Things to do · Fort Lauderdale · United States
16 best things to do in Fort Lauderdale
16 sights and experiences ranked for a first visit, with honest notes on time, cost and crowds.
Updated By the AMZBooking editorial team
Pictured: Bonnet House Museum and Gardens, Fort Lauderdale · Photo: Dtobias, CC BY-SA 4.0
Quick answer
The essential sights in Fort Lauderdale are Fort Lauderdale Beach and the A1A promenade, Las Olas Boulevard and Water Taxi. Of the 16 picks below, 4 are free, 3 work on a rainy day and 9 suit children. Allow about 4 days to see the highlights without rushing.
Key facts
- Top sight
- Fort Lauderdale Beach and the A1A promenade
- Free sights
- 4
- Good on a rainy day
- Museum of Discovery and Science
- Time to see the highlights
- 4 days
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At a glance
| Sight | Area | Time needed | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fort Lauderdale Beach and the A1A promenade | Fort Lauderdale Beach | Half a day | Free |
| Las Olas Boulevard | Las Olas and Downtown | 2–3 hours | Free |
| Water Taxi | New River and Intracoastal | 2–4 hours | Mid-priced |
| Jungle Queen Riverboat | Fort Lauderdale Beach | 1.5–4 hours | Mid-priced |
| Bonnet House Museum and Gardens | Fort Lauderdale Beach | 2 hours | Mid-priced |
| Hugh Taylor Birch State Park | Fort Lauderdale Beach | 2 hours | Low cost |
| Riverwalk and Stranahan House | Las Olas and Downtown | 1.5 hours | Low cost |
| Museum of Discovery and Science | Las Olas and Downtown | 2–3 hours | Mid-priced |
| NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale | Las Olas and Downtown | 1–1.5 hours | Mid-priced |
| Dr. Von D. Mizell-Eula Johnson State Park | Dania Beach | 2–3 hours | Low cost |
| Lauderdale-by-the-Sea snorkelling | Lauderdale-by-the-Sea | 2 hours | Low cost |
| Everglades airboat ride | Western Broward County | Half a day | Mid-priced |
| Butterfly World | Coconut Creek | 2–3 hours | Mid-priced |
| Flamingo Gardens | Davie | 2–3 hours | Mid-priced |
| Hollywood Beach Broadwalk | Hollywood Beach | 2 hours | Free |
| Sawgrass Mills | Sunrise | Half a day | Free |
The 16 best things to do
Beach · Fort Lauderdale Beach
1.Fort Lauderdale Beach and the A1A promenade
The city's main beach runs for several kilometres along A1A, with lifeguard towers, showers and a promenade behind a curving white wave wall. Las Olas Beach, where the boulevard meets the sea, was the 1960s spring-break scene made famous by the film Where the Boys Are; today it is a family and resort beach.
Head north towards Sunrise Boulevard and beyond for more space; the stretch near Las Olas is the busiest.
- Time needed
- Half a day
- Cost
- Free
- Iconic
- Free
- Outdoors
- Kids
Street · Las Olas and Downtown
2.Las Olas Boulevard
Las Olas runs from downtown to the ocean. Its eastern blocks are lined with restaurants, galleries, boutiques and pavement tables, and further east it crosses the Las Olas Isles, finger islands of canal-front homes with boats moored at the bottom of each garden.
Walk the boulevard in the early evening, then cross to the Isles for sunset over the canals.
- Time needed
- 2–3 hours
- Cost
- Free
- Iconic
- Food
- Shopping
- Free
- After dark
Experience · New River and Intracoastal
3.Water Taxi
Yellow hop-on, hop-off boats run along the New River and the Intracoastal Waterway, linking downtown, Las Olas, the beach hotels and, on some routes, Hollywood. Captains narrate along the way, pointing out the mansions and superyachts of the 'Venice of America'.
Buy a day pass and use it as your transport between the Riverwalk, Las Olas and the beach; sit outside on the upper deck.
