The best things to do in North Lauderdale, FL sit in three rings. Inside the city you get 17 parks, a lake you can paddle at Hampton Pines Park, a water park, and one of the most international food strips in Broward County. Ten to twenty minutes out you reach Butterfly World, Fern Forest and Sawgrass Mills. Twenty-five to thirty-five minutes east you hit the Atlantic. This guide covers 20 of them, ring by ring, with what each is actually good for.
How North Lauderdale Is Laid Out
North Lauderdale is a 4.7 square mile residential city in north-central Broward County with about 44,794 residents at the 2020 census, per U.S. Census figures. There's no beach, no downtown core and no hotel inside the city limits. Visit Lauderdale, the county's tourism bureau, describes it as a quiet residential suburb west of Fort Lauderdale.
The city is still worth more than visitors expect. Morris Lapidus, the architect behind the Fontainebleau on Miami Beach, laid out North Lauderdale as the first city he ever planned and called it the City of Tomorrow. You can read his hand in the curving Boulevard of Champions. Parks and Recreation maintains 17 parks across more than 150 acres, which is generous for a city this size.
Everything else works in drive-time rings. Margate sits north, Coral Springs northwest, Tamarac west and south, Fort Lauderdale east, Pompano Beach northeast, and the Atlantic is roughly 12 miles out. Nothing here is walkable to anything else, so plan on driving, and add fifteen minutes to any eastbound trip between 4 and 6 p.m.
Things to Do Inside North Lauderdale
Seven of these twenty sit inside the 4.7 square miles, and they're the part competing guides skip on their way to writing about Fort Lauderdale. Four are free.
Hampton Pines Park: Paddleboats, Pavilions and a Haunted Forest
Hampton Pines Park at 7800 Hampton Boulevard is the best free thing to do in the city. Fish or paddle the lake, rent a two-person paddleboat or kayak, use either playground, or walk the fitness trail. Seven pavilions ring the water with grills and hookups, and they book out weeks ahead for weekends. Fishing needs a Florida license. Every Halloween the city turns the place into a haunted forest.
Jerry Resnick Aquatic Center: Slides and a Junior Olympic Pool
The Jerry Resnick Aquatic Center at 701 SW 71st Avenue is a 13 acre complex with a junior Olympic pool, a water playground and two tube slides. It runs March through October and is heated in the cooler spring and fall months, so turning up in January gets you a locked gate. It sits beside the Jack Brady Sports Complex, which makes a swim-then-play afternoon easy without moving the car.
North Lauderdale Sports Complex: Cricket, Soccer and an April Egg Hunt
The North Lauderdale Sports Complex on Southwest 71st Avenue hosts the city's youth soccer, basketball, baseball and cricket leagues. Cricket is the unusual one, since Broward has very few public programs, and it matters to families arriving from the Caribbean or South Asia. Each April the fields carry an egg hunt with roughly 11,000 filled eggs. Check the city calendar before assuming a field is free, because league play books most evenings.
Silver Lakes, Bicentennial and Broadview: The Neighborhood Park Circuit
Three smaller parks cover the neighborhoods the big two facilities don't. Silver Lakes Park at 7600 Tam O'Shanter Boulevard serves the quiet northwest quadrant, Bicentennial Park at 6100 Kimberly Boulevard is walkable from most of Kimberly Village, and Broadview Community Park on Southwest 17th Street is rarely crowded on a weekday morning. None is a destination. All three are twenty-minute stops rather than afternoons.
Tabanka and Le Gout Des Caraibes: A Two Door Caribbean Crawl
Tabanka: a Trini Kitchen at 1645 S State Road 7 is the closest thing the city has to a destination restaurant, and it draws a Trinidadian crowd from across Broward on weekends. Order the doubles first because they sell out, then curry goat or roti. Le Gout Des Caraibes sits directly beside it doing Haitian griot, tassot and pikliz. Both are counter service and best at lunch. Our North Lauderdale restaurant guide covers the rest of the strip.
