10 Best Beaches in Fort Lauderdale, Ranked
Reading Time: 12 minutes Sun, sand, and salt water are plentiful in South Florida. However, the amount of beautiful beaches may actually create a problem: what beaches in Fort Lauderdale should you visit? Use this ranking to decide on which one is best for you!
How we ranked the beaches:
We’ve ranked the beaches in Fort Lauderdale based on a few criteria:
- Parking. For us, cost of parking can make or break the day (that may be a bit dramatic, but you get the idea).
- Atmosphere: Entirely dependent on what you’re looking for. Relaxing vs Party. Active vs crowded.
- Amenities: bathrooms, grills, picnic tables, recreational equipment, etc.
- Proximity to bars, restaurants, and convenient stores. I mean you are on vacation, right? Where else are you going to get that fish sandwich and a beer?
- Outdoor Activities. Can you hike, paddle, snorkel, surf, or dive?
An additional note:
The beaches we ranked are not encompassing of all of Broward County, but rather the few beaches that can be conveniently reached within a reasonable time from Fort Lauderdale’s city center.
Why this zone? These are the beaches we visit most often. Additionally, if you’re visiting Fort Lauderdale, you’re likely staying within a similar area whether it’s downtown or near the beach.
Ranking the Best Beaches in Fort Lauderdale (and beyond)
10. Las Olas Beach
Parking: Metered street or ramp parking for a few dollars per hour. The most expensive in the city.
Atmosphere: Crowded. Particularly during spring break. Steer clear if you’re with a family and kids. Although, if you’re looking to party, this is your spot.
Amenities: The city just added some brand new facilities on the corner of Las Olas and Ocean Boulevard. Your best bet, though, is to go buy something in a nearby restaurant and use those.
Nearby Food and Drink: The bars of Fort Lauderdale Beach are just across the street. Most have pretty cheap bar food and cold drinks. Be sure to visit the iconic Elbo Room and our favorite beach bar, Blondies!
Outdoor Activities: Relaxing on the beach is about all you’ll do here. But hey, nothing wrong with that!
9. Fort Lauderdale Beach
This is the portion of beach between Sunrise Boulevard and Las Olas Boulevard. Typically, these beaches are flooded with people from the hotels and resorts just across the street.
Parking: Metered street parking for a few dollars per hour.
Atmosphere: Typically much more crowded than other beaches in the city.
Amenities: No public facilities. If you’re staying at a nearby resort, that’s your best bet.
Nearby Food and Drink: The entire street is peppered with bars and restaurants. Take your pick!
Outdoor Activities: Snorkeling and diving is possible but not recommended here with too much boat traffic in the area. Some outfitters along the beach rent jet skis, paddleboards, and other outdoor equipment.
8. Fort Lauderdale Jetties
A quiet spot at the end of Fort Lauderdale Beach just before the inlet. A great place to watch the cruise ships come in and out of port!
Parking: Some metered parking tucked away a few blocks away.
Atmosphere: Quiet. Not many people will come down this way so it’s a great escape from the crowds.
Amenities: None unless you’re in a nearby resort.
Nearby Food and Drink: Again, not much unless you’re staying in a nearby resort.
Outdoor Activities: Great spot for fishing or just watching the boats coming in. Walk on the rocks or enjoy a swim.
We don’t advise trying a snorkel or dive here due to the boat traffic and proximity to the inlet.
7. Hollywood Dog Beach
Just south of the Dania Beach Pier is a stretch of tropical hammocks next to the beach. The area is gorgeous and actually serves as a great cycling route. But more importantly, you can bring your furry friends!
Parking: Expensive as it’s more than $4.00 per hour.
Pro Tip: Call ahead and visit the nearby Marine Environmental Education Center and they’ll let you use their parking lot for free. You’ll get to see Captain, the Green Sea Turtle, and explore all sorts of resources about sea turtles. Just be sure to donate a few of the bucks you saved on parking.
Atmosphere: The whole stretch of sand is typically quiet. Every so often, though, the dog beach will have a lot of dogs on it! Lots of fun, though.
Amenities: None. The whole area doesn’t have any bathroom facilities.
Nearby Food and Drink: Just north is Quarterdeck Restaurants on Dania Beach Pier. It’s an affordable restaurant with great seafood, stunning views, and cold drinks. I bring my family here every time they visit town.
