The best day trips from Fort Lauderdale, FL sit in three drive-time rings: beach towns and wildlife parks inside 30 minutes, outlets, airboats, Miami and Palm Beach County between 30 and 60, and Everglades National Park, Key West and the Bahamas beyond that. There are 16 trips below in order of distance, each with an approximate drive time and what you actually do once you arrive. Two of them are honestly overnights, and this guide says which.
The Drive-Time Rings Around Fort Lauderdale
Broward County packs 31 separate municipalities along 24 miles of Atlantic beach, according to Visit Lauderdale, so a day trip here often means crossing three city lines in 20 minutes. North and south you pick I-95 for speed, US 1 for traffic lights or A1A for the water view and the slowest progress. West, I-595 and the Sawgrass Expressway run toward the suburbs and the Everglades.
Every drive time below is an off-peak car estimate, which is the only honest kind. I-95 and I-595 back up from 7 to 9 a.m. and 4 to 6 p.m., and winter season adds visitors to both. To stay inside the city instead, the things to do in Fort Lauderdale guide covers that.
Day Trips Within 30 Minutes of Fort Lauderdale
Lauderdale-by-the-Sea: The Reef You Can Swim To (About 15 Minutes North)
Lauderdale-by-the-Sea is its own small town, and the draw is coral reef within 100 yards of the beach that you reach with a mask and fins, plus a shipwreck snorkel trail off Datura Avenue. The Commercial Boulevard strip of beachwear and specialty shops takes under an hour, and in winter and spring a seasonal farmers market runs Sunday mornings at El Prado Park. Snorkel first, shop after. Frequent snorkelers in condos without closet space often rent a 5×5 storage unit for the gear.
Hollywood Beach Broadwalk (About 20 Minutes South)
The Hollywood Beach Broadwalk is a brick promenade of nearly 2.5 miles along the sand, with beachfront dining, shops and a steady stream of cyclists and joggers, the closest thing the region has to a real seaside boardwalk. Bring or rent a bike rather than trying to walk its length in August. Parking is split between garages and street meters and fills on weekends, so come in the morning or flip the plan and go for the evening.
Whiskey Creek at Mizell-Johnson State Park in Dania Beach (About 20 Minutes South)
Whiskey Creek, inside Dr. Von D. Mizell-Eula Johnson State Park, is a shallow mangrove-lined waterway running parallel to the ocean with calm water and no surf, the best water in the county for a nervous swimmer. Canoes, kayaks and paddleboards rent on site through Whiskey Creek Hideout, and owners rather than renters usually keep boards in a 5×10 storage unit with the beach wagon. The park opens at 8 a.m. and there’s a per-vehicle entrance fee.
Flamingo Gardens in Davie (About 25 Minutes West)
Flamingo Gardens is a 60-acre botanical garden and wildlife sanctuary in Davie, home to permanently injured Florida wildlife including river otters, bobcats, panthers and bald eagles, plus a free-flight aviary with more than 250 native birds, according to Visit Lauderdale’s Flamingo Gardens guide. The grounds open 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily with last entry at 4 p.m., and wildlife encounter shows run at 11:30 a.m., 1:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. The bookable Flamingo Encounter, where kids feed the birds up close, sells out and isn’t offered during mating season from March through mid-August.
Day Trips 30 to 60 Minutes From Fort Lauderdale
Sawgrass Mills in Sunrise (About 30 Minutes West)
Sawgrass Mills in Sunrise bills itself as the largest outlet destination in the U.S., with more than 350 stores plus The Colonnade Outlets wing for luxury labels (Simon). It’s the standing answer to a rained-out August afternoon. Pick a wing and a target instead of walking the whole thing. Furniture buyers who get ahead of their floor plan tend to park the overflow in a 10×10 storage unit, about half a one-car garage.
Butterfly World in Coconut Creek (About 30 Minutes North)
Butterfly World keeps roughly 20,000 butterflies and birds in walk-through aviaries, plus a lorikeet feeding area where the birds land on you. Plan one to two hours, so it’s a half day rather than a full one. Watch the clock: Butterfly World opens 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, last entry is 4 p.m., and the butterfly and lorikeet areas close at 4:30 p.m. Lorikeet nectar cups are cash only.
