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Fort Lauderdale, FL is a coastal city located in Southeast Florida. It has long been known as a popular tourist destination due to its beautiful beaches, relaxed vibe, and many attractions. Visitors to the city can enjoy numerous activities such as visiting the historic Bonnet House Museum & Gardens, exploring Las Olas Boulevard for shopping and dining, or heading out on an Intracoastal Waterway boat tour. Other popular attractions include the Fort Lauderdale Beach Boardwalk, Everglades Holiday Park, and Hugh Taylor Birch State Park. Reviews of Fort Lauderdale are overwhelmingly positive, with Tripadvisor awarding the city an impressive 4.5 stars out of 5. Visitors praise the abundance of activities available for all ages in addition to its stunning beaches and excellent restaurants. With so much to do and see in this vibrant city, it's no wonder that Fort Lauderdale continues to be one of Florida's most sought-after destinations.
based on 64 ReviewsGet to know Fort Lauderdale with the latest comments and reviews from people who live in or have visited Fort Lauderdale
Here's how to win/live the South Florida life - 3/30/2019
Fort Lauderdale and South Florida are eclectic, which makes for a tough adjustment if you're from a homogenous area. The secret is to find the location of all the things you enjoy, and multiculturalism is HUGE. To adjust well, don't take things too personally. Yes, things are bureaucratic. Yes, time gets wasted. Yes, it's expensive. But, you do not have to assimilate either. Be your authentic self. Why? Nobody assimilates; folks simply adjust to one another. To make it here, you have to be open minded, a bit firm, yet patient. The city of Fort Lauderdale is on the ocean between Miami (whose unofficial motto is, "make it happen!") and West Palm Beach (whose unofficial motto is, "hedge and protect"). Both neighbors influence Fort Lauderdale, which makes the city and Broward County well balanced. There is also a heavy Caribbean influence, especially from English-speaking Jamaicans and well-adjusted Latin people (ie., Haitians). There are also immigrants from Europe (UK, Sweden, Romania,
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A Diverse city with good and bad points - 10/28/2016
Like any city, Fort Lauderdale has it's good points and it's bad. On the good side you can't beat the weather here, especially October to June. No snow and no winter stress to deal with. Nothing better than going to the beach on Christmas Day.
The city, and Broward County as a whole, is very diverse. If you have issues with living around different races and sexual orientations this is not the city or county for you. Very large black, Latin and Gay population here. People from all over the world come to live here, especially from South America, Cuba, Canada and the islands.
Most people are very friendly and welcoming, but as in any city you have your bad seeds as well. There are gangs and there is crime. Property crimes are high here but we don't have the gun violence here that they do in cities like Chicago or Detroit. No "Thirty five shot in a weekend" stories here.
There are the beaches, shopping and plenty of activities of every kind.
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Do NOT move here! - 7/1/2015
My husband I are are from Illinois and Indiana. We moved here five years ago and we still HATE it! In the Midwest people are friendly and care about others. I can't begin to count the number of dirty looks I've gotten simply for smiling at someone. If you hold a door open for someone they walk through like they are better than you and won't even look at you let alone show some sort of thanks. We have lived in the same apartment for all five years and we haven't made friends with anyone despite many attempts. If you only care about yourself this place is perfect for you. This selfishness continues onto the road. Good luck getting someone to let you change lanes during traffic. If you use a turn signal people speed up to block you out. I have almost been side swiped hundreds of times, because no one knows to check blind spots. If you don't tailgate everyone will cut you off only inches from hitting you. I have never wanted to move as much as do. Do NOT move here if you're nice, you'll
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Lived here for 20 years - 5/13/2015
Ok so I've lived in Ft Lauderdale for twenty years. We have two seasons here ... Hot and Hotter. I love it. Our winter comes in January for 2-3 weeks and we all look waaay back in the closet for those buried sweaters to show off and then put them away after we "freeze" when the temps go down to 50. LMAO. Summer brings rain (hence perpetually green here) and yes the threat of hurricanes. It's an easy city to commute around, especially if you live in East Ft. Lauderdale. Everything is within 10 miles. World class cruise port, decent airport and Miami is 50 miles south (for better mins tops and int'l flights). Great performing arts center. LIBERAL politics (but no one will ever accuse Florida of being progressive, but it's slowwwwly changing). Fairly large same sex community that is accepted everywhere. Great medical facilities.
CONS: traffic (during tourist season Nov-May), too many Manhattanites and all that entails. Get it out of your head that it's "cheap" to
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Rents - 1/26/2015
It is surprising how high rents and housing costs are compared to other
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One of the worst places I've lived - the people ar - 5/26/2014
I moved back to the Oakland Park, Fort Lauderdale, Pompano Beach area in Mid 2013 after graduating. The city is nice looking with decent weather, but the PEOPLE are the problem. Someone submitted a post on May 17, 2014 about Orlando, FL, but what she expressed was exactly how I felt while living in this city. She wrote:
"Truth how bad Orlando, really is - 3/18/2011 - 5/17/2014
no he is right...ORLANDO IS THE WORST!! people there will be nice to you if you are average- if you are different or even outstanding you will get abused. the residents are ALL PSYCHOPATHS. very few are NORMAL. Orlando is full of devil people? they aren't human they are robotic demons from hell designed to infest that city and destroy the normal people that live there. there are no good jobs and recruiters are losers from other cities who shun good qualified people. ive worked at places full of angry ugly fat Hispanics and low lifes who all treated me like dirt. there is so much evil and bad
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Tropical living - 10/16/2013
I love where I live and I am a native Floridian born in Miami. The weather is great here it can truly be paradise at times. But, like every other city it has it downside and to me that is it is very overpopulated! There are some great people here and I know a lot of them, getting to the age that I want a more simple life. I do love south florida it is a great place to
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Ready for a change - 9/6/2012
I've been living in Ft Lauderdale for 8 years now. I'm originally from Northwest PA, so you can imagine the desire I had to live somewhere in the south.
I moved here for college and it was quite the transition for me as it was a huge culture shock.
I can honestly say after being here through the toughest years (and still growing up) of 18-26 I'm over this place.
Finding work is difficult, there seems to be no middle class. It's either you're driving a Ferrari or you're the person waiting hand and foot on the owner of that Ferrari. Everything here is about show, who has this amount of money, where their 2nd home is, plastic surgery and body issues. There a very few genuine people in this town. Neighbors don't speak, you don't wave hello to passer by's.
The plus sides to this city is the beach and of course the tropical weather. If you enjoy walking or riding a bike this is a great place for that. South Florida is lush with many different cultures and living
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Not too keen - 4/13/2012
I recently moved to Fort Lauderdale and will have been living here a year, come August. I'm not fitting into the culture at all. Overall, there is a huge phoniness and detachment from others. I truly miss the mid-west lifestyle and the kindness and respect you receive from the people. I thought this town would be full of culture with all the Island people and persons of Spanish decent, but it's not that way at all. I feel like I live in a 3rd world country. There are way too many snow birds here as well as transients. I thought they mostly resided on the gulf. There also seems to be a lack of rich culture as it relates to music, food, and the arts. These are very important to me. I thought living here would be much better than it is. What a huge disappointment. My only saving grace is the beach! At least I have that. Huge thumbs down for me. Did I pick the wrong town in FL to move to? Are there hidden treasures in Fort Lauderdale that I have yet to discover? At any rate, my condo is
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