Outdoor Activities: Cycle the roadway down to the Hollywood Broadwalk and beyond. You can go SCUBA diving off the beach here as well – there’s nice patch reefs to discover about 100 yards straight out. We even found our own reef here one time and aptly named it “The OceanWide Reef”!
6. Dania Beach Ocean Park
A nice park with a fishing pier to explore. This is the easiest beach to get to if you’re fresh off the airplane and need instant sun, sand, and water!
Parking: Expensive at a couple bucks per hour. The parking lot is large and you should be able to find ample parking.
Atmosphere: Quiet. Typically, it’s people exercising, fishing, going for a dive, or heading to Quarterdeck Restaurant.
Amenities: A few bathrooms with changing rooms, freshwater showers, and water for drinking are available.
Nearby Food and Drink: Quarterdeck Restaurants is a great choice with a great view and affordable seafood.
Outdoor Activities: Fishing or just walking on the pier, exercising along the roadway, and scuba diving are great here. Just head north into the State Park for even more outdoor activities!
5. Dr. Von D. Mizell-Eula Johnson State Park
Tucked away off the beaten path is this treasure of a state park. This is our go-to spot to relax in the shade, sail, and grill out for the day.
Whiskey Creek inside the park provides a great place to tie up the boat and hang for the day with other boaters. It’s a pretty fun sight to see, actually.
Parking: $4 all day entry fee for a single occupant car. $6 for two or more people in a car. $2 per person if biking or walking in.
Atmosphere: Quiet to active. It’s not a party by any means but a lot of families having a BBQ and enjoying the outdoors. It’s a great family atmosphere.
Amenities: Pavilions, bathrooms, grills, picnic tables, recreational rentals, a boat ramp, and even a restaurant are all available in the park.
Nearby Food and Drink: Whiskey Creek Hideout is the only source of food and drink in the park. We personally have not eaten here, though.
Outdoor Activities: Everything a state park normally has to offer! Hiking, cycling, beaching, snorkeling, scuba diving, boating, paddling and more! Take your pick and you’ll find it here.
4. Loggerhead Park, Vista Park, Earl Lifshey Ocean Park
These are three separate city parks in Fort Lauderdale merely a few blocks from one another.
Parking: Cheap at $1.50 per hour. Actually, they’re the cheapest of any metered parking in the city. However, each park only has about 10 parking spots.
Atmosphere: Quiet. These are our favorite parks to go to if we want a relaxing day at the beach.
Amenities: No bathroom facilities. Each park does have freshwater showers and Loggerhead Park even has picnic tables and chairs available.
Nearby Food and Drink: A few blocks away are two unique restaurants on the intracoastal: Shooters and Bokampers. Both are staples in the Fort Lauderdale area and you can’t go wrong at either place. Other good, local restaurants are in the vicinity but those are the two biggest and most popular.
Outdoor Activities: These parks serve as the launching area for some of the best beach diving in America. About 100 yards from the shore you can find a gorgeous coral reef system teeming with life. Loggerhead Park is the best to launch from since the parking lot is so close to the beach and you have picnic table access to set up gear.
Map It! Earl Lifshey Ocean Park
3. Fort Lauderdale Beach Park
The city’s main beach park has it all: facilities, playground, picnic tables, grills, and plenty of palm trees to sling a hammock in. This place even serves as the site for many special events, like our favorite concert series, Tortuga Music Festival!
Parking: A couple bucks an hour. It is pricier. You may even be better off parking at Bahia Mar across the street. It entirely depends on how long you’ll be staying.
Atmosphere: Active to crowded, depending on the time of year. Much more family friendly than the beaches a few blocks away.
Amenities: Full facilities, drinking water, picnic tables, grills, playground, work out equipment, and everything else you can think of.
Nearby Food and Drink: There’s a market deli across the street that’s easy walk in and walk out for quick drinks and food. Walk a few blocks north and you’ll pass a couple touristy beach bars. Honestly, your choices are pretty endless.
Outdoor Activities: Beaching and swimming. It’s a good park to start on a bike or rollerblade ride down the strip, as well.
2. Lauderdale-by-the-Sea
Also known as the Beach Diving Capital of the US. This little beach town is truly unique for South Florida.
The beach itself is clean, gorgeous, and often serves as the site for sea turtle nests! After relaxing at the beach, take a walk into the downtown strip and grab a bite to eat at one of the many local restaurants! Or, take a walk down the pier and see what fish are being caught!
