Fort Lauderdale

The city of Fort Lauderdale has long been a destination for the LGBTQ community for decades with the massive invasions of the Spring Breakers to the amazing LGBTQ districts in South Florida. Fort Lauderdale is home to a town within its city borders known as Wilton Manors. This is home to the LGBTQ life of the city! 

Wilton Manors is home to over 30 LGTBQ bars alone. Not including the abundance of local gay owned restaurants, cafes, and shops along "The Drive" (Wilton Drive).

Fort Lauderdale's downtown has a vibrant life. Downtown's most popular area is on Las Olas Blvd, an extremely popular and young place to be with its cute downtown style businesses and quaint restaurants and bars. Here you can also visit Riverwalk Park and the Broward Center of Performing Arts; a gorgeous theatre. On the other side of Las Olas Blvd, headed east, you will directly hit the beach's epicenter!

Fort Lauderdale is ranked in the top 5 cities in the the U.S. for its percentage of gay couples as a proportion of the total population. Wilton Manors has approximately over 1000% more resident gay couples per capita than the national average! This truly is a gay mecca with some of the most beautitul year round weather and beaches one can ask for.

(FLL) The city's airport is Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. If you arrive to FLL, you will arrive south of the city. There are no trains, trams, or subways at the airport, only local buses. If you decided to get a rental, you will can easily take US1 or I-95 north (via 595 East first).

(MIA) Miami's airport is 45 minutes south if you decided to arrive here. If you do, you can take the Brightline train directly from the airport to downtown Fort Lauderdale.

Fort Lauderdale is known for its amazing coastline and beaches. This area has no one, not two, but three LGTBQ beaches! Fort Lauderdale's premier gay beach is Sebastian Beach, the most popular on the corner of Fort Lauderdale Beach Blvd and Sebastian Beach. This gay hot spot beach is just one block north of the famous beach for Spring Breakers, which lies on the corner of Fort Lauderdale Beach Blvd and Las Olas Blvd. The area has many lively restaurants and shops, especially in the complex known as Beach Place!

We have our second notable beach; Stonewall Beach located in Pompano Beach. This beautiful stretch of the ocean is just north of Fort Lauderdale, more towards Boca Raton and Florida Atlantic University. This beach also has a wonderful downtown area with restaurants and shops.

The last, but not least beach, is the nude beach; Haulover Beach. This beach is located in between North Miami and Hollywood. This is the only legal nudist beach in Florida. Welcome to not only the LGBTQ community but to everyone, however, as we do, we have our own section at the north end of the beach. Check out more details in Havello's Directory.

While there are no subways in Florida, Fort Lauderdale does offer a few options for public transportation. They have an extensive bus system Broward Transit, the Brightline train, and also the Sun Trolley.

Brightline is a new train that has now connected Miami to Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, and soon Orlando, Disney, and Tampa! This is something similar to Europes interconnected train system for commuters over long distances. It is reshaping travel in Florida. As they are opening new stops, check out their site for exact details.

Sun Trolley looks like a cute New Orleans styled trolley, but on wheels. This trolley has several routes that will take you through downtown areas, to 26th Street east of Wilton Manors, and even to the beach and Las Olas Blvd. Its cuter than the bus and a good option for those without a car visiting.