Fort Lauderdale sits on the Atlantic coast about forty minutes north of Miami, and the thing that makes it a different place rather than a quieter suburb of its neighbour is water: roughly 300 miles of navigable canals and waterways run through the city, which is why it calls itself the Venice of America and why there are more boats here than almost anywhere on earth.
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What Is Here
THE CANALS ARE THE CITY AND THE HERO IMAGE IS ONE OF THEM. The waterways were dredged from mangrove through the 1920s land boom, and the result is a street grid interleaved with a water grid, with houses backing onto their own docks. THE WATER TAXI IS THE BEST THING TO DO HERE: a hop-on hop-off boat service that is genuinely useful transport as well as a tour, stopping at Las Olas, the beach, the Riverwalk and Hollywood, and it beats any bus in the city.
AND WE SHOULD SAY WHAT OUR PHOTOGRAPHS ARE NOT. Our image set is mansions, a marina and a beach: one photographer holds eight of the thirteen attributable frames and every one is a waterfront house or a yacht. LAS OLAS BOULEVARD, the city's main street, the RIVERWALK along the New River, and the historic district are all absent. The post covers them because they matter, not because we can show them.
THE BEACH IS SEVEN MILES LONG AND THE WAVE WALL IS WHY IT LOOKS LIKE THAT. The second image is sunrise over it. Fort Lauderdale Beach runs along A1A behind a low white serpentine wall built in the 1990s when the city deliberately ended its spring break era and rebuilt the seafront. It worked: this is now a wide, clean, largely family and resort beach rather than the one in the 1960 film.
LAS OLAS BOULEVARD IS THE WALKABLE STREET, running from downtown to the beach with restaurants, galleries and the historic Stranahan House, the oldest surviving house in the city, from 1901.
HUGH TAYLOR BIRCH STATE PARK IS THE LAST PIECE OF THE COAST AS IT WAS, a strip of maritime hammock forest between the Intracoastal and the ocean, and it is the one place here you can see what this shoreline looked like before the dredgers.
THE THIRD IMAGE IS A YACHT IN A MARINA, WHICH IS NOT INCIDENTAL. Fort Lauderdale is one of the great yachting centres of the world, home to the largest in-water boat show anywhere each October and to an enormous marine repair industry. IF YOU VISIT DURING THE BOAT SHOW, EXPECT HOTEL PRICES TO MULTIPLY AND ROOMS TO BE SCARCE.
THE EVERGLADES ARE FORTY-FIVE MINUTES WEST and Sawgrass Recreation Park and the Everglades Holiday Park both run airboats from the edge of the city. The Everglades proper have their own live coverage in this library.
IT IS A MAJOR CRUISE PORT. Port Everglades is one of the busiest cruise terminals in the world, which means that on a Saturday turnaround the airport, the roads and the beachfront are all noticeably fuller.
When to Go
December to April is the dry season and the main one: warm, sunny, low humidity, and the water still swimmable. It is also the most expensive and the busiest.
November and early May are the sweet spots, with most of the good weather and fewer people.
JUNE TO SEPTEMBER IS HOT, VERY HUMID AND WET, with near-daily afternoon thunderstorms, highs around 90 degrees Fahrenheit and a heat index far higher. The sea is at its warmest, close to bathwater, and the city is cheap.
HURRICANE SEASON RUNS 1 JUNE TO 30 NOVEMBER AND PEAKS MID-AUGUST TO OCTOBER, AND THIS IS NOT A FORMALITY HERE. South Florida is among the most exposed coastlines in the United States. Travel insurance that covers hurricane disruption is worth having, airlines waive change fees when a named storm approaches, and if you are here when one does, the instructions come from the county emergency management office and the hotel. FORT LAUDERDALE ALSO FLOODS IN ORDINARY HEAVY RAIN: in April 2023 parts of the city took over 50 centimetres in a day and streets and the airport were under water with no hurricane involved.
Getting There
By air, Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International is fifteen minutes from the beach and is often cheaper than Miami; Miami International is forty-five minutes south.
By train, the BRIGHTLINE express runs to Miami in about thirty minutes and north to West Palm Beach and Orlando, and it is comfortable and genuinely fast. Tri-Rail is the cheaper commuter line.
By car, on Interstate 95 and the Florida Turnpike.
The water taxi, Brightline and a beach hotel will cover a lot, but the city is spread out and a car or ride-hailing is the practical default for the Everglades, the parks and anything inland.
Is Fort Lauderdale Safe for Women?
The FCDO publishes no advised-against areas anywhere in the United States and no country-level warning. Its guidance concentrates on the practical differences a British visitor meets: entry requirements and ESTA, the cost of healthcare without insurance, extreme weather including hurricanes on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts between June and November, and wildfire and heat risk in the west and south-west.