Parking: More expensive, upwards of $3 an hour on metered parking lots or street spots.
Atmosphere: Family friendly, active, but never too crowded. It’s spread out enough where you won’t be sitting on top of one another. Overall, the area has a great beach vibe.
Amenities: Spread throughout the area are more than enough facilities. There’s a few small parks with chairs, freshwater showers, and bathrooms.
Nearby Food and Drink: Take your pick! Our favorite is Taco Craft on the downtown strip. They have some of the best craft tacos we’ve ever had!
Outdoor Activities: Snorkeling and diving!!! Even if you’ve never been snorkeling before, this is the place to do it! The coral reef is just a short swim out from the beach where you’ll seemingly enter into another world! Believe it or not, I’ve seen 3 out of 11 of our coolest ocean animals here! Can you guess which ones?
Additionally, some cycling routes are best with the town as a starting or ending point. Have fun and enjoy!
1. Hugh Taylor Birch State Park
Fort Lauderdale’s very own “central park” is a glimpse back in time at the landscape which used to consume the area. This park is by no means large, but it is truly one of the best in the state.
Parking: Same as any other Florida State Park: $2 for pedestrians and bikers, $4 for single occupant vehicle, $6 for two or more occupant vehicles.
The parking lot itself is tucked back into the state park within the tropical brush. It’s a short walk across the A1A to the beach but the advantage is the street parking nearby is almost the price per hour that you’ll pay for the entire day.
Atmosphere: Quiet, peaceful, yet active. The beach itself will be active, particularly during peak season. But generally speaking, it stays relatively quiet and very relaxing.
Amenities: The park has it all: bathrooms, a beach store, adventure sport rentals, and a restaurant.
Nearby Food and Drink: Don’t bother with anywhere else other than the State Park’s own restaurant: Park & Ocean. This place may have the best atmosphere of any restaurant in the city.
Grab a beer and a snack, listen to the live band while you relax at a table overlooking the ocean. It truly doesn’t get any better than this.
Outdoor Activities: Additionally, this park has it all. Kayak, SUP, and canoe rentals in the park’s lagoon; bicycle rentals to cycle the park’s two mile loop; not to mention hiking trails, playgrounds, picnic tables, pavilions, and plenty of bathroom facilities. Or find good fishing spots along the intracoastal or just grill out and watch the boats drive by.
This is our favorite park and beach spot in the city – it may just become yours too.
Packing Reef Safe Sunscreen to the Beaches in Fort Lauderdale
Fort Lauderdale is unique when it comes to beaches. It’s one of the few places in the US where you can literally swim to a coral reef! However, this poses a certain problem few know about: sunscreen.
Most sunscreens are loaded with chemicals that harm our coral reefs! Which honestly, is an afterthought for many beach destinations. Thankfully, a new movement has emerged led by Stream2Sea!
Stream2Sea creates coral reef safe products including sunburn care, leave-in conditioner, and sunscreen! We exclusively use their products when beaching or diving!
Save on ALL Stream2Sea Products
Visit Stream2Sea and receive 10% off your purchase with the coupon code “oceanwide” at checkout!
What are your favorite beaches in Fort Lauderdale?
We want to hear from you! What were your favorite beaches in Fort Lauderdale during your vacation? Are there any spots we should consider adding to our list! Let us know below or contact us with your suggestions!
Traveling to Fort Lauderdale?
Use these travel resources to plan your trip!
Travel Planning Resources for Fort Lauderdale
Book Your Flight: Book cheap flights on Skyscanner, one of the best tools to find good deals.
Rent a Car: Discover Cars compares prices all over the globe – finding you the best deal on a car rental.
Book a Place to Stay: Booking.com is a great resource to compare hotels and guesthouses.
Or book a local apartment on AirBnB (get up to $55 off your first adventure when you go through this link!)
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Read More About Ocean Adventures in Fort Lauderdale
We hope you enjoyed our post on the best beaches in Fort Lauderdale. Hopefully you’ll find it useful on your next adventure! Here are a few more ocean-loving articles we think you should read next:
- 11 Reasons to Dive in Fort Lauderdale
- Visitor’s Guide to Cycling in Fort Lauderdale
- 6 Best SUP or Kayak Routes in Fort Lauderdale
Leave a comment below if you’ve been to any of the beaches above!
