Disclosure: I received a complimentary stay as part of the Wish You Were Here – Florida Campaign at the Courtyard Boca Raton. All opinions are my own and may differ from yours.

Courtyard Boca Raton by Marriott

We have lived in Florida for the past 11 years and I wouldn’t trade it for the world. We came from snow country…Buffalo, NY and decided it was time to move after 7 ft. of snow. We still wonder to this day how we ever lived there for most of our lives. We were headed to Florida!

Our trip to Courtyard Boca Raton was a nice and relaxing vacation. We travel a lot, but we never really get a much needed vacation. Whenever we travel, it’s usually for some reason and ends up being work. When we go to NY to see my mom, there is always work to be done. We recently went to visit our newest grandchild…now you know that involved work. But, we never go somewhere….to just go somewhere.

What I mean is, even when we travel, I’m on the computer and something needs to be done or someone needs help with something. It’s a given. But not this time. We arrived at the Courtyard Boca Raton with absolutely nothing planned. It was actually a very nice feeling. And you know what…I never even opened my computer the entire weekend.

 

 

We had never been down to Boca Raton or South Florida for that matter. I love the coast and even though the Courtyard Boca Raton is 6 miles from the coast, it’s close to everything. I did some research before we left to see what our options were.

We arrived fairly early, around 4 PM. Check in time is 3:00, so we still had an entire night to just hang around. The room was a King Suite with all the amenities of home. There was a couch, chair, desk, and TV in the sitting area. The desk is a nice expandable workable area, for those who are there to work of course, with plenty of room for a computer, worksheets and anything else you might need to spread out. There are plenty of plugs to recharge all your tech products.

 

I was glad to see that there is also an area with a microwave, small refrigerator, and coffee pot. Now, that might not seem like a big deal to you and you are probably thinking, all hotels have that…..um, no they don’t! And I was surprised as you to find out that those things are not standard in all hotels. I like my coffee in the morning and sometimes like to have some milk and cereal on hand in case we are in a hurry in the morning or need a snack.

However, once we had breakfast at The Bistro, located on the main floor of the Courtyard Boca Raton….there was no need for it. I hate it when I’m predictable though, we had the same thing for breakfast both mornings, french toast with fresh strawberries and a coffee cake, mainly because it was excellent and even sat in the same booth. The girl that was working there even commented on it and asked if we took a liking to that booth.

 

The booths at The Bistro each had it’s own TV, so we were able to watch the news or whatever we wanted while we ate.

 

I told you they had all the comforts of home. We also ate dinner, which was a Grilled Chicken Quesadilla. Just the sound of it made my mouth water. I hate to admit it, but it was actually better than the one I make at home.

 

We headed back up to the room. The king size bed looked extremely comfortable and I wanted to check it out. No, I wasn’t taking a nap, it was too late for that. We watched TV for a little while, there is also one in the bedroom besides the sitting area. So, if I wanted to watch one of my shows and my husband wanted to one of his, he could do it in the sitting area/living room. Notice I got to stay in the comfortable bed. I told you we were there to just relax and enjoy.

 

After that, we decided to head down to the pool and hot tub. I wasn’t sure where everyone was, but I got the entire pool to myself, well not really, my husband was there too, but you know what I mean. Went from the pool to the hot tub and back.

 

 

Now, the big decision was do we want to go to sleep or do something else? It was still early, so we decided to hang out in the patio area with an adult beverage. We missed happy hour from 5-7 but that’s okay, The Bistro was open until 11. It was a beautiful evening, but after all…it is Florida!

 

 

I guess it was time to retire for the night. I was looking forward to getting a good nights sleep in that comfortable bed.

Day 2 at Courtyard Boca Raton

We woke early, even though I didn’t want to get out of that ooh, so comfortable bed, and headed down to The Bistro for breakfast. You already know what we ate, so I’m not going to tell you again. But I might have lied when I said I didn’t open my computer all weekend. In essence, I didn’t. But I did stop at the hotel work station to find out which beach would be the best to go to.

 

We were heading on the Black Sparrow Pirate Cruise, which is about 20 miles from the hotel. It was the Saturday morning cruise which was mainly for kids, but it was fun and something different. It lasted about 65 minutes, so we still had an entire day to do whatever we wanted.

 

We cruised down A1A and it is absolutely gorgeous. I never get tired of looking at palm trees.

 

 

You can stop and do some parasailing along the way.

 

 

There are beach stops along the way that also included a dog beach, little shops and restaurants.

 

 

We wanted to eat directly on the water and came across Dune Deck Cafe. The food was amazing as was the view. However, if you decide to stop and eat, be sure you have some cash because they don’t take credit cards. You have to try the Xango if you ever stop there!

 

We decided to head to the Red Reef Park beach. It was a gorgeous day and there were plenty of people but still also plenty of room for more. We hung out there for a little bit, then headed back to Courtyard Boca Raton where we had some dinner at The Bistro.

 

 

After dinner, we decided to hang around and chill out. We had a balcony overlooking the pool where I sat and read a little bit. Something I pretty much never do anymore.

 

 

In the evenings, I sometimes get a snack attack. Luckily, there is The Market, located in the hotel lobby where you can get snacks, drinks, even frozen meals if you want.

 

Then we called it a night. I didn’t mind going to bed early because did I mention how really comfortable that bed is?

Day 3 at Courtyard Boca Raton

We headed down for some breakfast and were in no hurry to leave. I have not come across many hotels with a checkout time of noon! It’s only a 4 hour ride home, so we decided to hang around and do some shopping. The Boca Center is right down the road with many different shops.

 

 

There is Hoffman’s Chocolates where we decided to take a little ice cream break before heading out on the road. When you walk in the store, the smell of chocolate is heavenly. The mint chocolate chip has real squares of chocolate in it and the strawberry had actual chunks of strawberries. They were both very good.

 

 

Our stay was very relaxing and would love to do it again someday. Everything is located within a short driving distance but really, you never even have to leave the hotel if you don’t want to.

For those of you flying in and out, there is a boarding pass station located in the hotel lobby, where you can print out your boarding passes if needed.

 

 

There is also a laundry room in case you need to wash or dry some clothes and a workout room if you want to work off some energy.

 

The Courtyard Boca Raton is located at 2000 NW Executive Center Circle  Boca Raton  Florida  33431. Stay connected with Wish You Were Here – Florida! on Facebook and Twitter.

Have you ever been to Courtyard Boca Raton?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
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