Fort Lauderdale has long been one of the country's top vacation spots, there are so many things to do on Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Fort Lauderdale activities include museums, abundant and eclectic
nightlife along with relaxing on the community's various beaches. Pick up a map of the city and the surrounding area at the centrally located Visitor's Bureau to find your way around. Active
tourists who enjoy getting out into nature will love Hugh Taylor Birch
State Park. Available activities in the park include hiking on nature
trails, picnicking, camping and canoeing. Other Fort Lauderdale
excursions include stops at the planet's largest drive-in movie theater,
which is located on the site of one of the city's other must see
attractions in Fort Lauderdale, the Fort Lauderdale Swap Shop. The Fort
Lauderdale Swap Shop is a large all-weather, year round local flea
market that draws visitors from all parts of Florida as well as the
surrounding states, there more than 15 places that can you visited. Before we informs the tourist attraction in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, let we informs how the city itself.
Fort Lauderdale is a city in the State of Florida, on the Atlantic coast 23 miles (37 km) north of Miami. It is the county seat of Broward County. The city is a popular tourist destination, with an average year-round temperature of 77 degrees and an annual 3,000 hours of sunshine. Greater Fort Lauderdale which takes in all of Broward County hosted 12 million visitors in 2012, including 2.8 million international visitors. Fort Lauderdale is located at 26°8′N 80°9′W (26.141,-80.144). According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 38.6 square miles (99.9 km2), 34.7 square miles (90.0 km2) of which is land and 3.8 square miles (9.9 km2) of which is water (9.87%). Fort Lauderdale is known for its extensive network of canals; there are 165 miles (266 km) of waterways within the city limits. The city of Fort Lauderdale is adjacent to the Atlantic Ocean, includes 7 miles (11 km) of beaches.
1. Hugh Taylor Birch State Park
Hugh Taylor Birch State Park is a Florida State Park located in Fort Lauderdale, on East Sunrise Boulevard (SR 838), between the Intracoastal Waterway and SR A1A. Among the wildlife of the park are the gopher tortoise, eastern indigo snake, butterflies, and turtles. Visitors also can see gray squirrels, marsh rabbits, and opossums, as well as more than 200 species of wading birds, hawks, and ducks. Activities include canoeing, bicycling, fishing, swimming, Segway tours and group camping. Visitors can also enjoy inline skating, hiking, picnicing, and wildlife viewing. Amenities include canoe rental, a mile-long freshwater lagoon, two short trails, a beach, picnic areas, and a group/youth campground. The Terramar Visitor Center is located in the Mediterranean and Art Deco style home of Hugh Taylor Birch, an attorney for Standard Oil who built his home in 1940. The visitor center features exhibits about Hugh Taylor Birch, the history of Fort Lauderdale, Florida ecology and wildlife of the park's ecosystem. The Visitor Center is open on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays.Florida state parks are open between 8 a.m. and sundown every day of the year (including holidays).
2. The Bonnet House
The Bonnet House (also known as the Bartlett Estate) is a historic home in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States. It is located at 900 Birch Road. On July 5, 1984, it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. It is named after the Bonnet Lily. The property was originally acquired in 1895 by Hugh Taylor Birch, a successful Chicago lawyer, and given to his daughter Helen and her husband, artist Frederic Clay Bartlett, as a wedding gift in 1919. Bartlett built a plantation-style home on the property and wintered there with his wife and child from a previous marriage, Frederic Jr, until Helen died in 1925. Bartlett then married Evelyn Fortune Lilly, ex-wife of Eli Lilly, and they continued to use the home as a winter residence until his death in 1953 and hers in 1997. She deeded the property in 1983 to the Florida Trust for Historic Preservation, which maintains the property as a historic house museum called the Bonnet House Museum & Gardens.
3. The Museum of Art
The Museum of Art | Fort Lauderdale is an art museum in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Originating in 1958 as the Fort Lauderdale Art Center, the museum is located in a 75,000-square-foot (7,000 m2) modernist building designed by Edward Larrabee Barnes. The current building was constructed in 1986, with a 10,000-square-foot (930 m2) wing added in 2001. The main exhibition area comprises 21,000 square feet (2,000 m2); a sculpture terrace on the second floor adds an additional 2,800 square feet (260 m2) of space. The museum, unlike major museums in nearby Miami, Florida and Palm Beach, Florida, emphasizes contemporary (20th century) projects. Among its 6200 pieces are a significant collection of ceramics by Pablo Picasso, a collection of contemporary Cuban art representing the contributions of more than 125 artists, and North America's largest exhibition of work from the Northern European CoBrA avant-garde movement. The museum's collections are strong in the cultures of South Florida and the Caribbean. The museum is associated with Nova Southeastern University.
4. Stranahan House
Stranahan House is the home of Fort Lauderdale pioneers Frank and Ivy Stranahan. Built in 1901 as a trading post and converted into a residence for the Stranahans in 1906, the house is the oldest surviving structure in Broward County. It was placed on the National Register of historic Places in 1974 and today operates as a historic house museum. The House is open for guided tours at 1, 2, and 3 p.m. daily, and hosts special events throughout the year.
