Things to Do in Delray Beach, FL

The Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens

The Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens sits on 200 acres that farmer and philanthropist George Sukeji Morikami donated to Palm Beach County in 1973, specifically to preserve the history of the Yamato Colony -- a group of Japanese farmers led by Jo Sakai who settled in the area in the early 1900s hoping to grow pineapples and other crops. The colony didn't survive economically, but Morikami's donation turned its memory into a real, ongoing institution: six distinct landscaped gardens across nearly a mile of walking paths, with koi-filled ponds, bamboo groves, bonsai trees, and rock gardens. It's a genuinely distinctive attraction for a South Florida beach city -- not a generic "botanical garden" but a specific piece of Japanese-American agricultural and cultural history made physical.

This page does not state current admission prices or hours, since those change and weren't independently confirmed for this build -- confirm current details directly with the museum before visiting.

Pineapple Grove Arts District

Pineapple Grove, centered along NE 2nd Avenue north of Atlantic Avenue, takes its name from the pineapple-farming past of the surrounding area. After decades of commercial activity from the 1920s through the 1950s and a decline by the late 1980s, the district was formally revitalized starting with the Pineapple Grove Main Street Project in 1996, following the opening of its first gallery in 1994; by 1998, more than a dozen studios and galleries had settled there. Today it's a real, walkable arts district with murals, sculptures, independent galleries, and studios alongside small businesses -- a genuine complement to Atlantic Avenue's more restaurant-and-retail-focused stretch, not a duplicate of it.

Old School Square

Old School Square is a five-acre arts and cultural campus built around three historic school buildings that a citizen task force saved from demolition in the late 1980s, raising more than $7 million to acquire the Swinton Avenue property. It's listed on the National Register of Historic Places and functions today as a cultural venue with an auditorium and grounds used for community events. Worth knowing: the campus went through a real, documented governance dispute between the city and the nonprofit that ran it from 2021 to 2023, formally settled by a March 2023 city commission vote -- current programming and management arrangements should be confirmed directly with the venue or the city before planning a visit around a specific event.

The Delray Municipal Beach

Delray Municipal Beach, at the eastern end of Atlantic Avenue where it meets A1A, is a roughly mile-long public beach that has been named among the "Top Public Beaches" in the southeastern United States by Travel Holiday magazine, per local historical coverage. Its history goes back further than most visitors realize: the Orange Grove House of Refuge, built in 1876 by the U.S. Life Saving Service, is described as the first known building in Delray Beach and was used by the historic "Barefoot Mailman" postal carriers on their overnight rests. The beach also carries a documented shipwreck story -- the S.S. Inchulva was wrecked by a hurricane on September 11, 1903, with its broken sections scattered at the beach's south end.

A short distance south, Atlantic Dunes Park, one block north of Linton Boulevard on A1A, offers a boardwalk and nature trail through a dune system, along with metered parking, a pavilion, restrooms, and picnic tables, and is lifeguard-supervised by the city's Ocean Rescue Division -- a quieter, more natural complement to the main municipal beach.

Golf: Lakeview Golf Club and Private Options

For golfers, Lakeview Golf Club is a real, city-owned public course at 1200 Dover Road -- a par-60, 18-hole executive course dating to 1972, with back tees measuring 3,006 yards and forward tees at 2,765 yards, commonly described as well-suited to beginners, senior golfers, and juniors given its executive-length layout. Beyond Lakeview, Delray Beach also has multiple private club courses, including Gleneagles Country Club's Victory Course, Mizner Country Club, Seagate Country Club, St. Andrews Club, and The Little Club, per regional golf-course directories -- none of which are open to the public without membership or a member's invitation, unlike Lakeview.

What This Page Doesn't Cover

This page covers the destinations with the most independently confirmed, specific, sourced history: the Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens, Pineapple Grove Arts District, Old School Square, and the Delray Municipal Beach/Atlantic Dunes Park area. It does not attempt a comprehensive list of every shop, gallery, or seasonal event in the city, since that level of detail changes too frequently for a static page to track reliably -- the Greater Delray Beach Chamber of Commerce and the city's own Parks and Recreation calendar are better current sources for day-to-day and seasonal event listings. See this site's Seasonal Recreation and Boating & Water Access pages for additional, separately covered activities.