Krakus Polish Deli: Pierogi on Southgate Boulevard
Krakus Polish Deli at 7306 Southgate Boulevard is the most surprising thing in a heavily Caribbean city. It's half deli counter and half small market, with kielbasa cut to order, pierogi, bigos and an imported grocery aisle. There's no dining room, so plan on takeout, and give yourself a minute at the counter because the selection runs deeper than the storefront suggests.
Flanigan's Seafood Bar and Grill: The City's Only Late Kitchen
Flanigan's at 5450 N State Road 7, on the North Lauderdale and Tamarac line, is the closest thing to a proper bar here and the only place open past midnight. Baby back ribs, fresh dolphin, the fish dip and sports on every screen. It runs to midnight Sunday through Thursday and 1 a.m. Friday and Saturday. Anything later means driving, which our North Lauderdale nightlife guide sorts out.
Things to Do Within Twenty Minutes of North Lauderdale
The second ring is Coconut Creek, Tamarac, Coral Springs and Sunrise. These are ordinary Saturday trips, not full-day commitments.
Butterfly World: 20,000 Butterflies in Tradewinds Park
Butterfly World at 3600 W Sample Road in Coconut Creek is the largest butterfly park in the world, with roughly 20,000 butterflies, waterfalls and a lorikeet aviary where the birds land on you. Go mid-morning on a sunny day, when the butterflies actually fly. It opens at 9 a.m. Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m. Sunday, and Tradewinds Park charges a small parking fee on weekends and holidays only.
Fern Forest Nature Center: Shaded Boardwalks in Coconut Creek
Fern Forest Nature Center, about twelve minutes north, protects more than 30 varieties of fern along a boardwalk and flat nature trails. The shade is the reason to come, because from May onward it's one of the few outdoor walks near North Lauderdale that stays comfortable past ten in the morning. Read the interpretive signs near the center first. They explain what this landscape looked like before Broward was built out.
The Promenade at Coconut Creek: Outdoor Dining and Live Music
The Promenade at Coconut Creek, around Lyons Road, is an open-air center with shops, a run of restaurants and live music on the center stage through the year. Parking is free and the layout rewards a slow walk, which is rare out here. From May through October, come after 5 p.m., because walking outdoors at midday in a South Florida summer is genuinely unpleasant.
Seminole Casino Coconut Creek: Live Music and Comedy Around the Clock
Three rooms inside Seminole Casino Coconut Creek, at 5550 NW 40th Street, put a band on several nights a week: Sunset Grill, Legends Lounge and Nectar. Bigger names land at the outdoor Stage at Coco or in the 1,200 seat Pavilion, whose past bookings run to Wayne Newton and Dionne Warwick. The doors never shut, 24 hours a day and 365 days a year, so it's the one thing in this corner of Broward still going after 2 a.m.
Tamarac Community Farmers Market: Sunday Mornings at Veterans Memorial Park
The Tamarac Community Farmers Market runs Sundays from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Veterans Memorial Park, 7825 Southgate Boulevard, about eight minutes west. Expect produce, baked goods, smoked fish, olive oils, hot sauces and spices alongside handcrafted goods. It's the closest weekly market to North Lauderdale and one of the few in Broward that runs year round instead of stopping in May. Go before 11 a.m. in the hot months.
Colony West Golf Club: Two Public Courses Ten Minutes West
Colony West Golf Club at 6850 NW 88th Avenue in Tamarac is the closest golf of any kind to North Lauderdale, and it's fully public, so no membership is required. The Championship course runs 7,387 yards at par 71 and was judged too hard at its original length when it opened in 1971. The Glades is a 4,207 yard par 65 that plays fast, and it's the pick if you have half a morning.
Sawgrass Mills: More Than 350 Stores in Sunrise
Sawgrass Mills in Sunrise, about twenty minutes southwest, holds more than 350 stores and ranks among the largest malls in the country. Everyday outlets sit alongside the Colonnade Outlets and its roughly 70 luxury brands. A 23 screen cinema, a carousel and a mini golf course mean it works as a rainy afternoon too. Park by the entrance nearest the wing you want and photograph the letter.