- Time needed
- 2–4 hours
- Cost
- Mid-priced
- Iconic
- Views
- Couples
- Kids
- Photo spot
Experience · Fort Lauderdale Beach
4.Jungle Queen Riverboat
A paddle-wheel-style sightseeing boat that has cruised the New River and the Intracoastal since the 1930s, passing the waterfront mansions of 'Millionaires' Row' with a narrated commentary. Some cruises stop at a riverside attraction with an alligator show.
Choose the shorter sightseeing cruise for children; the evening dinner cruise is longer.
- Time needed
- 1.5–4 hours
- Cost
- Mid-priced
- Kids
- Views
- Iconic
Historic site · Fort Lauderdale Beach
5.Bonnet House Museum and Gardens
Artist Frederic Clay Bartlett built this colourful plantation-style winter home in 1920 on a barrier-island estate between the ocean and the Intracoastal. The house is full of his and his wife Evelyn's art and collections, and the grounds include an orchid house, a lagoon and native coastal hammock.
Take the guided house tour, then walk the nature trails; it is a cool, shaded break from the beach across the road.
- Time needed
- 2 hours
- Cost
- Mid-priced
- History
- Architecture
- Nature
- Couples
- Off the beaten path
Park · Fort Lauderdale Beach
6.Hugh Taylor Birch State Park
A rare patch of protected coastal hammock and mangroves squeezed between A1A and the Intracoastal Waterway. A paved loop suits cycling and inline skating, short trails pass through the hammock, and a tunnel leads under A1A to the beach.
Paddle the park's freshwater lagoon by kayak or canoe for gopher tortoises, herons and iguanas.
- Time needed
- 2 hours
- Cost
- Low cost
- Nature
- Outdoors
- Kids
- Active
Waterfront · Las Olas and Downtown
7.Riverwalk and Stranahan House
The Riverwalk follows the New River through downtown past parks, restaurants and yachts. At its eastern end, Stranahan House, built in 1901 as Frank Stranahan's trading post with the Seminole, is the oldest surviving structure in Broward County and can be visited on guided tours.
Time your walk for a drawbridge opening, when megayachts squeeze up the narrow river.
- Time needed
- 1.5 hours
- Cost
- Low cost
- History
- Outdoors
- Free
- Views
Museum · Las Olas and Downtown
8.Museum of Discovery and Science
Downtown's science museum has hands-on galleries on the Everglades, the sea and space, a large gravity clock in the atrium and a giant-screen theatre. Live animal exhibits include otters and reef fish, and there is a dedicated area for under-sevens.
Use it as your rainy-afternoon or hottest-hour plan; it is on the Riverwalk next to a Water Taxi stop.
- Time needed
- 2–3 hours
- Cost
- Mid-priced
- Kids
- Rainy day
- Nature
Gallery · Las Olas and Downtown
1.NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale
The city's main art museum, a block off Las Olas, holds a large collection of work by American painter William Glackens, as well as European CoBrA art and Latin American art. Touring exhibitions change through the year.
Combine it with lunch on Las Olas, two minutes' walk away.
- Time needed
- 1–1.5 hours
- Cost
- Mid-priced
- Art
- Rainy day
Beach · Dania Beach
2.Dr. Von D. Mizell-Eula Johnson State Park
A barrier-island state park with a quiet beach, picnic shelters and mangrove-lined paddling on Whiskey Creek. Its northern tip faces the Port Everglades inlet, where cruise ships and cargo vessels pass a few hundred metres away.
Come in the late afternoon at weekends to watch cruise ships sail out through the inlet.
- Time needed
- 2–3 hours
- Cost
- Low cost
- Nature
- Outdoors
- Photo spot
- Off the beaten path
Nature · Lauderdale-by-the-Sea
3.Lauderdale-by-the-Sea snorkelling
Off this small beach town, a reef line runs close enough to shore to snorkel from the sand on calm days, with parrotfish, sergeant majors and soft corals in a few metres of water. Anglin's Fishing Pier is a landmark nearby, and dive shops in town rent gear.
Go on a calm morning with little wind; always tow a dive flag, as required by Florida law when snorkelling away from the shore.
