Museums and Culture
- Approximately 4 miles south of Highland Beach is the Boca Museum of Art in Boca Raton. Immerse yourself in the museum's rotating and permanent collections, including European paintings and sculptures, American art, photography, West African art and pre-Columbian art, among others. The Seaboard Air Line Railway station, built in 1926, houses the South Florida Railway Museum in Deerfield Beach, 7 miles south of Highland Beach. Three model train layouts run through the historic station, where visitors can wander among railroad memorabilia and buy their own at vendors tables. Finally, head to Boynton Beach, 11 miles north of Highland Beach, and visit the Verde Classics Car Museum, which displays and even sells fully restored cars, motorcycles and mopeds and automobilia from the 1950s through 1970s.
Nature Exhibits
- Open since 1988, Butterfly World in Coconut Creek, 10 miles southwest of Highland Beach, is the realization of its founders' lifelong passion for butterflies. The 10-acre park is the largest butterfly park in the world, and is also home to a butterfly research center, the largest free-flight hummingbird aviary in the country and a lorikeet encounter where visitors can view the colorful parrot species. Five miles north of Highland Beach in Delray Beach are the Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens, whose six gardens are the highlight of the cultural center. Visitors can expand their cultural knowledge through the center's educational programs, exhibits and seasonal events.
Parks and Recreation
- Take a retreat from the city and head a few miles outside of Highland Beach to Patch Reef Park in Boca Raton. The 55-acre park features fitness trails that wander through the tree-filled park, as well as baseball diamonds, pavilions, a community center, tennis courts and the Pirates Cove playground for children. Ten miles southwest of Highland Beach is Tradewinds Park and Stables in Coconut Creek, a massive 627-acre park and horse-riding facility in Broward County. Horse stables, riding trails, a disc-golf course, a fishing lake, athletic fields, playgrounds and an educational farm mean this park has something everyone will enjoy seeing.
Historical Treasures
- Take in a taste of a bygone era at the Yesteryear Village at the South Florida Fairgrounds in West Palm Beach, about 30 minutes north of Highland Beach. The site features original and reconstructed homes, shops and schools as they would have been in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Guided tours of the building are by appointment. Another historical gem, the Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse in Jupiter, is roughly 45 minutes north of Highland Beach. Built in the 1860s, the lighthouse is open for guests to climb to its heights, and the lighthouse grounds also feature a history museum inside restored World War II Navy housing quarters, a lighthouse keeper's workshop and a gift shop.