Things to Do Twenty-Five to Thirty-Five Minutes Away
The third ring is the coast and downtown Fort Lauderdale, which means half-day and full-day plans. Anything beyond it belongs in our day trips from North Lauderdale guide.
Fort Lauderdale Beach and the Beachfront Promenade
Fort Lauderdale Beach is the nearest full beach day, roughly 12 to 14 miles east and 25 to 30 minutes in normal traffic. Seven miles of sand follow the signature white wave wall and brick promenade, with lifeguard towers every 200 to 400 yards. The local move on a packed Saturday is the pedestrian tunnel under A1A from Hugh Taylor Birch State Park, which comes out on a quieter stretch of sand.
Riverwalk Fort Lauderdale and the Water Taxi
Riverwalk is a free brick path along the New River past drawbridges, public art and moored yachts, connecting downtown to the Arts and Entertainment District. It's flat, shaded in stretches, and best in the hour before sunset when the heat drops. Pair it with the Water Taxi, a hop-on hop-off boat with 11 stops running roughly every 30 minutes. Buy the all-day pass, walk one way and ride back.
Museum of Discovery and Science: The Rainy Day Standby
The Museum of Discovery and Science at 401 SW 2nd Street is the default plan when the afternoon storm arrives, which in summer it usually does. Large aquariums hold fish, otters and alligators, and there's a 50 foot Megalodon, a live dig pit, an interactive orange grove and an IMAX theater. It's also a Water Taxi stop, so you can arrive by boat and skip downtown parking.
Xtreme Action Park: Go-Karts, Bowling and Laser Tag Indoors
Xtreme Action Park at 5300 Powerline Road packs more than 200,000 square feet under one roof: gas go-karts hitting about 45 mph on a half mile track, six bowling lanes, an arcade, a ropes course, trampolines, roller skating, laser tag and VR. Since Galaxy Skateway in North Lauderdale closed, this is the nearest full-size indoor skating and karting complex. It stays open to 1 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays.
The Mai-Kai: A 1956 Polynesian Supper Club
The Mai-Kai at 3599 N Federal Highway is a Polynesian supper club dating to 1956 that reopened in 2024 after a restoration of roughly $15 million with help from Disney and Universal design teams. It's on the National Register of Historic Places as one of the last of its kind. Drink at the Molokai Bar or the outdoor Bora Bora Bar, then walk the gardens. Happy hour runs 4 to 7 p.m. daily and parking is valet only.
Everglades Holiday Park: Airboats on the Western Edge of Broward
Everglades Holiday Park at 21940 Griffin Road is a 29 acre wildlife preserve on the wetlands at Broward's western edge, with 60 minute airboat rides, gator shows and fishing. Go early, because wildlife is most active after opening and there's no shade at all out on the sawgrass. Plenty of families make it an overnight and tow a camper west, which is where RV parking in North Lauderdale earns its keep between trips.
Parking, Seasons and What to Plan Around
Parking is free almost everywhere in the first two rings and paid almost everywhere in the third. Arena Shoppes, the Shoppes at Western Woods, Cypress Lakes Town Center and the Promenade at Coconut Creek all sit on free surface lots. At the coast it flips: street parking near Pompano Beach and Lauderdale-by-the-Sea runs a few dollars an hour through the PayByPhone app, with a three hour cap on some meters, and the garages usually work out better.
Season matters more than any single forecast. January and December are the sweet spot, with highs in the upper 70s and about two inches of rain a month. June through September brings 76 to 90 degrees, eight to nine inches of rain and near-daily afternoon thunderstorms, which is why locals plan outdoor mornings and indoor afternoons. Hurricane season runs June 1 through November 30 with peak activity in September and October, and twelve miles of inland buffer cuts surge risk but does nothing about wind or outages. Our guide to the best time to visit North Lauderdale goes month by month.
