[RickFLM4]

Originally Posted by dreamingat30fps

It has become unbearable. I live in Boynton and honestly I can’t even stand that. It’s now like snowbird season ALL the time. I use to go to the ave in the before times for happy hour and it would be dead. I could literally park anywhere on the street no problem. Now at 3pm on a weekday it’s packed!

Personally I would still go for lunch or happy hour vs dinner time.

Originally Posted by DocL

The parking is a disaster. On the rare occasion we go, I park a few blocks south and make sure I'm carrying my P228. On the weekends I'll go by boat, and dock at the public dock just north of the bridge, and take a walk up the Ave.

I have dinner reservations to try Cut 432 coming up. You guys are making me re-think it or maybe I should Uber in from Wellington, which is not cheap.

[tdott]

Originally Posted by dreamingat30fps

I live in Boynton and honestly I can’t even stand that. It’s now like snowbird season ALL the time. I use to go to the ave in the before times for happy hour and it would be dead. I could literally park anywhere on the street no problem. Now at 3pm on a weekday it’s packed!

I doubt it's the snowbirds that pack downtown Delray during prime time, it's mostly locals and people that live in the area from what I've seen when there.

Almost everywhere now seems to have gotten over run with people during busy times, busier than pre-pandemic it seems to me. If you want to avoid that you'd have stay away from the popular places and go during off peak times. I guess it's all the additional people that have moved down here.

[Darth One]

Delray is nice - i go there a lot - but I'd describe it as more of a place for dinner and a night on the town, not a vacation spot.

OP, what kind of shopping for wife are you talking about? If you're looking in the luxury goods/designer category, all of the key stores are in Miami Design District. If you decide to go there, also swing by Wynwood, which is right next to it.

[dreamingat30fps]

Originally Posted by tdott

I doubt it's the snowbirds that pack downtown Delray during prime time, it's mostly locals and people that live in the area from what I've seen when there.

Almost everywhere now seems to have gotten over run with people during busy times, busier than pre-pandemic it seems to me. If you want to avoid that you'd have stay away from the popular places and go during off peak times. I guess it's all the additional people that have moved down here.

My point is before covid during the summer it was dead. Then in winter when the snowbirds come it would get packed. Now it’s packed like winter ALL the time. I don’t know if they are snow birds or new locals or what. Even during off times it’s packed!

[tdott]

Originally Posted by dreamingat30fps

My point is before covid during the summer it was dead. Then in winter when the snowbirds come it would get packed. Now it’s packed like winter ALL the time. I don’t know if they are snow birds or new locals or what. Even during off times it’s packed!

Yea, I think that is all of Florida right now.

[Tommy-G]

Originally Posted by Darth One

Delray is nice - i go there a lot - but I'd describe it as more of a place for dinner and a night on the town, not a vacation spot.

OP, what kind of shopping for wife are you talking about? If you're looking in the luxury goods/designer category, all of the key stores are in Miami Design District. If you decide to go there, also swing by Wynwood, which is right next to it.

Not really luxury items, more boutique things like Lincoln Road in Miami was back years ago.

[Darth One]

Originally Posted by Tommy-G

Not really luxury items, more boutique things like Lincoln Road in Miami was back years ago.

Gotcha. Well, Lincoln Road is a shell of its former self, unfortunately. Maybe others will chime in, but I think Wynwood is one of your best bets to find things that are unique and local. If you go to a mall like Boca Town Square, you'll just get the mall brands.

Or…you can go to the monolith of US malls - Sawgrass Mills in Sunrise. But be warned that it will take more than a day to get through the entire thing

[dreamingat30fps]

Originally Posted by RickFLM4

I have dinner reservations to try Cut 432 coming up. You guys are making me re-think it or maybe I should Uber in from Wellington, which is not cheap.

If you have reservations you should be good. There is a large parking garage on 1st St and 2nd Ave if there is no street parking. It’s a little walk to Cut 432 from there but not bad. Was actually just there tonight around 7pm… every single restaurant was packed. Liked over capacity with a waiting list probably. I was by myself so I was good with a bar seat, nope, every single bar was completely full.

Ended up at my go to ramen place that is just off the ave and usually doesn’t have many people (not sure why it’s pretty good, maybe too hot for ramen). Still had more people than I ever see there, but had some tables and bar space. Even Anthonys which is just fucking pizza and is way off the ave was totally packed, inside, outside, bar, everything. I dunno how people enjoy that… then again they are probably all from NY and NJ and probably think the place is empty.

