Almost everything worth doing in Hollywood sits on one east-west line about eight miles long: the car-free Broadwalk on the sand, six walkable blocks of downtown a mile inland, a belt of parks and markets along Sheridan Street, and the Seminole Hard Rock property out by the Turnpike. This guide covers 19 things to do in Hollywood, FL, grouped by where they fall on that line, with parking, hours and season notes attached so you can plan a day that doesn't cross the city twice.
Getting Oriented Along Hollywood's East-West Spine
Hollywood is a full-size city, not a beach strip. About 153,000 people live across its 30.8 square miles, making it the third-largest city in Broward County (2020 census figures). For a visitor, that means real distance, and the distance runs east to west.
Start at the ocean, where the Broadwalk and the beachfront hotels take the first few blocks and nothing needs a car. Cross the Intracoastal and downtown arrives in about a mile: Hollywood Boulevard and Harrison Street around Young Circle, where the murals, galleries, cinema and better kitchens sit steps apart. Keep going west and the city turns residential, with the parks, the weekend market and the indoor attractions along Sheridan and Stirling. The Hard Rock anchors the far end.
Beach and downtown are each walkable on their own, but not walkable to each other in August. The city's Sun Shuttle links City Hall Circle, downtown and the beach; app-requested rides cost $2 per person each way within a zone, and flagging one down is free if you take the route the driver is already on (City of Hollywood). Anything west of I-95 needs a car, and a surprising share of the best of it costs nothing.
The Broadwalk and Hollywood Beach
Hollywood Beach Broadwalk: 2.5 Car-Free Miles of Brick
The Hollywood Beach Broadwalk runs close to 2.5 miles of brick from Jefferson Street north to Sheridan Street, ending at Hollywood North Beach Park, with a bike lane on one side and cafes, shops and bars on the other (City of Hollywood). Travel + Leisure named it one of America's best beach boardwalks, and free concerts run at the Hollywood Beach Theatre bandshell. Walk it early, because there's almost no shade by midday.
Charnow Park: Free Splash Play Directly on the Sand
Charnow Park sits on the Broadwalk at 300 Connecticut Street with a children's water playground, which makes it the stretch to aim for with small kids. It's free, and it's the meeting point for the monthly Hollywood Beach Sweep. Nothing shades the splash play, so mornings beat afternoons in summer. Families here collect bikes, boards and beach chairs faster than a condo closet allows, which is what a 5×10 storage unit is sized for. Our guide to things to do in Hollywood with kids covers the family end of the city.
FlowRider Surf Simulator at Margaritaville Hollywood Beach Resort
A FlowRider Double surf simulator sits right on the Broadwalk at the 349-room Margaritaville Hollywood Beach Resort, and watching people fall off it from the promenade costs nothing. Sessions are paid and carry height and age rules, so check before queuing with a young child. The resort's 5 o'Clock Somewhere Bar & Grill is open to the public and has a Water Taxi stop, which is how you reach Fort Lauderdale without a car. Our day trips from Hollywood guide has more of those.
Hollywood North Beach Park and the Carpenter House Turtle Center
Hollywood North Beach Park caps the north end of the Broadwalk with beach access and picnic areas, and it's the right target when the central beach lots fill. On its grounds, Nova Southeastern University runs the Marine Environmental Education Center at the Carpenter House, home to Captain, a green sea turtle left permanently injured by a boat strike (Nova Southeastern University). It's one turtle and an exhibit, not a full aquarium, so check open days first.
Hollywood Brewing Co.: The Only Brewpub on the Promenade
Hollywood Brewing Co. brews on site at 290 N Broadwalk, on the sand side of the promenade, which no inland taproom can match. The house lineup runs to a Mango IPA, Bad Hombre Stout, Fresh Hop Pilsner and Locals Only Lager, with a full kitchen behind it. Come for the beer and the address, not for a quiet table. Our Hollywood nightlife guide covers the rooftops and late kitchens.
Le Tub: A Converted Gas Station and a 13-Ounce Burger
Le Tub occupies a converted gas station at 1100 N Ocean Drive on the Intracoastal side, and the order is the 13-ounce hand-pattied burger on a Kaiser roll. There are no reservations, ever, and the deck seats over the water carry a long wait at peak hours. The kitchen runs to midnight most nights and 1 a.m. on Friday and Saturday, so arriving late is the smart play.
Downtown Hollywood and Young Circle
ArtsPark at Young Circle: Ten Acres in the Middle of Downtown
ArtsPark at Young Circle is ten acres of green ringed by the downtown blocks, with an amphitheater, a feature fountain by Japanese artist Ritsuko Taho and a children's play area with an interactive fountain. Free family movies run every Friday, and a guided drum circle meets at Palm Court on each full moon. The park is plastic and foam free, so leave bottled water in the car.
