The North End's daily rhythm on the Lake Trail has always pointed one direction. You head north from the Sailfish Club bypass, thread past Reef Road, and reward yourself with the wide-open air at Annie's Dock or the pier at Sea Isles Estates. The south end of the trail was a place you passed through, not one you finished at.
That equation shifted on January 2 of this year. For residents who have run the same loop for a decade, the case for reversing it is now worth making.
What Actually Changed at the South Turnaround
The Royal Poinciana Plaza has quietly become the trail's first true finish line on the water. Tutto Mare, the Mediterranean concept from the Tutto il Giorno restaurant group, opened at The Royal on January 2, 2026, seating 200 guests with a main dining room, a private dining room, two wine rooms, and a 1,200-square-foot terrace overlooking Lake Worth Lagoon and Palm Harbor Marina. The restaurant is anchored inside the historic Royal Poinciana Playhouse. It is the Town of Palm Beach's first and only Intracoastal waterfront restaurant, which is a sentence that has never before been true about any building on this island.
The concept is not a transplant with no context. Tutto il Giorno's founders Gianpaolo and Gabby Karan de Felice built the group across Southampton, East Hampton, and Sag Harbor before selecting the Playhouse as the newest home, with Gabby Karan de Felice designing the interior to blend Hamptons ease with Palm Beach character. The relevance for a North End resident is not the pedigree. It is that a five-mile bike or walk that used to end at a parking meter now ends on a covered terrace facing the water you just rode alongside.
Sant Ambroeus, the espresso and pastry counter tucked inside the Plaza's courtyard, still handles the pre-ride coffee well. The Plaza sits directly across the Flagler Memorial Bridge from Bradley Park at the trail's south terminus, with fancy cafes such as Sant Ambroeus a short walk from where the North Section ends. The difference this season is that the same spot handles the post-ride finish, at a scale it did not before.
The North Tip Is Still the North Tip
None of this diminishes what the north end of the trail has always offered. If you bike the North Lake Trail all the way to the end in the north, Annie's Dock rewards you with crystal-clear water at the island's tip. The pier a few blocks further gives you more. The Sea Isles Estates Pier Park, open from 6:00 am to 9:00 pm, features a pier looking out at the waterway connecting the Intracoastal to the Atlantic Ocean, and from the north end along the inlet, you look northeast across to where it enters the ocean, the easternmost point in Florida at Palm Beach Shores.
What is different in 2026 is the choice architecture. A northbound loop finishes at a bench and a horizon. A southbound loop finishes at a table. Neither is better. But if you have been defaulting to one because the other did not exist, that default is worth revisiting.
Timing the Loop for 2026
Shade and light have not changed. Where you point the loop has. A rough guide for residents who ride the trail more than once a week:
| Departure | Direction that pays off | Why |
|---|---|---|
| 7:00–9:00 am | Northbound to Reef Road | Cooler air, morning shade on the eastern hedges, thin crowds, back home before 10 |
| 10:00 am–12:00 pm | Southbound to the Plaza | Coffee at Sant Ambroeus, brunch or an early lunch at Tutto Mare's terrace |
| 4:30–6:30 pm | Southbound to the Plaza | Golden light on the Lagoon side, dinner service opens, west-facing terrace |
| Sunset | Northbound to Sea Isles Pier | Long views to Peanut Island and the inlet with the sun behind you |
The trail's mid-section handles either direction without drama. At Royal Poinciana Way and the Flagler Memorial Bridge, you do not need to cross the busy street because the paved path goes under the bridge along the water. The Royal Palm Way crossing is the one place the trail still trips people up. Bikers sometimes cross Royal Palm Road directly near the bridge, but the safer route is the signaled detour at Coconut Row, which is being studied for a better long-term crossing.
Getting On the Trail Without Driving
Most North End residents already know their nearest access point. For anyone rethinking their route to accommodate the new south-end pull, a few practical facts hold up.
The North Section is the residential half of the trail. At Country Club Road, the trail runs next to North Lake Way for a quarter mile, passing the Palm Beach Country Club; past the club, it is about a mile to the Sailfish Club, which the trail circles by running alongside North Lake Way before looping back lagoon-side to Reef Road. That means the North End's easiest entries are the short east-west streets that hit North Lake Way between Reef and the Country Club.
If you want a mid-loop water stop or a bathroom, plan for one specific building. This is a mostly residential area, and the only restroom directly along the trail is at Bradley Park. Bradley Park sits just past the Flagler bridge, entry marked by a gazebo, and the 4.5-acre park has restrooms, gardens, benches, walking paths, historic exhibits, and the original Historic Tea House and Artemis Fountain. For a between-ride grocery run, the Publix Supermarket on Sunset Avenue is near the southern start of the north section of the trail.
Bikes and e-bikes are available on-island rather than only across the bridge. Bicycles are available for rental at Palm Beach Cycle Trail Shop or Palm Beach Ebike Rentals.
A Southbound Route Worth Testing
For a resident who has done the northbound version a hundred times, here is a version worth trying once this season:
- Enter the trail from your closest N. Lake Way side street, riding south.
- Pass the Palm Beach Country Club stretch and the Sailfish Club bypass without stopping.
- Take the trail through the residential mid-section, past the private home that was once Bethesda-by-the-Sea and the Duck Nest at Atlantic Avenue.
- Slow at Bradley Park to fill a water bottle and use the restroom before crossing under the Flagler Memorial Bridge.
- Follow Coconut Row past The Breakers and the shopping center to the pedestrian detour at Royal Palm Way.
- Rack the bike at The Royal Poinciana Plaza and finish on the Tutto Mare terrace.
Bethesda-by-the-Sea was a former church converted into a private residence with early 20th-century character, and nearby stands the Duck Nest, built in 1891 and considered Palm Beach's oldest surviving house. Neither is signposted with fanfare. Both reward slowing down.
Small Rituals That Still Belong to Residents
There are stops on and around this trail that have not been discovered by anyone who reads a magazine, and that is the point of listing them.
The Kapok Tree, with its octopus-like roots, still leans over the approach to the Flagler Museum as part of the Royal Poinciana Chapel Gardens. It is the kind of landmark you stop noticing after two years of residency, which is exactly when it is worth stopping for.
Pizza Al Fresco in the courtyard at 14 Via Mizner remains the mid-ride lunch for anyone who prefers a courtyard to a terrace. The outdoor courtyard at Pizza Al Fresco sits at 14 Via Mizner, a historic section off Worth Avenue that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Green's Pharmacy handles breakfast with less choreography than anywhere newer. Green's Pharmacy at 151 N. County Road is an old-school lunch counter inside a drug store, famous because various Kennedys had lunch here after attending the Catholic church across the street. Sprinkles is what you use to bribe a grandchild into finishing the loop.
The North End's version of the trail always emphasized what you saw. The North Lake Trail is a wide path with tall hedges and palm trees but not thick shade, morningtime brings the most shade, and along the way you pass hotel and mansion yards with tropical trees, flowers, ornate gates, sculptures, and fences while the blue Intracoastal glistens on the other side. The version of the trail that starts to make sense in 2026 emphasizes where you stop. The scenery has not changed. The finishing table did.
Work With Elizabeth
The texture of daily life on the North End is what makes an address here worth holding, and it is why the residents who know this trail best rarely leave the island for long. If you are considering how your home fits into the next decade of Palm Beach, or evaluating what a move within the North End would look like, Palm Beach Advisory offers a discreet, data-informed conversation on your timing.
