Lake Worth Beach: The Pier, the Casino Building, and a Cheaper Day North

Here is the short answer. Lake Worth Beach is the stretch of Palm Beach County coast where the city publishes what the day will cost you before you get in the car. Beach lot parking runs $3.50 an hour on weekdays and $4.00 an hour on weekends. The pier runs 960 feet into the Atlantic with a bait shop on it. The Casino Building is a restored beachfront complex with restaurants, shops and a ballroom, and there is no gambling in it. Park once on the ocean side, walk the pier and the sand, then drive west over the bridge for downtown. Every rate, rule and date below came from the City of Lake Worth Beach this week.

We are Brad and Justina, founders of Yours Truly Hospitality. We manage vacation homes across Southeast Florida, from Pompano Beach and Lighthouse Point through greater Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach and Miami. Guests heading north ask us where to go when Palm Beach island feels like too much production for a Tuesday. This is usually the answer.

Start With Parking, Because It Decides the Day

The city runs metered parking at the beach, downtown and in the park lots, and it publishes the whole rate sheet. That alone puts it ahead of most beach towns on this coast.

City beach lots, upper and lower, are $3.50 an hour on weekdays and $4.00 an hour on weekends. Old Bridge Park is the same. The Bohemian Parking Garage downtown, levels one and two only, is $2.50 an hour every day of the week.

Now the part that catches people. If you pay a meter with a credit card, the machine charges you for a minimum of two hours. Not one. The meters take coins or Visa, Mastercard and American Express, they do not accept Discover, they do not take bills, and they do not give change. You can also run the whole thing through the ParkMobile app, which caps a single session at eight hours.

Three more rules worth knowing before you leave the car:

• Paid parking is enforced 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, including holidays.

• All beach lots are a tow zone between 2:00 am and 6:00 am. Leave a car overnight and it goes.

• Backing into a space is prohibited under city ordinance 21-33h. Pull in nose first.

Disabled parking is free for four hours in disabled spaces and in meter spaces. It does not cover the resident beach permit spaces. There are 60 of those near the pier, sold only to Lake Worth Beach residents, and they are marked. A visitor parking in one is buying a citation.

You do not have to leave the paid lot receipt on your dashboard. Take it with you.

The Pier Is 960 Feet, and the Bait Shop Is On It

The William O. Lockhart Municipal Pier runs 960 feet into the Atlantic. The city calls it one of Florida's top land based fishing spots, and it is set up for that: a bait shop with rod rentals on the deck, shaded benches down the length of it, and room for tournaments and events.

One honest note. The city does not publish a pier walk on fee, a fishing fee, or pier hours anywhere on its own website. Numbers float around on travel sites, and we are not going to repeat them, because a wrong number is worse than no number when you are standing at a turnstile. Plan to pay at the entrance and ask there. The Leisure Services department is at 561-533-7363 if you want to confirm before you drive.

If you are not fishing, walk it anyway. It is the best free look at the coastline from Palm Beach down to Lantana, and the view back at the beach complex is the one every photo of this town is taken from.

The Casino Building Is Not a Casino

This confuses visitors every week, so here is the history straight from the city.

The Lake Worth Beach Casino Building and the renovated Beach Complex opened to the public on March 1, 2013. The design stays true to the original architecture from the 1920s, and the name stuck as a reminder of what the building meant to the city. There is no gambling in it.

What is in it is better for a beach day. The second floor holds a 3,000 square foot ballroom with wrap around terraces and ocean views, which the city rents out for weddings and events. The ground level holds the tenants: Benny's on the Beach, Mamma Mia's on the Beach, the Lake Worth Beach T-Shirt Co, and Kilwins Chocolates. The complex around it has an oceanfront park, restrooms and picnic facilities.

Beach chairs, loungers and cabanas are rented at the beach through a concession, and the city points people to beachservice.com for current rates rather than publishing them itself.

Lifeguards Are On, Year Round

Lake Worth Beach Ocean Rescue covers roughly a quarter mile of city beach with lifeguards year round. That is not true of every stretch of sand in this county, and it is a real reason to bring kids here instead of to an unguarded access point a few miles either direction.

Read the flag before you get in. The city uses the standard system: green for calm, yellow for moderate surf or current, red for high hazard with only strong swimmers in the water, double red for a closed beach, and purple for dangerous marine life like jellyfish or stingrays. Purple flies alongside a condition flag, not instead of one.

Ocean Rescue sits at 10 S Ocean Blvd and takes calls at 561-533-7313.

Go West Over the Bridge for the Cheaper Half

The beach is the postcard. Downtown is where the day gets long and cheap.

Cross the bridge and Lake Avenue becomes a walkable downtown built around the Cultural Plaza at 414 Lake Ave. The Bohemian Parking Garage sits right there at South East Coast Street and Lake Avenue at that $2.50 rate, which is the lowest published parking in the city.

Two blocks of walking gets you to Bryant Park, at Lake Avenue and Golfview on the Intracoastal Waterway. It has a concert band shell with a stage and seating for 150, restrooms, a one mile Heart Trail with 12 exercise stations, horseshoe pits, a boat ramp with four launching pads, and its own fishing pier on the Intracoastal. That last one is free to walk, which makes it a good backup if the ocean pier is not in your plans.

What Is Actually Scheduled This Season

The city released its 2026 to 2027 event schedule on September 16, so this is current as of this week.

The one to put in your calendar is the Bonfire and Night Market series at the Casino and Beach Complex, starting at 6:00 pm on select Fridays: November 6 and 20, December 4 and 18, January 8 and 22, and February 5 and 19. A bonfire on the sand with a market next to it is a better Friday night than most paid attractions in this county.

Downtown gets the Tree Lighting at Cultural Plaza on Monday, November 30 at 6:30 pm, and the Holiday Parade on Saturday, December 5 at 6:00 pm. Sunset on the Avenue returns to Cultural Plaza at 7:00 pm on January 16, March 5, April 17, May 7, June 5 and August 20. The Street Painting Festival takes over downtown on Saturday and Sunday, February 27 and 28, from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm.

Doing This as a Trip, Not an Afternoon

A Lake Worth Beach day works best as half ocean and half downtown, with the bridge crossing in the middle and a single parking decision on each side. Budget the morning for the pier and the sand, move the car after lunch, and give the avenue the back half of the day.

If you would rather wake up in the corridor than drive into it, that is the part we handle. Take a look at our South Florida vacation homes and pick the one closest to the water you actually want to be on.

Updated September 2026, with parking rates, beach rules and the event calendar verified directly with the City of Lake Worth Beach.