The beach, Las Olas, downtown, the Riverwalk and Victoria Park are all comfortable, and crime against visitors is mostly opportunistic: car break-ins and theft from the beach. Never leave a bag on the sand while you swim, and leave nothing visible in a parked car. The beachfront bar strip has the ordinary nightlife risks, so watch your drink and arrange your ride.
RIP CURRENTS ARE THE SINGLE MOST LIKELY THING TO KILL A VISITOR HERE AND FLORIDA LEADS THE UNITED STATES IN RIP CURRENT DEATHS. Learn the flag system because it is a legal instruction, not advice: GREEN is low hazard, YELLOW is moderate with caution, RED is high hazard, DOUBLE RED means THE WATER IS CLOSED and entering it can be an offence, and PURPLE means dangerous marine life such as jellyfish or man-of-war. If a rip takes you, DO NOT SWIM AGAINST IT: swim parallel to the beach until you are out of the pull, then come in at an angle, and raise an arm for the lifeguard.
LIGHTNING IS THE OTHER SERIOUS ONE AND FLORIDA IS THE LIGHTNING CAPITAL OF THE UNITED STATES. Afternoon storms in summer come fast; get off the beach and out of the water at the first thunder, because the beach is the most exposed place in the city.
HEAT AND HUMIDITY with a heat index above 100 in summer make heat illness a real risk, and the sea breeze disguises how much sun you are taking.
ALLIGATORS ARE IN EVERY FRESH WATER, including canals, golf course ponds and drainage lakes. Do not swim in fresh water, keep away from the edge, and never feed one. They are not in the ocean.
MOSQUITOES AND THE DISEASES THEY CARRY are present, with local dengue transmission reported in Florida in recent years. Repellent in the evening is sensible rather than paranoid.
The Fort Lauderdale Packing List
Subtropical humidity, fierce sun, hard air conditioning and sudden rain.
Our merino base layers are 100% Australian merino at 17.5 micron, and a long sleeve merino wool base layer for women is not what people expect to pack for Florida and earns its place for two specific reasons: indoor air conditioning here runs genuinely cold and you will be moving in and out of it all day in damp clothes, and a long sleeve fine wool layer is excellent sun cover on a boat where there is no shade at all. From December to February it also covers the surprising evening chill when a northerly comes through.
A Marmot PreCip Eco rain jacket, packable, for afternoon storms that soak you in two minutes, and a Columbia Fast Trek II fleece as the indoor and boat layer.
A wide brim sun hat and a long sun hoodie, which on the water taxi and the beach are the most useful things you will carry.
Insect repellent for evenings and the Everglades edge.
Not linked and worth packing: HIGH-FACTOR REEF-CONSCIOUS SUNSCREEN, and note that "reef safe" is not a regulated term anywhere, so read the ingredients for non-nanoparticle zinc oxide rather than trusting the label; SUNGLASSES; A SWIMSUIT AND A QUICK-DRYING TOWEL; A DRY BAG FOR THE WATER TAXI, because a phone in a pocket on an open boat is a phone in a canal; WATER SHOES IF YOU WALK THE ROCKY ENDS OF THE BEACH, which we give unlinked because the only such entry in our affiliate register has an unconfirmed product identity; and A LARGE WATER BOTTLE. The US is almost entirely card-based and tipping is expected at 18 to 20 per cent.
Recommended Tours and Experiences
Essential Resources for Women in Fort Lauderdale
Emergency numbers: 911 for police, ambulance and fire, free from any phone including a locked mobile. Calls are answered locally and dispatchers will stay on the line. For non-urgent police matters many cities also run a 311 information line.
RIP CURRENTS ARE THE MOST LIKELY THING TO KILL A VISITOR ON THIS COAST AND FLORIDA LEADS THE UNITED STATES IN RIP CURRENT DEATHS, so the beach flags are instructions rather than advice: GREEN low hazard, YELLOW moderate, RED high hazard, DOUBLE RED MEANS THE WATER IS CLOSED and entering it can be an offence, PURPLE means dangerous marine life. IF A RIP TAKES YOU, SWIM PARALLEL TO THE SHORE rather than against the pull, then angle in, and raise an arm for the lifeguard. FLORIDA IS THE LIGHTNING CAPITAL OF THE UNITED STATES and the beach is the most exposed place in the city: leave the water and the sand at the first thunder. HURRICANE SEASON RUNS 1 JUNE TO 30 NOVEMBER, peaking mid-August to October, on one of the most exposed coastlines in the country; insurance covering hurricane disruption is worth having and instructions come from Broward County emergency management. THE CITY ALSO FLOODS WITHOUT A HURRICANE: in April 2023 parts of it took over 50cm of rain in a day and the airport went under. ALLIGATORS ARE IN EVERY FRESH WATER including canals and drainage ponds, so never swim in fresh water or approach the edge; they are not in the ocean. SUMMER HEAT INDEX ABOVE 100 makes heat illness real, and the sea breeze hides the sun load. MOSQUITO-BORNE DISEASE including locally transmitted dengue has been reported in Florida in recent years. THE WATER TAXI IS USEFUL TRANSPORT as well as a tour; BRIGHTLINE reaches Miami in about 30 minutes. THE OCTOBER BOAT SHOW fills every hotel.