- Time needed
- 2 hours
- Cost
- Low cost
- Nature
- Outdoors
- Active
- Off the beaten path
Nature · Western Broward County
4.Everglades airboat ride
Airboat parks on the western edge of Broward County, about 40 km from the beach, run fast, loud rides across the sawgrass of the Everglades, often with stops to see alligators and wading birds and a wildlife show. It is the quickest way to see the Everglades from Fort Lauderdale.
Book a morning ride, when the wildlife is more active and before afternoon storms; bring ear protection for small children.
- Time needed
- Half a day
- Cost
- Mid-priced
- Nature
- Kids
- Active
Garden · Coconut Creek
5.Butterfly World
Inside Tradewinds Park in Coconut Creek, about 25 km north-west of downtown, this park has screened aviaries where thousands of tropical butterflies fly around visitors, as well as a hummingbird house and a lorikeet feeding area.
Visit on a sunny morning, when butterflies are most active, and wear bright colours.
- Time needed
- 2–3 hours
- Cost
- Mid-priced
- Kids
- Nature
- Photo spot
Garden · Davie
6.Flamingo Gardens
A botanical garden and wildlife sanctuary in Davie, about 25 km west, with champion trees, a walk-through aviary, native Florida animals such as panthers, bobcats and black bears that cannot be released, and the flock of flamingos that gives it its name.
Ride the narrated tram tour first for an overview of the gardens, then walk the aviary.
- Time needed
- 2–3 hours
- Cost
- Mid-priced
- Kids
- Nature
- Outdoors
Waterfront · Hollywood Beach
7.Hollywood Beach Broadwalk
A brick-paved promenade of about 4 km beside the beach in Hollywood, with a separate cycle lane and a line of cafés, bars and ice-cream shops. It has a more casual, old-Florida feel than Fort Lauderdale's beachfront, and is popular with French-Canadian visitors in winter.
Rent a bike or surrey for an hour and ride the full length.
- Time needed
- 2 hours
- Cost
- Free
- Free
- Outdoors
- Kids
- Food
Market · Sunrise
8.Sawgrass Mills
A very large outlet mall in Sunrise, about 25 km west of downtown, with hundreds of outlet and full-price stores plus an open-air section of restaurants, the Colonnade Outlets. It draws shoppers from across Latin America.
Pick up a map and plan by section; the mall is far too big to walk end to end in one go.
- Time needed
- Half a day
- Cost
- Free
- Shopping
- Rainy day
Pick by interest
| Interest | Best picks |
|---|---|
| Art and museums | Museum of Discovery and Science and NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale |
| History | Bonnet House Museum and Gardens and Riverwalk and Stranahan House |
| Views | Water Taxi, Riverwalk and Stranahan House and Jungle Queen Riverboat |
| Outdoors and nature | Fort Lauderdale Beach and the A1A promenade, Bonnet House Museum and Gardens, Hugh Taylor Birch State Park and Riverwalk and Stranahan House |
| Food and markets | Las Olas Boulevard, Hollywood Beach Broadwalk and Sawgrass Mills |
| After dark | Las Olas Boulevard |
| With children | Fort Lauderdale Beach and the A1A promenade, Water Taxi, Hugh Taylor Birch State Park and Museum of Discovery and Science |
| On a rainy day | Museum of Discovery and Science, NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale and Sawgrass Mills |
Plan the rest of your trip
Questions travellers ask
+What is the number one thing to do in Fort Lauderdale?
Fort Lauderdale Beach and the A1A promenade. The city's main beach runs for several kilometres along A1A, with lifeguard towers, showers and a promenade behind a curving white wave wall.
+What can you do for free in Fort Lauderdale?
Fort Lauderdale Beach and the A1A promenade, Las Olas Boulevard, Hollywood Beach Broadwalk and Sawgrass Mills. More free things to do.
+What is there to do in Fort Lauderdale when it rains?
Head indoors to Museum of Discovery and Science, NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale and Sawgrass Mills.
+What is there to do in Fort Lauderdale at night?
Las Olas Boulevard are best after dark.