Everglades Holiday Park (About 35 Minutes West)
Everglades Holiday Park is a Broward County park on the edge of the Everglades at 21940 Griffin Road, with a Fort Lauderdale mailing address but well outside the city itself. You get about 60 minutes on an airboat through the sawgrass and a 20-minute live alligator show with the Gator Boys Alligator Rescue team. It opens at 9 a.m. daily, and the last airboat leaves at 5 p.m. in spring and summer and at 4 p.m. in fall and winter, so arrive at least 30 minutes before that.
Wynwood and the Miami Design District (About 40 Minutes South)
Wynwood is Miami’s street-art district, a walkable grid of murals, galleries, independent shops and restaurants, with the Design District’s luxury retail and public art a few minutes north. Park once in a garage and stay on foot, because circling for street parking here costs an afternoon. Treat it as a full day, and go early on weekends, when the sidewalks fill.
Delray Beach and Atlantic Avenue (About 40 Minutes North)
Delray Beach is the easiest day in Palm Beach County because everything worth doing sits on one street. Atlantic Avenue runs a walkable line of independent shops, galleries and restaurants straight down to a wide public beach, so you park once and leave the car alone. Take I-95 to get there quickly or A1A if the drive is part of the point.
Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens (About 45 Minutes North)
The Morikami, just west of Delray Beach, holds Roji-en, a set of six historical Japanese gardens, along with a bonsai collection, a tea house and rotating gallery shows. Allow several hours, because the gardens are the exhibit and rushing them defeats the trip. It’s open Tuesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and closed Mondays, and the historic Yamato-kan building closes over the summer because of the heat.
Vizcaya Museum and Gardens in Miami (About 45 Minutes South)
Vizcaya is an estate on Biscayne Bay completed in 1916 for industrialist James Deering, with an ornate main house and formal Italian-style gardens planted for the tropics. The bay-side terrace is the payoff. Buy tickets online, note that it’s open 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and closed Tuesdays, and check which areas are open, because preservation construction is underway on site.
Lion Country Safari in Loxahatchee (About 60 Minutes North)
Lion Country Safari is a drive-through preserve of more than 300 acres where herds move through open habitat and you stay in your own car for the loop. A walk-through adventure park with animal feeding encounters is attached, so budget for both halves. Gates run 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily with the last car admitted to the preserve at 4 p.m., so a late start costs you the loop.
Palm Beach and Worth Avenue (About 60 Minutes North)
Palm Beach is a walking and window-shopping day rather than a beach day. Worth Avenue carries the luxury retail, but the better part is the vias, the hidden courtyards off the main street, plus the Lake Trail along the Intracoastal. Save it for the dry season and feed the meters. Serious buyers should read the Fort Lauderdale shopping guide first.
Longer Trips and the Two That Deserve an Overnight
Shark Valley in Everglades National Park (About 75 Minutes Southwest)
Shark Valley is the best long day trip from the city: a 15-mile paved loop through sawgrass prairie you ride by tram, take on a rented bicycle or walk as far as you like, with an observation tower halfway. Dry-season alligator sightings are close to guaranteed. Parking is the whole problem: the National Park Service says the lot typically fills by 10 a.m. from December through April and advises arriving 1.5 to 2 hours before a booked tram. There’s no public transportation, so don’t count on a rideshare back.
Bimini in the Bahamas by Ferry (About 2 Hours Each Way)
Bimini is the only trip here that needs a passport, and the Baléaria Caribbean ferry leaves from Port Everglades Terminal 21, minutes from downtown. The crossing takes about 2 hours each way, with three to four sailings a week and both day-trip and overnight fares. Sailings are weather-dependent and the ride can be rough, so check the forecast. The overnight version is far more relaxed than the same-day one.
