White Elephant Palm Beach boutique hotel review | Modern, stylish, and casual luxury

by W. Andrew Powell

Two blocks from miles of pristine, sandy beaches, and around the corner from top restaurants, shopping, and culture, the White Elephant Palm Beach is one of Florida’s best and most effortless, luxury hotels.

The award-winning boutique hotel features 32 rooms, including 19 suites, and it’s heavily influenced by the Palm Beach aesthetic, and White Elephant Resorts’ uniquely charming, sophisticated, and yet casual style.

A sister property to the iconic White Elephant Nantucket, White Elephant Palm Beach opened in 2020 after revitalizing a historic century-old hotel. While it retains classic design elements and architecture from the original property, the hotel balances those with modern features and amenities.

Everything about the hotel feels welcoming, stylish, and warm. The rooms are elegant, you’ll find museum-quality art in the hallways and suites, and the staff are friendly, and efficient.

The hotel’s upscale bar and restaurant, LoLa 41, offers contemporary sushi and bistro-style dishes that are exquisite, and it’s flawlessly sharp, sophisticated, and yet relaxed.

And making the experience even better, staff will drop you off or pick you up in a BMW courtesy car. Or, to plan your own afternoon in the area, the hotel can provide one of their BMW sedans for a few hours.

White Elephant Palm Beach location

Palm Beach
Palm Beach

The hotel is located close to all of the best in Palm Beach. From the heart of West Palm Beach, where you can find The Square and Clematis street, to the beach itself, the White Elephant is perfectly situated.

Around the corner from the hotel, literally a 10 minute walk or a few minutes in a car, you’ll find the upscale Royal Poinciana Plaza featuring shopping, restaurants, and art boutiques.

And it’s steps to some of the best restaurants in Palm Beach, including Trevini Ristorante, Almond Palm Beach, Henry’s, Cucina, PB Catch, Meat Market Steakhouse, and a number of other top eateries.

Strolling down Sunset Ave you’ll find the public beach, and White Elephant also offers beach service for a fee, where you can have lunch brought to you, and they will set you up with everything you need, from beach chairs, towels, and umbrellas, to beach toys and sunscreen.

For sightseeing, there is a lot of history and art in the area, not to mention entertainment. A few top highlights include the historic Henry Morrison Flagler Museum, the Society of Four Arts, the Ann Norton Sculpture Garden, and the Palm Beach Opera.

Palm Beach also offers boat tours, kayaking, fishing expeditions, golf, plus more shopping at Worth Avenue.

Personally, I would love to spend two weeks just enjoying the food around Palm Beach. There are so many incredible restaurants, all within no more than a 20 minute drive.

White Elephant deluxe one bedroom suite

Deluxe One Bedroom Suite

The hotel has some of the best rooms in Palm Beach, filled with the perfect accents, furnishings, and fine linens. If you want to experience the best that the hotel offers, the suites are a cut above.

For larger families, or the ultimate experience, White Elephant offers two rooftop suites for up to a total of 10 guests, but the deluxe one bedroom suite, and the suites with a balcony, are perfect for couples to lounge, relax, and enjoy a week or a weekend away.

The luxe king suite where I stayed offers a large living room with a sofa, chairs, desk, and TV, all decorated in elegant details, with a perfect, spacious bedroom, and an elegant bathroom.

To set the perfect mood, the rooms have dimmable lights throughout, and I appreciated the blinds that make the room perfectly dark, as well as the soundproofing that keeps the rooms quiet throughout the day and night.

My suite included a sitting area outside, and it was absolutely perfect for a meal or a drink. I sat there in the morning and had a coffee, writing out my notes from the trip, and it was wonderful.

Lola 41 Palm Beach

Lola 41 Palm Beach

Lola 41 is chic, vibrant, and fun, with trendy music, and a menu that is frankly astonishing for the sheer number of appetizers, drinks, and dishes.

The entire meal and experience was exceptional, but especially the toro sashimi appetizer. The restaurant offers specials frequently, but if you have the opportunity to try it, the dish is fatty tuna topped with salt, and two pieces that have been seared and topped with caviar and gold. Each morsel was rich and delicate, and the flavours are dramatically different between the salt-topped pieces, and the seared pieces with the caviar.

For my meal at the restaurant I also tried their grilled branzino that was beautifully charred, with fire roasted tomato caponata, Chimichurri purple potato, pomegranate molasses, and cucumber salad.

Sitting outside, in the courtyard of the hotel, I would have loved to try everything on the menu, but I do highly recommend the sushi, specialty rolls, or a classic from their menu, like the Korean beef bulgogi, or king crab Rangoon.

For cocktails, the restaurant has a number of excellent options, but I would recommend the Tokyo Drift, Mezcal & Mirrors, or the Tigger. With dessert, they also make an excellent espresso martini, which I would recommend with the Yuzu Key Lime Pie.

And do visit the bar and enjoy a cocktail. The space is fun and social, and it’s a great stop before or after any other evening plans.

White Elephant hotel amenities

White Elephant Palm Beach lobby

The White Elephant offers complimentary coffee, pastries, and fruit at breakfast, and in the afternoon you can sample wine and cheese in the lobby.

The lobby has a small store where you can purchase hats and towels, as well as a few keepsake items and things like sunscreen.

The hotel also offers a fitness space, and they will provide towels, sunscreen, beach chairs, and water by the outdoor pool until 5 PM each day, so you don’t need to bring anything but your swimsuit to enjoy the sun or the pool.

For art lovers, Palm Beach has a number of excellent galleries, but the hotel itself is actually a gallery with over 120 original pieces in the hallways, rooms, and suites, so it’s worth taking your time looking around to see a few of the excellent pieces.

Final thoughts

The White Elephant Palm Beach is a beautiful hotel, and it’s a wonderful addition to the area. Beyond the architecture and chic style, the White Elephant is welcoming and a modern take on the Palm Beaches style.

For a luxe vacation in one of Florida’s most elegant neighbourhoods, the hotel is unique and modern, and the suites are so wonderful that they’re very hard to leave.

Watch my tour of the White Elephant Palm Beach below.

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