What shouldn't we miss in Ft. Lauderdale? Best Beaches FL?

[pieinsky]

What shouldn't we miss in Ft. Lauderdale? What are the best beaches?We will be staying a couple days in FL after our cruise with the family...3 kids ages 17, 15 & 12. Any suggestions?

 

Thanks a lot.

 

Rebecca

[biensur]

We live in Lauderdale and our brood are 20, 15 and 14. The kids think we live at a playground.

 

A lot depends on whether you have a car or not......public transport is lousy here. Let me know and I can better reply.

[pieinsky]

Hey thanks for the reply!

 

Right now we don't have plans to rent a car. Transportation is lousy, though, huh? Don't know if at this point we could even reserve one during Spring Break time in Florida. Maybe we could. Could you give me a scenario for without a car, then with one? Probably my husband will not want to rent one if we can help it. We will be staying at the Amerisuites near the airport, and would have half of Saturday and all of Sunday with nothing to do. Are there even any restaurants within walking distance of this hotel?

 

Sounds like with kids your kids' ages, you should have a pretty good idea of what might be interesting to us. A good beach would be of interest for one thing, as we will be on vacation from chilly Wisconsin!

 

Thanks for taking the time to help me out.

 

Rebecca

[Bequia]

Best beach in Ft Lauderdale....Hollywood Beach! http://www.visithollywood.org/

[biensur]

Your hotel is very centrally located for you to get to places kiddos like.

 

The Fort Lauderdale Water taxi is probably your best means of transport. You can walk to the stop at Marriott Marina/Convention Center no problem (see this link) http://www.watertaxi.com/FortLauderdale/FLLMap.Asp

 

You can take this to the Fort Lauderdale City beach - a great area for the kids. The park (opposite the highway A1A where the Bahia Mar stop is) has basketball court, bathrooms, picnic benches, etc. This is likely a good 1/2 day plus activity, because there are a few interesting stores and inexpensive restaurants along the strip (we walk north from the park on A1A to the Beach Place - great stores and food). My guys love the beach here and we go often for fun and birthday parties. At Beach Place there is a company called Duck Tours (I think they are still there after Wilma) that offers tours in an amphibious vehicle that goes by land and sea, which is fun and the kids get a kick out of it. My guys like looking at the other boats and yachts, and seeing the houses owned by who's who. We spotted a manatee (sea cow) once on this. The water taxi can also take you to Las Olas and the Riverwalk, again more stores and restaurants but the Science Center is here and it has an IMAX theater that often plays great movies, so this is a popular evening activity for the kids. see link http://www.goriverwalk.com/default.asp

 

The Jungle Queen is a Mississippi type paddle wheel boat that we have taken to a small island where you can see gators and native Seminole Indians wrestle them and sell crafts. My kids comment to this is great boat ride there, like the gators, but same ride back.... see link http://www.junglequeen.com/index1.html

 

We also have done a 1/2 day ocean drift fishing morning. This is located at the Bahia Mar. We've caught a few here, the most interesting to the kids was the puffer fish that we obviously released! See link http://www.flamingofishing.com/

 

My guys love to go to Boomers and Dave and Busters. Both are about 8 miles away by taxi from your hotel. Boomers has an old fashioned roller coaster and go carts as well as other outdoor attractions. Even my husband and I have fun here. They also like Dave and Busters which is a restaurant/arcade with video games, simulators, pool skeeball, etc. Another night spot for Saturday.

 

If you have a car, you can travel 25 miles west to the Everglades and take an airboat ride to see gators. My guys love doing this. We go to Holiday Park. If you are adventurous, the better time is 50 miles away at the Billie Swamp reservation http://www.seminoletribe.com/safari/ which offers better airboat rides, tours of the Indian museums, the opportunity to eat alligator bites, etc. (Oh by the way, Shirt Tail Charlies in Las Olas Riverwalk also has gator on the menu). The Everglades is very unique. If you are not going to rent a car, you may want to see if you can book a ship tour onboard, post cruise for those with later flights. You would leave the ship, have your luggage onboard the bus with you, then get dropped at the airport to take the hotel shuttle to check into the hotel. Your rooms would be ready them

 

I've attached the link to the Ft. Lauderdale events guide which I often use when we have nieces and nephews come. http://fort.lauderdale.eventguide.com/kids.html

 

Let me know if you have any questions......and have fun!!!

[pieinsky]

Thank you, thank you for the ideas, Biensur.

 

Rebecca