Tell Me About Ft. Lauderdale!!!

[lorimay]

We live in Fort Lauderdale. If you end up staying on Fort Lauderdale Beach, A visit to Coconuts is a must! It’s our favorite restaurant in town for the ambiance and view. Casablanca Cafe is another popular restaurant right there in that area. There are a few others in the hotels that have decent food, but there are also a LOT of cheesy, touristy places that I wouldn’t recommend for food. Drinks? Sure, but if you decide you want some more casual (and really by casual I mean not tourist priced food), go elsewhere! In that area we also like El Vez, and Park and Ocean.

On Las Olas Louie Bossi’s, Big City Tavern, and Rocco’s Tacos are solid choices. Kilwin’s is great for Ice Cream and Dessert. Vinos has a great little patio and is kind of hidden. Nice for wine and charcuterie. There are a few other decent places, but look for lots of reviews if you start researching. A lot of the restaurants turn over often and so the ones I mentioned before are established. Some of the others are hit or miss.

Some of our other favorite places to eat in town are Canyon, 15th Street Fisheries, Boatyard, Cafe Vico, Top Hat Deli, and Foxy Brown.

Really anywhere between the airport and Fort Lauderdale by the Sea will be very easy to utilize Ubers. Fort Lauderdale by the Sea is really the most northern part of town (where tourists would be interested). Don’t be afraid to go “inland” a little a get off A1A. Most of the best dining in FtL is not on the beach. It’s on the intracoastal or it’s around town. Let me know if you have any questions!

Oh and if you want to do a little boat ride tour, I highly recommend the Carrie B!! We used to just go ride it once and a while for fun. Long enough to be interesting, but not overly touristy.

You listed so many of our favorite restaurants!!!
Canyon, the prickly pear margarita, yum. They have amazing scallops.
Boatyard has a beautiful outdoor patio on the intercostal. We had our son's wedding rehearsal dinner there, great food and atmosphere.

Shooter's is also on the intercostal, they have a really good brunch as well as dinner menu. Patio area is great.
Kalahua's excellent too.

 

[disneyseniors]

I disagree with you in that Hollywood beach is much nicer than Ft lauderdale there is much more beach as the erosion on Ft L. Is really bad plus you have to cross busy A1A to get to the beach from the resorts there. The Hollywood Broadwalk is great you can bike or stroll down it with no cars in sight. There are little restaurants and bars to eat at. Definitely not as fancy as Ft Lauderdale but much more relaxing. There’s a Marriott and the margaritaville if you are looking for a chain. Otherwise it’s a lot of little boutique properties.

I agree with this. I have never stayed at Hollywood/ Ft Lauderdale area, but my grandson and his new wife had their honeymoon trip at Hollywood.. They loved the boardwalk and the beach was just across the street - very easy to navigate. They stayed in a VRBO condo that was beautiful. Of course, on a honeymoon, the scenery is secondary, LOL! Anyway, they loved the area and the photos of the beach were perfect.

 

[fancymouse]

Does Ft. Lauderdale have electric rental bikes and scooters? If so, those might be the easy and inexpensive way to get from hotel to beach or hotel to water taxi.

OP, sorry but I'm not familiar enough with Ft. Lauderdale to give you hotel recommendations. Fortunately fancymouse is!

Pre-Covid there were scooters everywhere. I think they picked them up during lockdown. I honestly can’t say if they have returned. I know the city was having lots of issues with them and they used to ban them near the beach during Spring Break. The fact that I can’t remember seeing any recently (or being annoyed by them, or seeing someone about to kill themselves doing something stupid) makes me think they may not be back yet. Maybe the city just decided to take this as the opportunity to get rid of them. I know Lauderdale by the Sea (which is technically it’s own city) banned them completely from the get-go. I think they have the bike rentals still but you have to return them to a station which may not always be convenient. I’d bet that a lot of the hotels have bikes. I know I’ve seen some with logos.

 

[princesscinderella]

I agree with this. I have never stayed at Hollywood/ Ft Lauderdale area, but my grandson and his new wife had their honeymoon trip at Hollywood.. They loved the boardwalk and the beach was just across the street - very easy to navigate. They stayed in a VRBO condo that was beautiful. Of course, on a honeymoon, the scenery is secondary, LOL! Anyway, they loved the area and the photos of the beach were perfect.

How nice it really is a great place and not as well known as Sout beach or Ft lauderdale. There’s also a water taxi stop in Hollywood beach for the OP if they wanted to dine in Ft lauderdale

 

[SteveMouse]

One of my friends owns 15th Street Fisheries, so we’ve been going to it for quite awhile.

There are two dining rooms. Upstairs, which is much more formal, and Dockside, which is downstairs, and quite a bit more casual. Both serve a variety of things, including fresh seafood.

It’s always fun to feed the tarpon just outside the restaurant at the dock. Little kids are amazed (but please don’t feed them to the fish).

 

[SteveMouse]

A second favorite is Quaterdeck. There are several around, including the “mother ship” off of 17th Street near Cordova Road (across from Embassy Suites, about 2 blocks in) and Dania Beach Pier (US 1 to Dania Beach Blvd., go east until you get to the ocean, go north and then into the parking lot). The Dani

Qdeck has good sushi, good seafood, and great burgers and ribs. It’s quite reasonable.

I’ve known the family for over 30 years. Most of my preschool carpool worked there at some point or another.