Downtown Hollywood Mural Project and the Monthly ArtWalk
The Downtown Hollywood Mural Project spreads large-scale work by local and internationally known artists across the downtown blocks, and seeing it costs nothing. Go in the morning, before the heat and before parked cars block the lower halves of the walls. The Downtown Hollywood ArtWalk runs the third Saturday of every month with a free guided mural tour (Visit Lauderdale).
Art and Culture Center of Hollywood
The Art and Culture Center of Hollywood at 1650 Harrison Street runs contemporary exhibitions, live stage performances and workshops, and it's genuinely indoors, which makes it a real answer to an afternoon downpour rather than a consolation prize. Check the exhibition calendar first, because between shows there's noticeably less to see.
Cinema Paradiso Hollywood
Cinema Paradiso Hollywood at 2008 Hollywood Boulevard shows foreign, independent and festival films, and it hosts screenings for the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival, which reaches its 40th year in 2026. The Art and Culture Center now operates it. Screenings run roughly Tuesday through Friday afternoons and evenings, Saturday from 1 p.m. and Sunday from noon.
Thanks to Harrison: All-Day Cooking Two Blocks From Young Circle
Thanks to Harrison at 2001 Harrison Street runs 8:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily under chef Ivan Proseniuk, with four variations of syrnyky at breakfast and whole baked branzino at dinner. Weekend brunch tables fill by Thursday, so reserve, and expect metered street parking. The city's Salvadoran, Guatemalan, Peruvian and Romanian kitchens are covered in our roundup of the best restaurants in Hollywood.
Parks, Water and the Sheridan Street Belt
Anne Kolb Nature Center at West Lake Park
Anne Kolb Nature Center sits inside West Lake Park at 751 Sheridan Street, a mangrove estuary of roughly 1,500 acres. Climb the five-level, 68-foot observation tower, walk the boardwalks over the mangroves, rent a kayak for the three paddling trails, or take the narrated boat tour of West Lake (VISIT FLORIDA). The exhibit building and its 3,500-gallon aquarium make it a rainy-day fallback that's still a nature outing.
T.Y. Park and Castaway Island
T.Y. Park at 3300 N Park Road, about ten minutes inland, holds a swim lagoon, a wading pool and the Castaway Island water playground. Entry and parking are free on weekdays and run $3 per vehicle for up to eight people on weekends and holidays, with separate waterpark admission and a cheaper rate after 3 p.m. (Broward County Parks). Aquatics close well before the park does.
Yellow Green Farmers Market
Yellow Green Farmers Market fills a former lumber yard at 3080 Sheridan Street with hundreds of food, produce and craft stalls, plus live music and classes. It runs weekends only, roughly 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., and parking costs $8 in the north lot or $15 in the south, free after 5 p.m. (Yellow Green Farmers Market). Several Hollywood restaurants started here as stalls, and weekend-only vendors tend to keep stock in climate controlled storage in Hollywood rather than a garage, because the humidity wrecks packaging fast.
Charter Fishing and Boat Rentals at Hollywood Marina
Hollywood Marina is the launching point for the city's charter fishing, paddling and boat-tour operators, including Lady Pamela II Sportfishing, Wild Lime Adventures and Lois Ann Cruises. Sea Legs Deep Sea Fishing sells spots on a party boat with reels, bait and the fishing licence included, which beats organizing a first trip yourself. Trips are weather-dependent, so confirm the day before in summer. A 10×30 storage unit holds a trailer's worth of gear between trips.
Indoor Options and the Guitar Hotel West of I-95
K1 Speed: Indoor Electric Karting on Stirling Road
K1 Speed at 2950 Stirling Road runs indoor electric go-kart racing on two tracks, one adult and one junior, with an arcade and the Paddock Lounge attached. Being air-conditioned makes it the strongest answer in the city to an August afternoon or a rained-out beach day. Junior drivers must be at least 48 inches tall, and despite the name on the sign, the track is in Hollywood.
Orangebrook Golf & Country Club: 36 Holes Inside the City
Orangebrook Golf & Country Club at 400 Entrada Drive holds 36 holes of public golf in the middle of Hollywood, the original eighteen dating to 1933 and a second course added in 1959 (Orangebrook). The West course has larger greens and a forward tee set and suits beginners; the East plays harder off smaller greens. Clubs, shoes and a push cart fit a 5×5 locker, roughly hall-closet sized, when a condo has no room for them.
