How do I get around Fort Lauderdale?

Fort Lauderdale was built for cars, and it shows. Sidewalks thin out past Sunrise Boulevard, and the August heat, currently around 33°C with humidity near 75%, turns even a 15-minute walk into a chore. Uber and Lyft are the default for visitors without a rental. A ride from the beach to Flagler Village runs about $8-10, and FLL airport to the beach strip is typically $12-18. Surge pricing after 2 a.m. on Las Olas can double that. Visitors staying between A1A and Andrews Avenue can skip a rental car entirely. If you want to reach Butterfly World in Coconut Creek or Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, both about 20 minutes north via the Turnpike, you'll want one.

The Sun Trolley is free and covers the routes visitors need. The Beach Link runs along A1A from the Convention Center to Sunrise Boulevard. The Las Olas Link connects the beach to downtown via Las Olas Boulevard, a 1.5-mile stretch of galleries and restaurants where you'll likely spend at least one evening. Frequency is every 15-20 minutes, and the trolleys run until about 11:30 p.m. on weekends. Mind you, the AC on the older trolleys varies from arctic to broken, and they smell like vinyl seats baked in 90°F sun. Broward County Transit buses cost $2 per ride or $5 for a day pass, but routes outside rush hours run every 30-45 minutes. Route 11 along US-1 and Route 40 along A1A are the two lines worth knowing. Pull up BCT schedules on your phone before heading out. The paper timetables at stops are often sun-bleached past reading.

The Water Taxi is Fort Lauderdale's one transport mode worth riding for its own sake. It runs along the New River and the Intracoastal Waterway, with about 15 stops between the Riverside Hotel downtown and Oakland Park Boulevard to the north. An all-day pass costs $35. Worth noting, it isn't a fixed-schedule ferry. You call the dispatch number or wave from a dock, and wait times average 20-25 minutes. The ride from downtown to the Galleria Mall takes about 40 minutes, and you'll pass hundreds of mega-yachts lining both banks. The diesel smell off the water mixes with salt air, and the breeze cuts the humidity enough that you forget the heat index tops 40°C. Service stops at 11 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 9 p.m. on weekdays.

Brightline is the fastest connection to Miami. The Fort Lauderdale station sits on NW 2nd Avenue, and a one-way ticket to MiamiCentral runs $15-25. The ride takes about 30 minutes. Tri-Rail is cheaper at $5 to Miami but slower at 50 minutes, and its station sits west of downtown near the airport, not near the beach. For walking, stick to two strips. A1A from Sunrise Boulevard south to Hugh Taylor Birch State Park is a flat 2-mile stretch with the ocean on one side. Las Olas Boulevard between SE 6th Avenue and the Intracoastal bridge is the other. Concrete gets hot enough to feel through your shoes by 11 a.m., and shade between those two corridors is scarce. Carry water for any walk over 10 minutes. West of US-1, the city is strip-mall suburbia where crosswalks are an afterthought.