For one month a year the city bans the things people bring to a beach. The rest of the year, six stretches of Broward coastline offer genuinely different days out.
For one month a year, Fort Lauderdale bans the things people normally bring to a beach. From 28 February to 31 March, a city order prohibits alcohol, coolers, tents and similar structures, and amplified music in the designated beach area, and imposes a 10pm to 5am curfew on under-18s who are not with a parent or guardian.
That is the single most useful piece of planning information about this coast, and it is missing from most guides. If your trip lands in March and your idea of a beach day involves a cooler and a shade tent, either change the beach or change the plan.
The rest of the year, and the rest of the Broward coastline, is straightforward. Here are six options and what each is actually for.
Parking on Fort Lauderdale Beach is about $4 an hour, paid at a pay station by card or through the pay-by-phone app. Rates go up during spring break and around major events, and the city has priced event parking far higher for short periods in past years.
Alcohol is prohibited on Broward beaches. That is not a spring break rule, it is the standing position; spring break is when enforcement becomes visible.
Nests are marked with wooden stakes and caution tape and must not be disturbed. Beachfront lighting is regulated under Florida statute because artificial light disorients hatchlings heading for the water. Practically: fill in any holes you dig, take furniture and tents off the sand at the end of the day, and keep phone torches off the beach at night in season.
The main event: several miles of sand along A1A behind the white wave wall, with the promenade, the restaurants and the volleyball. Lifeguarded, busy and well served. This is where the spring break order applies.
Best for: a full-service beach day with somewhere to eat within a hundred yards.
The one with a genuine reason to exist beyond sand. A reef sits close enough to shore that you can snorkel it from the beach, entering near the pier at Commercial Boulevard. On this coast that is rare; almost everywhere else requires a boat.
Parking is limited metered street parking, which keeps the crowd manageable and means arriving early.
Best for: snorkelling without a charter, and a small-town feel fifteen minutes from the city.
Twenty minutes south, and a different place. The Broadwalk is a 2.5-mile paved promenade running along the sand, lined with cafés, ice cream and rental bikes. The crowd skews family, Quebecois and Latin American, and the whole strip is more relaxed and less expensive than Fort Lauderdale proper.
Best for: families, walking, and eating well without a reservation.
A narrow strip of municipality between the ocean and the Intracoastal, north of Pompano. Almost entirely residential, with very little public access and correspondingly few people. The Hillsboro Inlet Lighthouse is the landmark.
Best for: quiet, if you can solve the parking.
North end of the county, with a pier, a Blue Wave certification for water quality and beach management, and a compact, walkable beachfront district. It has the amenities of Fort Lauderdale at a fraction of the intensity.
Best for: the best all-round balance in Broward.
Between Fort Lauderdale and Hollywood, with a fishing pier, an adjoining state park at Dr. Von D. Mizell-Eula Johnson, and a mangrove-backed shoreline that feels less developed than anything else on this list. It is the closest beach to Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, which is either convenient or noisy depending on your view.
Best for: a beach with somewhere to walk that is not a promenade.
| Beach | Drive from downtown FTL | Character | Parking |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fort Lauderdale Beach | 10 min | Busy, full service | ~$4/hour, pay station or app |
| Lauderdale-by-the-Sea | 15 min | Small town, snorkelling | Limited metered street |
| Deerfield Beach | 30 min | Balanced, walkable | Metered lots |
| Hollywood Beach | 20 min | Family, promenade | Garages and meters |
| Dania Beach | 15 min | Quiet, state park adjacent | Park fee |
| Hillsboro Beach | 30 min | Residential, very quiet | Very limited |
The Atlantic here is warmer and calmer than it is further north, and the Gulf Stream runs close to shore, which is why the diving is good and why the water stays swimmable through winter.
Rip currents remain the main hazard. Swim near a lifeguard tower, check the flag, and if you are caught, do not swim straight for shore. Float, let it carry you until it releases, then swim parallel to the beach before coming in.
Portuguese man o' war wash up in numbers with an onshore wind, usually in winter and spring. The purple flag on a lifeguard tower means dangerous marine life, and it is worth respecting; the sting is genuinely bad and detached tentacles on the sand still sting.
Comparing Florida coasts? The Gulf side is calmer and warmer with finer sand, and it carries a red tide risk the Atlantic side largely does not. Our beaches near Orlando guide sets out the trade-off with drive times and parking costs on both coasts.
November to April for weather: warm, dry, low humidity. That is also the expensive season and it contains the spring break restriction period.
May and October are the value windows. Warm water, thinner crowds, prices between the two extremes.
June to September is hot and humid with daily afternoon storms, and it sits inside hurricane season, which runs 1 June to 30 November. Hotel rates are at their lowest for exactly that reason.
Check your dates against the 28 February to 31 March window. If you fall inside it and you want a cooler and a shade tent, head to Deerfield, Hollywood or Dania instead of the designated Fort Lauderdale beach zone.
Otherwise, decide what the day is for. Snorkelling means Lauderdale-by-the-Sea. Walking and eating means Hollywood. A straightforward, well-serviced beach with lifeguards and food means Fort Lauderdale Beach and about $4 an hour for the car.
About $4 an hour, paid at a pay station by card or through the pay-by-phone app. Rates rise during spring break and around major events, and in past years event parking has been priced dramatically higher for the period.
No. Alcohol is prohibited on Broward beaches generally, and during the spring break period the city order makes enforcement much more visible alongside bans on coolers, tents and amplified music.
The city's restriction period runs from 28 February to 31 March. During it, the designated beach area prohibits alcohol, tents and similar structures, coolers and amplified music, and a 10pm to 5am curfew applies to under-18s who are not with a parent or guardian.
Hillsboro Beach and Lauderdale-by-the-Sea. Both are small municipalities with limited parking, which is exactly what keeps the crowd down. Lauderdale-by-the-Sea also has the best shore-entry snorkelling in Broward.
Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, off the pier at Commercial Boulevard. A reef sits within swimming distance of the sand, which is unusual on this coast and makes it the one place you can snorkel a reef without a boat.
Nesting season runs roughly March to October. Nests are marked with stakes and tape and must not be disturbed, beachfront lighting is regulated under Florida statute to protect hatchlings, and you should remove furniture, tents and holes from the sand at the end of the day.
No, it is a separate city south of Fort Lauderdale, about 20 minutes away. Its Broadwalk is a 2.5-mile paved promenade along the sand and it is a distinctly different atmosphere: more family-oriented, more Latin American and Quebecois, and considerably less nightlife.
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