Travel Tips

Ask the Locals City Guide: Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Locations in this article:  Fort Lauderdale, FL




Fort Lauderdale Sunset - Fort Lauderdale Travel GuidePeter’s radio show is coming to you live this weekend from The Atlantic Hotel in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.

Fort Lauderdale is known for exceptional diving, great seafood, and a rich cultural history, so the locals have plenty to brag about.

Keep reading to find out more …

Jeff Torode, owner of South Florida Diving Headquarters  and a local navigator for the SE Florida Coral Initiative

Greater Fort Lauderdale has 23 miles of coral reefs and is known as the “Wreck Capitol of Florida,” so it’s hard to pick a favorite spot to dive. My favorite wreck would be the Rodeo 25, with its masts reaching to the sky like giant goal posts, and my favorite reef would have to be Anglin Pier Reef, replete with colorful coral and tropical fish.

For those who prefer snorkeling, there’s the “Nursery,” named after the family of nurse sharks that are often seen there and the wreck of the SS Copenhagen that went down in 1900. Just west of the SS Copenhagen site is large area of endangered Staghorn Coral.

Don’t miss this amazing slideshow: Rick Sammon’s Underwater Caribbean.

The sun and sea are notorious for causing swimmers to work up pretty sizable appetites. A great, off-the-beaten path restaurant that has managed to avoid the spread of stucco in South Florida is the Whale’s Rib. I recommend sitting at the raw bar and feasting on oysters, whale fries and a bowl of their famous lobster bisque.

Early Photo of Cap’s Place BarCap’s Place is another great Old Florida establishment. Built in the early 1900s, the bar and restaurant are covered with ancient pictures. The food is just as good as the atmosphere, and the hearts of palm salad is to die for.

If you’re looking for a great watering hole, try Piranha Pat’s in Pompano, another favorite local hang out. The only thing colder than the beer is North Dakota, the baby back ribs melt in your mouth and the seafood is as fresh as it gets. The owners, the Flannigan family, have been fishing these waters for over 50 years as you’ll note from the aged photos and decor.

Most Fort Lauderdale visitors are familiar with our sugar-sand beaches and glimmering night life, but there’s still plenty “Old Florida” left if you look for it.

Get more information in our Beach Vacations section.

Kitty Oliver, journalist, author, professor at Florida Atlantic University

The historic Black Fort Lauderdale is a new discovery for a lot of visitors looking for a different side of Fort Lauderdale than they may be used to.

Diversity is on the menu at Betty’s Soul Food Restaurant. Politicians, the well-heeled, and the working class dine elbow-to-elbow on oxtails and collards while carloads of Seminole Indian families stop in for takeout.

African American Research Library and Cultural Center displayThe Old Dillard Museum preserves the first school house for Blacks during segregation and offers displays on African American culture and Florida history. Upstairs, the Jazz Room has memorabilia on great artists and a cozy after-hours club feel where performers rock the house to standing room-only crowds.

The African American Research Library and Cultural Center features national exhibits like the Smithsonian’s history of African American Indians, oral histories on Blacks, Caribbeans, and Hispanics in South Florida, as well as artifacts from throughout the African Diaspora. Performances, lectures, workshops on tracing family history and children’s activities are presented regularly.

Local families and sports fans frequent the new Central Broward Regional Park to watch cricket matches and Australian rules football in a 5,000 seat arena, enjoy aquatics, boat rides, and meander nature trails. It’s a daylong oasis in the heart of busy Fort Lauderdale for a small entrance fee.

For more on these and other multicultural sites, scenes, and history, visit www.sunny.org/multicultural

Don’t miss Great Black History Month Travel Destinations.

Dr. Ray McAllister, historian and oceanographer

I’m primarily an ocean person, and my main interest in lighthouses—I think they’re beautiful. I had the good fortune to part of a family of lighthouse keepers: my mother and grandfather both kept the historic Hillsboro Lighthouse and no matter where you are in South Florida, you can likely see that beam. The Preservation Society runs tours of the lighthouse between for and six times a year in which we take a catamaran over to the Coast Guard dock. The view from the lighthouse is probably the best in all of Florida, 146 high and 360 degrees of unobstructed views.

Scuba diver - photo by Rick SammonI’ve been scuba diving for 58 years, and the creatures here are gorgeous. We don’t have the profusion of colors that the Pacific has, but this area is known for wreck and reef diving. Up here, you see giant sponges, gorgonians (aka sea whips and sea fans), and dozens—even hundreds—of all kinds of marine critters: colored angelfish, butterfly fish, parrot fish, tobacco fish.

There is beautiful diving all the way up the coast from Palm Beach to Key West. South of Palm Beach is a series of islands with passes between them; divers can go between the islands to get to the Florida Bay. Around here, the typical diver will go between Hillsboro Inlet and Ft. Lauderdale Inlet, or Palm Beach, Boynton and Hillsboro inlets. Just north of Ft. Lauderdale there are some great wrecks right off Boynton Beach, including the MV Castor and the MV Beck.

I’m also a fan of Butterfly World, which is the first and largest butterfly park in the country. It’s primarily an outdoor park, sitting on 10 acres of land with aviaries and gardens, as well as a research facility.

For more destination information, don’t miss our Off the Brochure Travel Guide: Fort Lauderdale, FL, Beaches & Beyond.

Find out why Fort Lauderdale’s airport is among America’s Best Alternate Airports.

Check out one of the world’s biggest cruise ships: The Oasis of the Seas Arrives in Fort Lauderdale.

GLBT travelers shouldn’t miss: Airport Incident Angers Gay Travelers, But Fort Lauderdale’s Still Friendly.