Ft. Lauderdale Hotels - Orientation to the Fort Lauderdale Area. Lodging Guide.

Orientation to the Fort Lauderdale Florida Area

23 miles N of Miami

Until the 2000 presidential election fiasco, most people had never heard of Broward County. Less exposed than the highly hyped Miami, Broward County is a lot calmer and, according to some, a lot friendlier than the Magic City. In fact, a friendly rivalry exists between residents of Miami-Dade County and Broward County. Miamians consider themselves more sophisticated and cosmopolitan than their northern neighbors who, in turn, dismiss the alleged sophistication as snobbery and actually prefer their own county's gentler pace.

With more than 23 miles of beachfront and 300 miles of navigable waterways, Broward County is also a great outdoor destination. Scattered amid the shopping malls, condominiums, and tourist traps is a beautiful landscape lined with hundreds of parks, golf courses, tennis courts, and, of course, beaches as well as Fort Lauderdale Hotels and Ft. Lauderdale Hotels.

The City of Hallandale Beach is a small, peaceful oceanfront town located just north of Dade County's Aventura. Condos are the predominant landmarks in Hallandale, which is still pretty much a retirement community, although the revamped multimillion-dollar Westin Diplomat Resort is trying to revitalize and liven up the area. Just north of Hallandale is the more energetic, but not-yet-thriving Hollywood.

Like many other small American towns, South Florida's city of Hollywood has been working on redeveloping its downtown area for years. Once a sleepy community wedged between Fort Lauderdale and Miami, Hollywood is now a bustling area of 1.5 million people belonging to an array of ethnic and racial identities: from white and African American, to people of Jamaican, Chinese, and Dominican descent. (Money magazine trumpeted the self-described "City of the Future" as having an ethnic makeup that mirrors what America will look like by the year 2022.)

A spate of redevelopment has made the pedestrian-friendly center along Hollywood Boulevard and Harrison Street, east of Dixie Highway, a popular destination for travelers and locals alike. Some predict Hollywood will be South Florida's next big destination--South Beach without the attitude, traffic jams, and parking nightmares. While the prediction is a dubious one, Hollywood is definitely awakening from its long slumber. Prices are a fraction of other tourist areas, and a quasi-bohemian vibe is apparent in the galleries, clubs, and restaurants that dot the new "strip." Its gritty undercurrent, however, prevents it from becoming too trendy.

Fort Lauderdale, and its well-known strip of beaches, restaurants, bars, and souvenir shops, has also undergone a major transformation. Once famous (or infamous) for the annual mayhem it hosted during Spring Break, this area is now attracting a more affluent, better-behaved yachting crowd.

In addition to beautiful wide beaches, the city, also known as the Venice of America, has more than 300 miles of navigable waterways and innumerable canals, which permit thousands of residents to anchor boats in their backyards. Boating is not just a hobby here; it's a lifestyle. Visitors can easily get on the water, too, by renting a boat or simply hailing a moderately priced water taxi.

Huge cruise ships also take advantage of Florida's deepest harbor, Port Everglades, whose name is somewhat misleading because it is not part of the Florida Everglades. The seaport is actually located on the southeastern coast of the Florida peninsula, near the Fort Lauderdale Hollywood International Airport on the outskirts of Hollywood and Dania Beach. Port Everglades is the second-busiest cruise-ship base in Florida after Miami and one of the top five in the world.

Fort Lauderdale

A college student from the 1960s returning to Fort Lauderdale for a vacation today wouldn't recognize the place. Back then, the Fort Lauderdale beachfront was lined with bars, T-shirt shops, souvenir stores, and fast-food stands. The downtown area consisted of a single office tower and some government buildings. Now, following an enormous renovation program, the beach is home to upscale shops and restaurants, including the popular Beach Place retail and dining complex, and downtown growth continues at a rapid pace.

In the years following World War II, sleepy Fort Lauderdale -- with miles of inland waterways -- promoted itself as the "Venice of America" and the nation's yachting capital. But in 1960 the film Where the Boys Are described swarms of spring break revelers converging on the town and changed everything. By 1985 their numbers had mushroomed to 350,000. Growing weary of busted-up hotel rooms and the abuse of their splendid beaches, the city fathers put the squeeze on the collegiate carousing and never looked back.

Now the city has been totally transformed into a leading warm-weather vacation destination thanks to major investments by both the private and public sectors. A major beneficiary is Las Olas Boulevard. Though it was already famous for its trendy shops, the sidewalks are no longer rolled up when the sun goes down. Nearly two dozen new restaurants have sprung up, and on weekend evenings hundreds of strollers tour the boulevard, taking in the food, the jazz bands, and the scene.

Farther west, along New River, is evidence of Fort Lauderdale's cultural renaissance: the arts and entertainment district and its crown jewel, the Broward Center for the Performing Arts. Of course, what makes Fort Lauderdale a major draw for visitors is the 2-mi stretch of unobstructed beachfront. Add to all of this 3,000 hours of sunshine a year, and you have one of Florida's prettiest and most diverse and dynamic places to vacation.

We are your Guide to Ft. Lauderdale Hotels and Discount Hotel Reservations in the Fort Lauderdale Florida Area.