Explore Fort Lauderdale

Situated between pulsing Miami and fabled Palm Beach, Greater Fort Lauderdale has its own brand of affluent splendor with miles of sparkling beach bordering eastern shores.

Urban sophistication and a small-city feel make the so-called Venice of America, with its myriad natural and man-made waterways, an ideal vacation headquarters. Attractions and exploration opportunity await in all directions from what is also known as the “Yachting Capital of the World.”

From Port Everglades (next to the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention Center near Fort Lauderdale Beach), gleaming cruise ships regularly sail to the Bahamas and on into the Caribbean. To the north are sprawling estates, museum-quality hotels and stellar shops of Boca Raton and Palm Beach. To the south are Miami’s Art Deco District, Coconut Grove and Key Biscayne. Further south are the Florida Keys. Just west of Fort Lauderdale are the Everglades, and western towns like Davie where horses sometimes still compete with cars for road right-of-way.

About a 1.5 hour drive northwest from Fort Lauderdale is Lake Okeechobee, an angler’s paradise (encircled by a high levee, built after the 1928 hurricane) that also supports the state’s vegetable, sugar and cattle industries. Pahokee State Recreation Area’s marina has an observation tower and Port Mayaca allows for walking along the locks for a better view. The town of Okeechobee marks where Gen. Zachary Taylor fought the Seminoles with a monument to the battle south of town along U.S. 441.

Clewiston, surrounded by sugar cane fields, beckons with the historic Clewiston Inn and Ah-Ta-Thi-Ki, a museum showcasing Seminole history. Cattle country’s Moore Haven is home to the Lone Cypress, a 450-year-old tree once growing out of swampwater, now high and dry. Soil-rich fields around Belle Glade yield tomato and other vegetable crops, and nearby lakeside fishing camps rent boats for reeling in bass, crappie and bream.

Top