Things to do near Lantana

"The honest answer to what there is to do near Lantana is: not a huge amount inside the town itself, and a great deal within a short drive of it. Lantana is small. What it has is a town beach, a nature preserve and one of the largest county parks in Palm Beach County right on its edge.

Here is what is actually there, all of it verified and none of it invented for flavour.

The water

Municipal Beach Park is the Town of Lantana's own oceanfront park. The Town runs an Ocean Rescue Division, so it is a staffed municipal beach rather than an unguarded access point. It is the reason a lot of people choose Lantana over places further inland at the same price.

The Lantana Nature Preserve at 400 East Ocean Avenue is the town's other water-adjacent space, though a very different one. It sits on reclaimed land and offers a short loop of accessible brick path, boardwalk and concrete trail through coastal hammock and mangrove habitat. No pets and no restrooms. It is a twenty-minute walk, not an afternoon, and it is the kind of place you end up going to regularly rather than once.

The big park

John Prince Memorial Park is the anchor for this whole part of the county. It runs to more than seven hundred acres, including several hundred acres of lake.

What is actually in it:

• Nature trails and a bicycle path

• Fishing piers

• Boat launch ramps, plus canoe and kayak launches

• A campground

• A dog park

• Disc golf

• Ball fields and courts

• Picnic pavilions

It has entrances on 6th Avenue South, Lake Worth Road and South Congress Avenue. It is operated by Palm Beach County Parks & Recreation.

If you have a dog, a kayak or a bike, this is the single biggest reason to live on this side of the county.

Eating and drinking

Old Key Lime House, at 300 East Ocean Avenue, is a local independent waterfront restaurant. It occupies the Lyman house, built in 1889, which Palm Beach County History Online documents at that address. It is the most recognisable place in town.

The standard caveat applies and we will keep repeating it: restaurants change owners, hours and concepts. Confirm before you plan around any of them, including this one.

Beyond the town line, you have the full range of Lake Worth Beach's downtown to the north and Boynton Beach to the south, both easily reachable on Dixie Highway or Federal Highway.

Everyday errands

Not glamorous, but it is what daily life actually consists of.

• Publix at the Lantana Shopping Center, 1589 Lantana Road

• Publix at the Lantana Plaza Shopping Center, 5970 South Jog Road — the western option

• Winn-Dixie at the Lantana Village Shopping Center, 1491 South Dixie Highway

Three grocery anchors on three different roads means you are rarely fighting traffic in one direction to buy milk.

Libraries

Two of them, run by two different organisations, which catches out new residents.

The Lantana Public Library at 205 West Ocean Avenue belongs to the Town. The Lantana Road Branch at 4020 Lantana Road belongs to the Palm Beach County Library System. Different cards, different rules.

What is a short drive away

Lantana's real advantage is position rather than its own size. Being central in the county means the rest of it is reachable without a commitment.

Named roads, no drive times, because a minute-count is never true for everybody:

• Hypoluxo Road and Lantana Road both have their own I-95 interchanges

• Military Trail runs north and south through the middle of the county

• North on I-95 to Okeechobee Boulevard for downtown West Palm Beach

• Dixie Highway and Federal Highway run the coastal route north and south

Downtown West Palm Beach, the Lake Worth Beach downtown, Delray Beach's Atlantic Avenue and Boynton Beach are all on that list.

The honest summary

If you want a town with a dense nightlife and restaurant scene inside its own borders, Lantana is not it, and you should know that before you buy rather than after.

If you want a staffed town beach, a nature preserve you can walk before work, and a seven-hundred-acre county park on your doorstep — with the rest of Palm Beach County a straightforward drive on named roads — it is a strong position.

Looking at the area?

Call 561-704-0091 or book at nationalhousesearch.com/schedule.

Read next: living in Lantana, schools, shopping and daily life, and the Lantana buyer's guide. For the new-construction option in town, see Everton.

Seasonal reality

Two things about this area that nobody puts in a brochure and everybody notices in their first year.

Summer is the off season, not the busy one. The beach and the parks are at their emptiest in July and August because of the heat. If you like a beach you can park at, that is a feature.

Winter is when everything fills. Traffic on I-95 and Federal Highway is noticeably heavier from roughly the start of the year, and restaurant waits get longer. Anyone telling you the roads are always clear has not lived here through a season.

Neither of these is a reason to buy or not buy. They are a reason to visit at two different times of year before you decide, which very few buyers actually do.

What to do on a first visit

If you are coming to look at homes and want to understand the area rather than just the house, a sensible half day looks like this.

Start at John Prince Memorial Park in the morning, because it is the thing most likely to change your mind about the area in a good way. Walk the Lantana Nature Preserve next — it is short, and it tells you what the coastal habitat here actually looks like. Then Municipal Beach Park. Eat on East Ocean Avenue. Drive Hypoluxo Road and Lantana Road to both I-95 interchanges so you can feel the access for yourself.

That sequence tells you more than any article, including this one.

Common Questions

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