My parents live Ft. Lauderdale area.
The first things coming to mind are food related. Everyone always enjoys a trip to Jaxson's for ice cream. Lester's Diner is also a HUGE hit with us. Croissan'Time French Bakery is also a big fave with us. There's also a place really close to my parents (edge of Plantation, technically in Davie I believe) called Vienna Cafe and Wine Bar that's been a fave with us for years.
Beyond that, if we pop over to the beach Dania Beach is usually our go-to just to walk in the sand for a little bit as it's less crazy than Ft. Lauderdale beach and not too far. We also have had a few different Everglades experiences. We've been down to the actual National Park a couple of times but last time we stayed a bit closer to home and did an airboat tour. The kids enjoyed the Museum of Discovery & Science on one of our visits and I just like walking around the Las Olas area, especially along the water. Just be mindful of the iguanas. We also went to Butterfly World one year, which was pretty nice. My parents live really close to Sawgrass and there's a Disney Character Warehouse in there, so that's usually a must at least once. The prices are usually worth the visit if you want parks merch. A bit more of a drive, but we've been known to hit the Keys, especially the upper ones, on our visits. My brother used to live in South Beach, so we had several years where we'd park down there and take in the spectacle and eat at some of the trendy places, but so much of that changes over the years. Still, it's an iconic area to visit. There are also lots of boat tour, fishing, snorkel, scuba, etc. options. I seem to recall several trips where we just rode the water taxi to get the beachy vibes.
