Fort Lauderdale Facts

Once upon a time, one could look down the road along Fort Lauderdale beach and inland along U.S. 1 and see flat land and the occasional scrubby palmetto as far as the eye could see. Now villages meld into adjoining towns, towns into cities, suburbs into each other and the entire county has become one sprawling megalopolis that stretches from the sea to the Everglades and from the northern border of Miami to the southern border of Palm Beach and beyond.

South

South of Fort Lauderdale is Hollywood, which has a small but significantly entertaining downtown area built around one of the several big traffic circles that characterize the city. Thanks to a redevelopment project that beautified downtown...

..., with its well-known strip of beaches, restaurants, bars and shops, has undergone a major transformation. Once famous (or infamous) for the annual mayhem it hosted during spring break, the Florida city now attracts a more affluent, better behaved crowd. Its 300 miles of navigable waterways and innumerable canals permit thousands of residents to anchor boats in their backyards. On land, institutions like the Museum of Art Fort Lauderdale and Museum of Discovery & Science give the city cultural resonance.

Things to Do

Plan to spend at least an afternoon or evening cruising the Fort Lauderdale waterways by water taxi. Stroll the Hollywood Beach Boardwalk for a people-watching parade of young...