US State Department travel advisory: there is none, and this is not an omission. The State Department issues travel advisories for other countries, not for the United States itself, so no US advisory for this destination exists to link. In its place, the Government of Canada advice for the United States gives an equivalent third-country assessment.
UK FCDO travel advice: gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/usa, and read the safety and security page rather than only the landing page, because that is where the substance sits. The FCDO names no advised-against areas anywhere in the United States. The same advice also covers Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands.
Main hospital: Broward Health Medical Center on South Andrews Avenue is the region's Level I trauma centre with a 24 hour emergency department, and Holy Cross Hospital on North Federal Highway is the other major option near the beach. Dial 911 for police, ambulance or fire, and note that AN INCIDENT AT SEA goes to the US Coast Guard, reachable through 911 or on VHF channel 16, which is the right call from a boat rather than a land ambulance. This is the single biggest practical difference for a visitor: there is no public health system, an emergency room visit without insurance can run into thousands of dollars, and an ambulance is billed separately and is not free. Comprehensive travel insurance with a high medical limit is not optional in the United States, and you should carry your policy number and the insurer's 24 hour number somewhere you can reach them. Urgent care clinics handle anything short of an emergency far more cheaply and quickly than an emergency room, and are the right choice for a sprain, an infection or stitches.
Official health authority: the CDC travellers' health pages, the US federal health authority for visitors. covers the US public health guidance, with the National Hurricane Center the authority for storm tracks and the National Weather Service for rip current and lightning advisories
Embassy contact: the United States is the host country, so there is no US embassy to contact. Your own country's embassy is in Washington DC, with consulates in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, San Francisco, Miami and Boston. Find yours before you travel and save the number.
Official tourism authority: Brand USA, the national tourism marketing body. covers Fort Lauderdale and Florida visitor information, the water taxi routes and the beach lifeguard flag system
Takeaways
Learn the flags. Double red means the water is closed, and that is law.
If a rip takes you, swim parallel to the beach, not back towards it.
Take the water taxi. It is transport, not just a tour.
Alligators are in every canal and pond. Never in the ocean.
Solo women safety assessment: Fort Lauderdale is an easy place to visit alone. The beachfront, Las Olas, downtown, the Riverwalk and Victoria Park are busy, well lit and ordinary, eating alone anywhere along Las Olas is unremarkable, and the water taxi means you can get around in the evening without a car or a long walk. The crime that affects visitors is opportunistic rather than violent: theft from the beach while people swim, and car break-ins, so never leave a bag on the sand and leave nothing visible in a vehicle. The beachfront bar strip carries the standard nightlife cautions, which are to keep your own drink in sight and to arrange how you are getting back. 911 REACHES POLICE, AMBULANCE AND FIRE free from any phone, and Broward Health Medical Center on South Andrews Avenue is the region's Level I trauma centre. KNOW THE MARITIME ROUTE TOO: trouble at sea goes to the US Coast Guard through 911 or on VHF channel 16, which is the call from a boat. THE UNITED STATES HAS NO PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE FOR VISITORS and insurance is essential, and here it should also cover hurricane disruption. THE OCEAN IS THE REAL DANGER AND IT IS NOT OBVIOUS ON A CALM-LOOKING DAY. Florida leads the country in rip current deaths, the flags are legal instructions rather than suggestions, and a double red flag means the water is closed. If a current takes you, the instinct to swim straight back to the beach is what drowns people: swim parallel to the shore until the pull releases you. Florida is also the lightning capital of the United States, and an open beach is the worst place to be when a summer storm arrives, so leave at the first thunder. Alligators live in every fresh water here, including the canals and drainage ponds between the houses, though never in the sea.
Reading On
Fort Lauderdale is forty minutes north of Miami and the two work as one trip: the Miami packing list covers the larger, louder city thirty minutes away by Brightline, and reading both is the sensible approach to south east Florida. Inland, the Everglades lie forty-five minutes west where the airboats go, and this library covers them inside the Miami travel guide for women, which carries a dedicated section on the wetland rather than a separate post. Along the Atlantic coast the Charleston packing list and the Savannah packing list cover the historic South with the same humidity and hurricane season, and the Atlanta packing list the Southern interior. For the Caribbean this coast faces, the Nassau packing list and the Havana packing list are both short flights. For the country, the United States travel guide for women carries the transport, the health insurance question and the regions in full. For why a fine wool long sleeve is the right thing on an open boat and in hard air conditioning, read the guide to merino wool base layers for women. Every destination we cover is indexed at the travel packing guide for women, and the base layers are at the Roman Trail collection.
If the outer journey is calling you, the inner one usually is too. Explore SoulMap at romantrail.com/blogs/soulmap.