[DocL]

Originally Posted by RickFLM4

I have dinner reservations to try Cut 432 coming up. You guys are making me re-think it or maybe I should Uber in from Wellington, which is not cheap.

Cut 432 is awesome. Just give yourself time to find parking and avoid driving on the main Ave. I usually park west near the tennis courts and walk a little bit. It's safe there.

[Tommy-G]

Cut 432 looks real good

[RickFLM4]

Originally Posted by Tommy-G

Cut 432 looks real good

Avalon also on our list to try in Delray assuming I can deal with the traffic and parking when we go to Cut 432.

[Tommy-G]

Originally Posted by RickFLM4

Avalon also on our list to try in Delray assuming I can deal with the traffic and parking when we go to Cut 432.

That looks excellent as well

[Tommy-G]

As usual, I have flip flopped 327.5 times and I'm leaning towards Naples and Marco Island split or staying in Naples and touring the areas.

Hollywood-I got input that it has gone down hill and kind of shady
West Palm-still up top of the list but didnt look "relaxing" to me. More on the go things like walking/touring and shopping
DelRay-looked like a great area but not much to do from what I could find. Even though I just said I want to relax, Naples seems to have both....the relaxing resort on the beach and then the downtown shops/bars/restaurants.

Anyone have any favorite resorts? Looking between Naples Grande and Edgewater right now.

The old standby is still on deck...Orlando. We have our favorite resort (The Dolphin for relaxing) and then everything else around for fun.

[CarsAndGuitars]

Originally Posted by Tommy-G

As usual, I have flip flopped 327.5 times and I'm leaning towards Naples and Marco Island split or staying in Naples and touring the areas.

Hollywood-I got input that it has gone down hill and kind of shady
West Palm-still up top of the list but didnt look "relaxing" to me. More on the go things like walking/touring and shopping
DelRay-looked like a great area but not much to do from what I could find. Even though I just said I want to relax, Naples seems to have both....the relaxing resort on the beach and then the downtown shops/bars/restaurants.

Anyone have any favorite resorts? Looking between Naples Grande and Edgewater right now.

The old standby is still on deck...Orlando. We have our favorite resort (The Dolphin for relaxing) and then everything else around for fun.

If you want to go out and relax, Delray and West Palm are about a 15-20 min car ride apart. And Ft Lauderdale about 30 mins south of Delray. Boca Raton and Deerfield beach (as well as Pompano and Hollywood) in between Delray and Ft Lauderdale

[Chihuahua]

Originally Posted by CarsAndGuitars

If you want to go out and relax, Delray and West Palm are about a 15-20 min car ride apart. And Ft Lauderdale about 30 mins south of Delray. Boca Raton and Deerfield beach (as well as Pompano and Hollywood) in between Delray and Ft Lauderdale

+1 on Boca Raton, if I were to ever move back to FL I'd consider that area.

[Alpine300zhp]

Originally Posted by Chihuahua

+1 on Boca Raton, if I were to ever move back to FL I'd consider that area.

Really? When was the last time you were in Boca? Today, it is overpacked with cars and people to the point of being ridiculous. I prefer North Palm/Gardens/Jupiter area. Boca and Delray I can't do anymore unless I'm just there for a few hours and then leave.

BTW. It might be a good idea for all of the posters to let readers know that when locals say "The Ave" in Delray that they mean Atlantic Avenue east of I-95 and especially east of Swinton Ave up to A1A.

[dreamingat30fps]

Originally Posted by Tommy-G

As usual, I have flip flopped 327.5 times and I'm leaning towards Naples and Marco Island split or staying in Naples and touring the areas.

Hollywood-I got input that it has gone down hill and kind of shady
West Palm-still up top of the list but didnt look "relaxing" to me. More on the go things like walking/touring and shopping
DelRay-looked like a great area but not much to do from what I could find. Even though I just said I want to relax, Naples seems to have both....the relaxing resort on the beach and then the downtown shops/bars/restaurants.

Anyone have any favorite resorts? Looking between Naples Grande and Edgewater right now.

The old standby is still on deck...Orlando. We have our favorite resort (The Dolphin for relaxing) and then everything else around for fun.

I dunno, whenever people say there is nothing to do I'm like...