A few things shift with the season and catch people out. The Jerry Resnick Aquatic Center shuts from November through February. Butterfly World is dullest on overcast days because the butterflies stop flying. The Tamarac market keeps going through summer while most Broward markets stop in May. And the humidity is relentless from May onward, which is why guitars, photographs, leather and family paperwork all do badly in a South Florida garage and better in climate controlled storage in North Lauderdale.
Gear sorts itself out the same way. A household here collects beach chairs, umbrellas, coolers, snorkel kits and hurricane shutters that get used a few times a year, and a 5×10 unit swallows the lot. Greater Fort Lauderdale has 24 miles of beaches and roughly 300 miles of inland waterways, so plenty of households own a boat, and boat storage beats a driveway. Snowbirds leaving a second vehicle for the summer tend to use car storage instead of a neighbor's spare space.
Where Value Store It Fits in North Lauderdale
Value Store It runs two sites in North Lauderdale, both month to month with no long term contract. If a move, a renovation or a growing pile of sports gear has outrun your closets, our North Lauderdale location is the place to start.
That site carries the widest range of sizes: a 5×5 locker for boxes and holiday bins, a 10×5 unit or a 5×15 unit for closet overflow and long items, then 10×10 and 10×15 units that take a one or two bedroom, and 10×20 and 10×30 spaces for a whole house or a contractor's stock.
The North Lauderdale II facility runs its own lineup nearby, starting with a 5×5 space and a 5×10 space, moving through 10×5, 10×10 units and 10×15 storage, up to a 10×20 space, with climate controlled units at the second site as well. If you're unsure what fits, the storage size guide walks through it before you book.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are some fun things to do in North Lauderdale?
Inside the city, paddle or fish the lake at Hampton Pines Park, swim at the Jerry Resnick Aquatic Center from March through October, catch a cricket or soccer match at the sports complex, and eat along the Caribbean and Latin strip on State Road 7 and Kimberly Boulevard. Ten minutes out you add Butterfly World, Fern Forest Nature Center and public golf at Colony West.
What are the best free things to do in North Lauderdale, FL?
Hampton Pines Park is free to enter, with playgrounds, volleyball courts, a fitness trail and a lake, though paddleboat and kayak rentals cost extra. Silver Lakes, Bicentennial and Broadview Community Park are free neighborhood green space. Fern Forest Nature Center in Coconut Creek costs nothing, and neither does Riverwalk downtown or a youth cricket match at the sports complex.
What is there to do in North Lauderdale this weekend?
Saturday works as a park morning at Hampton Pines followed by lunch at Tabanka or Le Gout Des Caraibes on State Road 7. On Sunday, the Tamarac Community Farmers Market runs 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Veterans Memorial Park, eight minutes west, and pairs neatly with an afternoon at the Promenade at Coconut Creek once the heat drops after five.
What are the best indoor things to do near North Lauderdale with kids?
Xtreme Action Park in Fort Lauderdale is the biggest indoor option, with go-karts, bowling, laser tag, trampolines and roller skating under one roof. The Museum of Discovery and Science suits younger children with its aquariums, dig pit and IMAX screen. Sawgrass Mills adds a cinema and mini golf. Our things to do with kids in North Lauderdale guide has the full list.
What are some quirky things to do in Fort Lauderdale?
The Mai-Kai is the standout: a 1956 Polynesian supper club on the National Register of Historic Places, restored and reopened in 2024, with tiki gardens, a waterfall and a happy hour that gets you in without booking the dinner show. Closer to home, Krakus Polish Deli selling pierogi and kielbasa in the middle of a Caribbean food strip is its own kind of strange.
When is the worst time to visit the Fort Lauderdale area?
August and September are the hardest months. Temperatures sit near 90 degrees with eight to nine inches of rain, humidity is at its worst and it's the peak of hurricane season. The trade-off is real, though, since hotel rates bottom out, beaches empty and restaurant tables are easy to get. If your dates are flexible, November and January give you the best weather of the year.
