid with four quadrants (Northwest, Northeast, Southwest, and Southeast) centered on the intersection of Palmetto Park Road (which runs east-west) and Dixie Highway (running north-south). Streets run east-west while avenues run north-south. Addresses within the city generally correspond to the street numbers (the 1900 block of an avenue starts at 19th Street), but outside the city a different county-based numbering system is used which doesn't correspond to the Boca Raton street/avenue numbers (even though some of those numbered streets continue outside the city limits). To add to the confusion, some areas annexed into the city continue to use the county numbering system instead of the city one.

Outdoors
Sports in the area are college-based - no professional sports. Fortunately, Boca Raton is home to a beautiful, beach-themed 30,000-seat college football stadium at Florida Atlantic University called FAU Stadium. FAU and nearby Lynn University also have college basketball arenas; FAU men's basketball is likely to be an especially tough ticket in the 2023–24 season, given that (1) its home of Eleanor R. Baldwin Arena seats less than 3,000 and (2) the Owls return all five starters from a team that made a surprising run to the Final Four (NCAA tournament semifinals) in 2023. Boca Raton is not home to any professional sports teams although pro teams can be found within an hour's drive: Inter Miami CF soccer (15.7 mi), Miami Dolphins football (36.9 mi), Florida Panthers hockey (30.5 mi), Miami Heat basketball (48.1 mi), Miami Marlins baseball (36.9 mi). Also consider the Royal Palm Polo Sports Complex (7.1 mi) where some of the world's top polo players play during the months of (Jan-Apr), as Boca Raton is known as the winter capital. Watching greyhound racing at the Palm Beach Kennel Club (24.4 mi) is also an option; as is the Dania Jai-Alai (29.6 mi) at Dania Beach.

Boca Raton has many golf courses.


 * Intracoastal - tour by boat, during the holidays or for special events, boat tours are available and captains will gladly drive you and your guests down the intercoastal. Tours are also available for sight seeing and a guided one to view celebrity houses from the water.
 * Intracoastal - tour by boat, during the holidays or for special events, boat tours are available and captains will gladly drive you and your guests down the intercoastal. Tours are also available for sight seeing and a guided one to view celebrity houses from the water.
 * Intracoastal - tour by boat, during the holidays or for special events, boat tours are available and captains will gladly drive you and your guests down the intercoastal. Tours are also available for sight seeing and a guided one to view celebrity houses from the water.
 * Intracoastal - tour by boat, during the holidays or for special events, boat tours are available and captains will gladly drive you and your guests down the intercoastal. Tours are also available for sight seeing and a guided one to view celebrity houses from the water.
 * Intracoastal - tour by boat, during the holidays or for special events, boat tours are available and captains will gladly drive you and your guests down the intercoastal. Tours are also available for sight seeing and a guided one to view celebrity houses from the water.

Eat
Boca has a deserved "ritzy" reputation, but good food can be found for a variety of budgets.

Drink
Boca Raton doesn't have a very lively downtown area but interspersed throughout the city are some great bars, from local faves to upscale chains.

A slappy dappy clapper is a really great drink after a long day of golfing. The more a drink in Boca sounds like only a dad on vacation would order it, the better it is.

Bars

 * College Bars
 * College Bars
 * College Bars
 * College Bars
 * College Bars
 * College Bars
 * College Bars

Go next

 * Deerfield Beach is just to the south.
 * Delray Beach, just north of Boca Raton is a sleepy beachfront town with beautiful beaches and a hip inland downtown district with good restaurants.
 * Miami for sports events, fine dining, people watching and more.
 * West Palm Beach is not far away and has its own venues for entertainment.
 * Palm Beach is Boca Raton's predecessor, a half hour's drive up the coast. Great for window-shopping and ogling the spectacular, palatial mansions on the waterfront.