I mean you need to define what it is you want to do. I can do stuff pretty much anywhere. Shops/bars/restaurants I don't see how you could ever visit them all. We have like 5 restaurants in NC downtown by where the house is. Maybe 2-3 are open at any given time... more than enough for me. Down here in FL there is a 1000 restaurants and I still tend to eat at the same handful of places.

Now if you want to go hunting or hiking or trout fishing yeah.... probably not much to do in south fl, but stores and restaurants.... that's all we have.

[dreamingat30fps]

Originally Posted by Alpine300zhp

Really? When was the last time you were in Boca? Today, it is overpacked with cars and people to the point of being ridiculous. I prefer North Palm/Gardens/Jupiter area. Boca and Delray I can't do anymore unless I'm just there for a few hours and then leave.

BTW. It might be a good idea for all of the posters to let readers know that when locals say "The Ave" in Delray that they mean Atlantic Avenue east of I-95 and especially east of Swinton Ave up to A1A.

That's all of south fl. We just got back Saturday... Sunday tried to go out for breakfast (around 12 or 1pm) since we had no groceries at the house. Every single place had a fucking line out the door.

BTW on the drive down from NC we got horrible traffic through SC where 95 becomes 2 lanes. I would say 70-80% of all the cars on the road were from up north and it's already fucking April!

[tdott]

Originally Posted by Tommy-G

West Palm-still up top of the list but didnt look "relaxing" to me.

Even though I just said I want to relax, Naples seems to have both....the relaxing resort on the beach and then the downtown shops/bars/restaurants.

Anyone have any favorite resorts? Looking between Naples Grande and Edgewater right now.

The resorts in South Florida are pretty pricey if you were looking for more of a resort style location. Miami has some nice ones but pretty crazy prices at times. Otherwise there is All-Inclusive resort in Port St. Lucie you can check out if that is your thing.

I can see Naples being more slow paced and relaxing out there. I don't have any experience at resorts out there though.

I think there is enough beaches any where in FL where you can just rent a nice place, like maybe an airbnb and just relax/ do beach days, eat out/ order in most of the time and come and go as you please if that is want you want. But you'd probably spend as much as a week in the Caribbean somewhere and get a more worry free all inclusive relaxing experience (imo), so it all depends on what you want.

[CarsAndGuitars]

Originally Posted by Alpine300zhp

Really? When was the last time you were in Boca? Today, it is overpacked with cars and people to the point of being ridiculous. I prefer North Palm/Gardens/Jupiter area. Boca and Delray I can't do anymore unless I'm just there for a few hours and then leave.

BTW. It might be a good idea for all of the posters to let readers know that when locals say "The Ave" in Delray that they mean Atlantic Avenue east of I-95 and especially east of Swinton Ave up to A1A.

Um, I live in Boca. I wasn't suggesting it as a focal point for the OP, but perhaps a night out. I was trying to suggest that Delray is a good home base as there are both quiet and active areas there. Downtown Delray / The Ave are not "too bad" Mon-Wed, and it is central to other nightlife / activities to the north in the Palm Beaches, and to the south in Ft Lauderdale and its suburbs.

And yes I agree, please stay out of Boca.. restaurant reservations are hard enough as it is

[RickFLM4]

Originally Posted by dreamingat30fps

That's all of south fl. We just got back Saturday... Sunday tried to go out for breakfast (around 12 or 1pm) since we had no groceries at the house. Every single place had a fucking line out the door.

BTW on the drive down from NC we got horrible traffic through SC where 95 becomes 2 lanes. I would say 70-80% of all the cars on the road were from up north and it's already fucking April!

That stretch of I-95 in SC really sucks. I got stuck in that last month and expect to get stuck in it again next month. No real way to avoid it expect driving I-75 through Atlanta and NFW to that.

[dreamingat30fps]

Originally Posted by RickFLM4

That stretch of I-95 in SC really sucks. I got stuck in that last month and expect to get stuck in it again next month. No real way to avoid it expect driving I-75 through Atlanta and NFW to that.

It's interesting because I actually drove down the week before by myself (flew back) and had no issues at all. However I drove down on a weekday, maybe Monday or Tuesday where as this time we drove on the weekend. We also got screwed once on a long holiday weekend. So maybe the key is traveling during the week. I was concerned with rush hour traffic, but did not seem to be an issue when I drove by myself.