1. Las Olas Boulevard

Fort Lauderdale’s palm-lined main street stretches from downtown galleries to beachfront cafés, featuring boutique shopping, sidewalk restaurants, and million-dollar yachts docked behind Mediterranean Revival mansions where New River canals meet upscale tourism.

Insider Tip: Skip the crowded beach end and explore the River House district west of Andrews Avenue on weekday mornings when local galleries open their studios and coffee shops aren’t mobbed with brunch crowds.

2. Fort Lauderdale Beach & Promenade

A 2-mile brick wave-patterned walkway runs along A1A’s wide golden sand beach, featuring volleyball courts, outdoor showers, and that classic Florida coastline vibe where spring break once ruled but now families and Europeans dominate the umbrella rentals.

Insider Tip: Head to the public beach access at Vistamar Street around sunrise—locals swim here before work, parking’s free until 9 AM, and you’ll have the water nearly to yourself.

3. Riverwalk Arts & Entertainment District

A scenic mile-long pathway follows the New River’s north bank through downtown, connecting the Broward Center for the Performing Arts, Museum of Discovery and Science, and waterfront restaurants where water taxis dock every fifteen minutes.

Insider Tip: Catch the free Friday night “Rockin’ Riverwalk” concerts from November through April—local bands play the Huizenga Plaza stage and food trucks line the promenade without the usual Las Olas price tags.

4. NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale

A brutalist concrete building downtown houses an impressive collection of CoBrA movement art and Latin American contemporary works, featuring rotating exhibitions that punch well above Fort Lauderdale’s typical tourist radar.

Insider Tip: Visit on the first Thursday evening of each month when admission’s free after 4 PM and local artists set up pop-up studios in the lobby—it’s part gallery opening, part networking scene the museum barely advertises.

5. Everglades Holiday Park

Ten miles west on Griffin Road, this working airboat operation offers genuinely thrilling rides into sawgrass marshes where alligators sun themselves and wading birds hunt, plus a somewhat kitschy but entertaining gator show that delivers exactly what it promises.

Insider Tip: Book the earliest morning departure (usually 9 AM) when temperatures are coolest, wildlife’s most active, and you’ll avoid the tour bus crowds that arrive after 11—captains also take more time and get closer to gator nests.

6. Bonnet House Museum & Gardens

A whimsical 1920s beach estate where artist Frederic Clay Bartlett created a personal paradise of hand-painted murals, shell-decorated archways, and subtropical gardens filled with monkeys, swans, and that eccentric Florida millionaire aesthetic modern developers demolished everywhere else.

Insider Tip: Skip the standard house tour and pay for the “Art & Architecture” specialty tour on Saturday mornings—it’s the only one that accesses Bartlett’s studio, explains his Chicago connections, and lets you see the carousel room up close.

7. Hugh Taylor Birch State Park

A 180-acre coastal hammock preserve squeezed between A1A and the Intracoastal, offering paved bike trails, kayak rentals, and one of the last patches of pre-development Florida barrier island forest within walking distance of high-rise hotels.

Insider Tip: Rent a kayak and paddle the park’s freshwater lagoon system at high tide—most visitors stick to bikes, so you’ll have the mangrove tunnels and turtle-filled channels almost entirely to yourself.

8. Stranahan House Museum

Fort Lauderdale’s oldest surviving structure—an 1901 Florida Cracker trading post where pioneers bartered with Seminoles—sits improbably preserved along the New River amid downtown development, offering tours that honestly address Frank Stranahan’s complicated legacy and Prohibition-era smuggling.

Insider Tip: Time your visit for the monthly “Moonlight Tour” (check their calendar)—guides share ghost stories, Prohibition tales, and access areas closed during daytime tours, including basement passages regular visitors never see.

9. International Swimming Hall of Fame

An unexpectedly fascinating museum celebrating aquatic athletes from Johnny Weissmuller to Michael Phelps, featuring Olympic memorabilia, vintage swimsuits, and two actual competition pools where you can swim laps after touring the galleries.

Insider Tip: Pay the small pool fee ($8 for non-members) and swim in the same 50-meter outdoor pool where Olympic trials once happened—it’s heated, never crowded on weekday afternoons, and infinitely cooler than hotel pools.

10. Flamingo Gardens

A 60-acre botanical garden and wildlife sanctuary in nearby Davie showcasing native Florida ecosystems, free-roaming peacocks, a champion tree grove, and the 1933 Wray Home, all dedicated to preserving Everglades species and educating visitors about genuine pre-theme-park Florida.

Insider Tip: Enter through the “narrated tram tour” included with admission—the 25-minute loop accesses the champion tree grove and wetlands areas you can’t reach on foot, and guides point out wildlife nests most self-touring visitors completely miss.