Key West by Road (About 3 Hours 45 Minutes Each Way)
Key West is the trip everyone asks about and the one that works worst in a day. The drive runs close to four hours each way, much of it on the two-lane Overseas Highway, so a self-drive round trip is eight hours in the car for a few hours on Duval Street. Organized coach tours are the sane one-day version. Otherwise book a night and stay for sunset at Mallory Square.
Parking, Season and Closing Days on a Fort Lauderdale Day Trip
Two of the best stops here close on the day people have free. The Morikami closes Mondays and Vizcaya closes Tuesdays, so check before driving an hour. The animal attractions also stop admitting well before closing: last entry is 4 p.m. at Flamingo Gardens, Butterfly World and Lion Country Safari.
Season changes the plan more than distance does. The wet season runs May through October, and June is the wettest month on NOAA’s 1991 to 2020 climate normals for the airport, which argues for outdoor trips in the morning and indoor ones after 2 p.m. Atlantic hurricane season runs June 1 to November 30 and peaks around September 10 per the National Hurricane Center. The dry season runs November through April, with the biggest crowds from December through April, and the best time to visit Fort Lauderdale guide breaks the months down.
Almost everything here needs a car. The exception is Hollywood, where the Water Taxi stops at Margaritaville on the Broadwalk. One local reality worth planning around: garages run hot and damp for half the year, and wetsuits, camping gear and anything with leather or electronics don’t survive it, which is why climate-controlled storage in Fort Lauderdale is the norm rather than an upgrade.
Frequently Asked Questions
What’s the best day trip I can take from Fort Lauderdale?
Shark Valley in Everglades National Park, about 75 minutes southwest, is the best single day trip because it delivers something you can’t get anywhere else. The 15-mile loop through sawgrass prairie brings near-certain alligator sightings in the dry season. If that’s too far, Delray Beach at about 40 minutes north gives you a walkable main street and a wide public beach off one parking spot.
What can I do within an hour of Fort Lauderdale?
Within an hour you can snorkel a reef from the sand at Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, ride an airboat at Everglades Holiday Park, see rescued panthers and otters at Flamingo Gardens in Davie, walk the Hollywood Beach Broadwalk, shop Sawgrass Mills in Sunrise, tour Vizcaya in Miami or drive the safari loop at Lion Country Safari. That covers water, wildlife, art and outlets without leaving the region.
What cities are within 2 hours of Fort Lauderdale?
Hollywood and Dania Beach are about 20 minutes south, Pompano Beach 25 minutes north, Sunrise and Davie 25 to 30 minutes west, Miami 40 to 45 minutes south, Delray Beach 40 minutes north and Palm Beach about an hour. Past that, the top of the Florida Keys and Jupiter both land inside 2 hours in normal traffic.
Which day trips from Fort Lauderdale work best with kids?
Flamingo Gardens, Butterfly World and Lion Country Safari hold a child’s attention longest, and all three put animals close. For water, Whiskey Creek at Mizell-Johnson State Park is calm with no surf, which suits small children better than the open ocean. The Fort Lauderdale with kids guide covers the in-city options.
Can you take a day trip from Fort Lauderdale to the Bahamas?
Yes. A ferry runs from Port Everglades to Bimini in about 2 hours each way, with same-day and overnight fares, and you need a valid passport. Sailings depend on the weather and the crossing can get rough. The same-day version leaves only a few hours on the island, which is why the overnight is the better trade.
Storage for the Gear That Makes These Trips Easy
Day trips in Broward County run on equipment, and Fort Lauderdale housing isn’t generous with closets. Value Store It’s Fort Lauderdale facility rents month-to-month with no long-term contract, so gear can go in for a season and come back out. Past the small lockers, a 10×5 unit, about a small walk-in closet, takes bikes and dive gear, and a 5×15 unit suits long loads like paddleboards. A 10×15 unit is slightly smaller than a one-car garage and holds a two-bedroom apartment. For a household mid-move, a 10×20 unit takes a three-bedroom home. The 10×30 unit is the largest and holds a four-bedroom home. The storage unit size calculator settles the guesswork in a minute.
Planning the Trip
Pick a ring, check the closing time and leave early. Every trip on this list rewards a 9 a.m. start more than any other decision you make.