5. The International Swimming Hall of Fame and Museum
The International Swimming Hall of Fame and Museum (ISHOF) is a history museum and hall of fame, located at One Hall of Fame Drive, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States, operated by private interests and serving as the central point for the study of the history of swimming in the United States and around the world. Exhibits include ancient art and both reproductions and original art depicting famous moments in swimming history (from ancient times to modern), swimwear, and civil rights, as well as memorabilia and artifacts belonging to persons who have promoted or excelled in aquatics. It is recognized by FINA (Fédération Internationale de Natation) as the official hall for the aquatics sports. The Hall of Fame is dedicated to promoting the benefits of swimming as both an essential life skill and sport, through the operation of the World Museum of Swimming and by immortalizing the achievements and contributions of those who have distinguished themselves in the following six branches of aquatic sports.
6. South Beach
South Beach, also nicknamed SoBe, is a neighborhood in the city of Miami Beach, Florida, United States, located due east of Miami city proper between Biscayne Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. The area encompasses all of the barrier islands of Miami Beach south of Indian Creek. This area was the first section of Miami Beach to be developed, starting in the 1910s, thanks to the development efforts of Carl G. Fisher, the Lummus Brothers, and John S. Collins, the latter whose construction of the Collins Bridge provided the first vital land link between mainland Miami and the beaches. The area has gone through numerous artificial and natural changes over the years, including a booming regional economy, increased tourism, and the 1926 hurricane, which destroyed much of the area. As of 2010, about 39,186 residents live in South Beach.
7. John U. Lloyd Beach State Park
John U. Lloyd Beach State Park is a Florida State Park located in Hollywood, Florida off A1A. The park's namesake served as Broward County Attorney for over 30 years and was instrumental in obtaining the land for the park. Activities include fishing, surf casting, canoeing, and kayaking, as well as swimming, boating, picnicking, and wildlife viewing. Amenities include a beach, two boat ramps, an education center, picnic tables, grills, and seven covered picnic pavilions. Visitors can rent canoes, kayaks, pavilions, and volleyball nets and balls. The park is open from 8:00 am till sundown year round. In addition the park includes Whiskey Creek, an inlet which serves as a manatee sanctuary.
8. The Fort Lauderdale Swap Shop
The Fort Lauderdale Swap Shop is a 14-screen drive-in theater in Lauderhill, Florida, USA, that doubles as the largest drive-in and largest daily flea market in the world (local broadcast advertising states it to be "Florida's second-biggest tourist attraction"). The largest tourist attraction is supposedly Walt Disney World. From 1989-2006 the Hanneford Family Circus had been performing daily (except Tuesdays) in the Swap Shop food court, entertaining the roughly 12 million people who visit each year.
9. The Museum of Discovery and Science
The Museum of Discovery and Science is a museum located in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. It is one of the largest museums of its kind in Florida, and has the most visitors of any museum in the state. The museum features its own AutoNation IMAX theater, and shows 3-D IMAX films in which viewers wear special glasses and headsets. The museum also features a number of "ecoscapes", as well as a simulated ride to Mars and a MaxFlight airplane simulator. Among the more popular aspects of the museum are the quantity and variety of Floridian animal species on display. The public are allowed to get quite close to the animal life, and the museum frequently has organized animal-centered demonstrations, or more informal meet-and-greets with native and exotic Florida fauna. In November 2011 the museum opened a 34,000 square foot, $25 million expansion, designed by Cambridge Seven Associates. The expansion, titled the EcoDiscovery Center, doubles the amount of exhibit space in the museum and includes exhibits called: The Everglades Airboat Adventure, Prehistoric Florida, Otters at Play, Storm Center, Florida Water Story. The new wing also houses four lifetime learning spaces and a large temporary exhibit space. The new wing opened simultaneously with a new Science Theater in the aviation exhibit gallery.
10. The Broward Center for the Performing Arts
The Broward Center for the Performing Arts is a large multi-venue theater and entertainment complex located in the heart of downtown Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA. Opened in 1991 on a 5.5-acre (22,000 m2) site along the north bank of the New River at Sailboat Bend, the center became a catalyst for major downtown revitalization efforts and an anchor of the Riverwalk Arts and Entertainment District. Designed by award-winning architect Benjamin C. Thompson, the Broward Center is considered the cultural heart of Broward County. Hosting operas, ballets, concerts, plays, lectures and numerous community events in its four theaters, Broward Center is partners in the arts with several renowned organizations including the Symphony of the Americas, Florida Grand Opera, Miami City Ballet, Concert Association of Florida, Gold Coast Jazz. National tours of Broadway productions are presented in partnership with Broadway Across America. Broward Center's mission includes a strong focus on integrating the arts into education and a substantial portion of annual programming is dedicated to educational and community endeavors. Broward Center for the Performing Arts is in the downtown riverfront area, in the South Florida region. In the process, it has also become one of the USA's most visited theaters, ranked number four in the world by Venues Today and seven worldwide by concert trade publication Pollstar for annual sales in 2007. As of 2011, the Broward Center receives over 700,000 patrons annually with over 700 different events. Plans were also announced for an expansion to the center to begin in spring 2012.
