With its private beach and all the fun activities available, the Breakers Hotel is a family vacation resort. The hotel also has great venues, lots of amenities, and an experienced event planning staff to create memorable destination weddings and successful business meetings. This review of the Breakers Hotel in Palm Beach, Florida will provide detailed information to help you plan your stay.
Accommodation type: 5-star hotel
No. of Rooms & Suites: 540
Pricing: starts at $699 for a guest room, $1,580 for a suite, and $1,740 for a club room.
High season: Spring break and during the summer school break.
Nearest airport: Palm Beach International Airport
Suitable for: Family vacations, destination weddings, and business meetings.
Awards:
- Travel & Leisure World’s Best
- Forbes 5 Star Award
- Condé Nast Gold List
- AAA 5 Diamond Award
- Wine Spectator Award
Accommodations
The Breakers Hotel features Italian Renaissance style architecture. It sits on the beach side of the grounds that was once occupied by the Royal Poinciana Hotel. The Royal Poinciana was built on the Lake Worth Lagoon side of the property in 1893 by railroad tycoon, Henry Flagler. It was for the purpose of increasing his railroad passenger business after he extended his Florida East Coast Railway to West Palm Beach.
The Royal Poinciana was the largest wooden structure in the world at that time. It had 1,700 employees, room for 2,000 guests, and more than three miles of hallways. Amusingly, that resulted in the bellboys delivering messages and packages by bicycle. However, the Royal Poinciana lost popularity and got demolished in 1935. Guests at the Royal Poinciana asked for rooms on the breakers side. So in 1896, Flagler built the Palm Beach Inn on the beach.
Renamed The Breakers in 1901, it burned down and was rebuilt both in 1903 and 1925. After the second fire, caused by an electric curling iron, the hotel was built of concrete and modeled after the Villa Medici in Rome. Alexander Bonanno painted the ceiling with a beautiful design. Today, the hotel and grounds cover 140 acres.
Facilities
The Breakers offers a choice of guest rooms, suites, and club rooms. Laundry service is available to all guests.
For your dining pleasure, the Breakers offers a choice of nine restaurants plus in-room dining.
- MF
- Flagler Steakhouse
- Seafood Bar
- Echo
- The Italian Restaurant
- The Circle
- The Beach Club Restaurant
- Ocean House
- The Surf Break
The Breakers offers more water fun than just the beach, four pools, and five whirlpools. Check out their full range of water activities.
Other amenities for families include Camp Breakers with day and night sessions for kids. In addition, they have a Family Entertainment Center with an indoor play area, a toddler’s room, an arcade and video lounge, outdoor playground, and a basketball court. The hotel also has 25 furnished, daytime, poolside bungalows with refrigerators, safes, private patios, full bathrooms with showers, flat screen TVs, and concierge service.
Golfers can hit the links with a choice of two courses and the golf academy. Alexander H. Findlay designed the Ocean Course in 1896. However, it was redesigned by Brian Silva in 2000. The Breakers Rees Jones®Course was designed in 1968 and then redesigned in 2004.
Other activities offered by the hotel include golf and tennis clinics, an indoor-outdoor Ocean Fitness center with over 60 weekly classes, and a 24-hour fitness center. In addition, guest can take advantage of the excellent indoor-outdoor, full-service Spa.
For destination wedding and reception venues at the Breakers Hotel, you can choose a courtyard, a ballroom, or the beach. For business meetings, you have a choice of spaces for small to large groups. In the case of either type of event, the staff can help plan and oversee every detail of the event. That includes seating, timing, lighting, activities and catering.
Complimentary Activities
The Breakers Hotel offers a private beach, four pools a hot tub, ten lighted Har-tru tennis courts, a 24-hour fitness center, and a business center. All rooms have flat screen televisions, DVD players, in-room movies, bathrobes and slippers, toiletries, a hair dryer, an electronic safe, a minibar, local calls, a newspaper (upon request), and high-speed Wi-Fi.
The suites have wet bars and pullout sofas. In addition, guests in the club rooms have access to a private lounge and terrace. They also offer a free breakfast.
Travel Options
The Palm Beach International Airport (PBI) is 6.2 miles and 15 minutes from the hotel. From the terminal, go west on James L Turnage Boulevard. Follow I-95 to FL-704 E/Okeechobee Boulevard. From Okeechobee Boulevard, take Royal Park Bridge to Royal Palm Way. Turn left onto South County Road.
Main Attractions around Breakers Hotel
The Breakers have made a commitment to protecting and preserving the environment. As part of their green initiatives, they offer special tours and activities to teach guests about the plants and animals in the area. In addition, they are willing to show guests what they can do to impact the environment in a positive way. They also provide bicycle rentals and information on tours and more water fun in the area.
The Flager Museum
The Flagler Museum is a five-minute walk from the Breakers. The museum was Whitehall, the estate of Henry Flagler, railroad baron and original owner of the Breakers. The museum focuses on the contributions of Henry Flagler to Florida’s development, the importance of the expansion of the Florida East Coast Railway, the engineering feat of the Over-sea Railroad to Key West, and the Gilded Age from 1865 to 1929. The Flagler Museum is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM and on Sunday from 12:00 PM to 5:00 PM. Visitors usually spend 1.5 hours here. So, prepare for a lengthy visit.
Address: 1 Whitehall Way, Palm Beach, Florida
Church of Bethesda by the Sea
The Episcopal Church of Bethesda by the Sea, established in 1889, is the oldest church in Palm Beach. However, the current building came to be in 1925. Donald and Melania Trump got married here in 2005. In 2013, Michael Jordan and Yvette Prieto tied the knot at the same location. You can tour the church from September through May and each fourth Sunday of the month. In the summer, the tour becomes available at 11:15 AM the fourth Sunday of the month. The church is just down the street from the Breakers.
Address: 141 South County Road, Palm Beach, Florida
Final Words
The Breakers Hotel is a complete Florida vacation resort with a private beach, four pools, daytime poolside bungalows, two golf courses, tennis courts, two fitness centers, a spa, and nine restaurants. It offers additional water fun and activities for families. So, plan your Florida vacation at the Breakers now. It also has great facilities and amenities for destination weddings and business meetings. You can contact the event planning staff for help with your wedding or business meeting. For another excellent option in Florida, make sure to check out the Pelican Grand Beach Resort in Fort Lauderdale. If you have any questions or have been to the hotel and would like to share your experience, please add your questions or comments.