Exclusive Palm Beach: Luxury Without Blowing the Bank

Palm Beach, Florida has a long tradition as a magnet of wealthy scions, celebrities, and politicians, offering, as the Palm Beach County slogan puts it, "The Best of Everything," including gorgeous beaches, top-notch boutiques, immaculate streets, sprawling mansions and beautiful people.

Although it's located on the southeastern edge of Florida, only 45 miles north of Fort Lauderdale, Palm Beach is a world away from the party town atmosphere most Florida beach cities are known for.

Situated on a barrier island with miles of pristine beaches, today's classy and refined Palm Beach was hacked out of Florida's jungles in the late 1800s and founded as a retreat for the country's wealthy.  Since then it has served as a summer home for affluent elite families like the du Ponts, Posts, Dodges, Whitneys and Vanderbilts.  The Kennedy Compound is located here, as is Mar-A-Lago, the mansion now owned by Donald Trump. 

The city is kept immaculately clean by strict building codes and an army of service workers, who toil through the night to maintain the landscaping without blocking roadways or interrupting views of the white beaches and turquoise ocean during daylight hours.

There are nearly 800 more women than men living in Palm Beach and there's a long history of powerful women-from Marjorie Merriweather Post to Lilly Pulitzer-who infused the town with art and music and made philanthropy one of the area's biggest businesses (there are more nonprofit organizations in Palm Beach than any other city of its size).

Unfortunately, most of us can't afford a second home there (the average home on the barrier island costs $4.5 million dollars) or even a short vacation at local exclusive luxury hotels like Ritz-Carlton, The Colony or The Breakers.  Until now.

If you take advantage of current conditions, you'll see that the recession and off-season prices have colluded to make Palm Beach surprisingly affordable.

During the summer season lull, even Palm Beach's luxury hotels offer steep discounts and special packages and many of them are surprisingly kid friendly.

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