Hollywood Beach Golf Club After Its 2026 Rebuild
Hollywood Beach Golf Club at 1600 Johnson Street reopened in April 2026 after a complete rebuild by architect Richard Mandell, with new greens, a new clubhouse and a short course called The Island. It plays roughly 6,336 yards from the tips at par 70. Research during the project found no evidence for the long-repeated Donald Ross attribution; the influences are Willie Park Jr. and 1920s South Florida design (Hollywood Beach Golf Club).
The Guitar Hotel Light Show at Seminole Hard Rock
The 450-foot guitar-shaped tower at Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood, 1 Seminole Way, runs a nightly outdoor show of orchestrated music and light, with six beams projecting at least 20,000 feet into the sky. It's free to watch from the property. The tower sits about fifteen minutes west of downtown, so pair it with dinner or the air-conditioned Shoppes at The Guitar Hotel rather than driving out for the show alone.
Parking, Seasons and What Closes When
Parking is the first thing to solve at the beach. The Garfield, Nevada Street and Margaritaville garages plus on-street meters cover the Broadwalk, and all of them fill on winter weekends and holidays. Downtown is metered street parking, easier on a weekday morning than on an ArtWalk Saturday. At Yellow Green, the traffic getting in is worse than the parking fee, so carpool or use the rideshare drop-off.
Season changes what's pleasant more than what's open. December through April is peak, with highs around 75 to 80F, low humidity and the busiest Broadwalk of the year. June through September brings highs near 87F and short afternoon storms, and most locals shift outdoor plans to the morning and evening, treating 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. as pool, museum or karting time. Stone crab claws run mid-October to mid-May, worth timing a Billy's Stone Crab dinner around (Billy's Stone Crab). Our best time to visit Hollywood guide takes the calendar month by month.
Hurricane season runs June 1 through November 30, with the highest risk from August into October, which is also the cheapest stretch to book. The city has history with it: the September 1926 hurricane killed 37 people in Hollywood. Most storms now mean a watched forecast and a couple of disrupted days, so book refundable rates in that window rather than writing it off.
Schedule traps matter here. Yellow Green opens weekends only, Cinema Paradiso doesn't run every day, and the ArtWalk with its free mural tour comes once a month. The city has also banned nonbiodegradable food containers, so leave single-use plastics out of the beach, the parks and ArtsPark.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Hollywood, Florida best known for?
Hollywood is best known for the Hollywood Beach Broadwalk, a 2.5-mile brick promenade with no cars on it, and for the guitar-shaped tower at Seminole Hard Rock and its free nightly light show. Locally it's known for food: Salvadoran, Guatemalan, Peruvian, Thai, Indonesian and Romanian kitchens sit blocks apart, mostly in strip malls, and almost none of it is expensive.
What to do for free in Hollywood, Florida?
Plenty. The Broadwalk, the beach, the Downtown Hollywood Mural Project, ArtsPark at Young Circle and its Friday movies, the full moon drum circle and the nightly Guitar Hotel light show all cost nothing. The monthly ArtWalk includes a free guided mural tour, and the beach clean-up takes children aged 8 and up with an adult.
What is a must see in Hollywood?
Walk the Broadwalk end to end at least once, early morning or at sunset. If you add one more thing, make it downtown Hollywood: six blocks on the National Register of Historic Places holding the murals, ArtsPark, the Art and Culture Center and the densest run of restaurants and bars in the city. The two together fill a day.
What to do in Hollywood, FL at night?
Nights split by zone. On the beach, the Broadwalk stays busy after dark and the bars and brewpub along it run late. Downtown has the densest cluster of bars and late kitchens, and you can leave the car parked. West of I-95, the Hard Rock covers big-room nightlife and concerts, while Cinema Paradiso and the ArtsPark movie nights handle quieter evenings.
Is Hollywood, Florida worth visiting?
Yes, particularly if you want a beach town with a real city behind it. Hollywood has five to six miles of Atlantic beach, a car-free promenade, a walkable historic downtown, an estuary park with an observation tower, 36 holes of public golf inside city limits and a casino resort, all inside about eight miles. Miami sits roughly 20 miles south.
Space for the Gear a Hollywood Year Requires
A city built around a beach, a marina and a golf calendar produces overflow: paddleboards, holiday bins, a spare set of clubs, the furniture that doesn't fit the place you took for season. Value Store It's Hollywood location rents month to month with no long-term contract, so a few months between leases is a normal request here rather than an awkward one. A 10×5 unit takes a closet's worth of seasonal gear, 10×10 units hold roughly a one-bedroom, and 10×15 storage or a 10×20 space covers a house mid-move or a small business's stock. If you're unsure which fits, the storage size guide sizes it by what you own, and we've written separately on getting a home ready for out-of-town visitors, which is the other reason people here clear a room in a hurry.