 

[Erica Ladd]

So for our first trip for only 2 nights should we focus on the water taxi stops around Ft Lauderdale and save the Hollywood Beach express water taxi for another trip? It will probably be a Saturday or Sunday afternoon through Monday or Tuesday afternoon (Is one set of days better/worse than the others?) Should we just buy tickets for one full day of hopping on or off or should we also get the late day happy hour tickets for our first night? I’m looking for a hotel that is in close proximity to the beach (does not have to be waterfront— in fact intercoastal views look amazing!) and within walking distance to at least a few restaurants and outdoor dining etc. so we don’t HAVE to do a lot of traveling on check in and check out days. Things we want to accomplish -

A couple hours at the beach one day
Explore using the water taxis
Not need a lot of ubers except for arrival and departure
Save some $$ on hotel to apply to entertainment and food!!!

Thanks to everyone for all the great ideas. Can you tell I’m already planning a return trip and we haven’t left yet!!!

 

[Disneyfan754321]

We live north of Fort Lauderdale in Delray beach.. just another idea.
Tri rail (commuter train) runs from MIA airport to FLL and all the way to Palm beach. So you are not limited to just Fort Lauderdale.
Eventually Brightline will be running again it's been down since March 2020

 

[princesscinderella]

If you like to eat at fine dining in Hollywood beach there’s a great restaurant called sardellis. It just looks like a fancy beach house but it’s a hidden gem.

 

[lucas]

I live in Boca Raton, but I'm loving all the suggestions!

 

[Erica Ladd]

We live north of Fort Lauderdale in Delray beach.. just another idea.
Tri rail (commuter train) runs from MIA airport to FLL and all the way to Palm beach. So you are not limited to just Fort Lauderdale.
Eventually Brightline will be running again it's been down since March 2020

any word on when service will return?

 

[JimMIA]

any word on when service will return?

All their website says is that service is currently suspended. No indication of when they will resume.

 

[mikehn]

The Doubletree at the Galleria is a water taxi stop. Not sure what the hotel rates are. Never stayed there but I have used that taxi stop.

 

[Erica Ladd]

Still trying to narrow down a hotel. It’s so hard to decide!!!

 

[Erica Ladd]

I think I’m down to 3 hotels, all different! Any specific input would be appreciated.

Hotel Riverside - cheapest option, smallest room. Right in town and walkable to a lot of shops, restaurants etc. also right by the water taxi stop.

Hilton Marina - a little more expensive, offers 6000 bonus SWA points. Right at a water taxi stop

Bahia Mar - most expensive because of resort fees. Right on the beach, very close to water taxi and walkable to several restaurants etc. Also arms 5000 bonus SWA pointS


I’ve been looking for days and that’s as close as I have gotten to narrowing it down. And I feel like I’m missing something! It doesn’t help that we will really only have one full day there with two half days. I’m looking forward to more trips here in the future so I really need to focus on what I want to accomplish!

 

[lorimay]

I think I’m down to 3 hotels, all different! Any specific input would be appreciated.

Hotel Riverside - cheapest option, smallest room. Right in town and walkable to a lot of shops, restaurants etc. also right by the water taxi stop.

Hilton Marina - a little more expensive, offers 6000 bonus SWA points. Right at a water taxi stop

Bahia Mar - most expensive because of resort fees. Right on the beach, very close to water taxi and walkable to several restaurants etc. Also arms 5000 bonus SWA pointS


I’ve been looking for days and that’s as close as I have gotten to narrowing it down. And I feel like I’m missing something! It doesn’t help that we will really only have one full day there with two half days. I’m looking forward to more trips here in the future so I really need to focus on what I want to accomplish!

Bahia Mar is located across the street (A1A) from the ocean.

 

[princesscinderella]

If the beach is your goal I’d pick Bahia Mar.

 

[princesscinderella]

https://www.bhotelsandresorts.com/b-ocean-resort/eat-drink/mermaids-at-the-wreck-bar/
this is a cool place and the hotel is a ft lauderdale classic

 

[Erica Ladd]

yes, I meant right across from the beach!

https://www.bhotelsandresorts.com/b-ocean-resort/eat-drink/mermaids-at-the-wreck-bar/
this is a cool place and the hotel is a ft lauderdale classic

I was also looking at the B resort - it is more expensive than the ones I listed but was also on my list. I’m not sure that the beach or nice pool should be our focus this trip as it’s so short and not necessarily DHs fave thing to do. I plan on coming back sometime with dd and that would be high on our list. I’d like to Che k out the beach this trip but that can include biking or walking along it from one water taxi stop to another. Thanks for helping me reflect and begin to focus on my goals for this short trip!

 

[fancymouse]

yes, I meant right across from the beach!



I was also looking at the B resort - it is more expensive than the ones I listed but was also on my list. I’m not sure that the beach or nice pool should be our focus this trip as it’s so short and not necessarily DHs fave thing to do. I plan on coming back sometime with dd and that would be high on our list. I’d like to Che k out the beach this trip but that can include biking or walking along it from one water taxi stop to another. Thanks for helping me reflect and begin to focus on my goals for this short trip!

If the beach isn’t your focus would go with Riverside. You can still walk to the beach from there. The walk goes past The Isles and it’s nice, plus the bridge you cross has really pretty views. It’s a long walk, but totally doable. Plus it’s the cheapest, but near better dining than what’s on the beach. There’s a little museum called the Stranahan House that’s right next to it. The bar/restaurant for the hotel has a view of the New River and you’ll get to see tons of boats. It’s an easy place to get on the water taxi. We live across the New River and can see Riverside from our house. You can give us a wave while you’re there lol.