A rich playground in Fort Lauderdale, Florida

The Floridan city is a good-time spot with some of the country’s best beaches.

Fort Lauderdale’s waterways mean that it often draws comparisons with Venice, which adds to the city’s visual charms. Getty Images

Why Fort Lauderdale?

At some point, Fort Lauderdale morphed from being a quintessential spring-break party town to a luxury playground of the rich and famous. The waterways have a lot to do with that, and lazy Venice comparisons are somewhat inevitable. Behind the long, thin strip of land that boasts one of the best beaches in the United States, channels and rivers break out in all directions. Some seriously swish houses have been built alongside them, with even more outlandish yachts moored outside.

Happily bathed in the southern Florida sunshine, Fort Lauderdale is a good-time city that doesn’t unnecessarily challenge the grey cells or flex the cultural muscles. But it looks so good and lies back so happily that no one really cares.

A comfortable bed

The Sonesta (www.sonesta.com/fortlauderdale) has a slick, contemporary feel – the rooms are pretty much all white and the lobby could pass for a club. The vibe is right – helpful, friendly, not too self-obsessed – and the location, within a few steps of beach and park, is unbeatable. King rooms cost from US$176 (Dh646).

The art deco tower of the Hyatt Regency Pier 66 (www.pier66.hyatt.com) is a local landmark, and it doesn’t hurt to have Steven Spielberg’s gigantic yacht parked up outside. While there’s a conference-ish feel, the pool complex is large, and the various restaurant options can give it a resort vibe for leisure guests. Tower rooms with waterways views cost from $155 (Dh569).

At the bargain end of the scale, Aqua (www.aquafortlauderdale.com) is near the beach, has pools and barbecue areas, plus endearingly spruced-up rooms with surfboards on the walls. Studios cost from $139 (Dh511).

Find your feet

The downtown Las Olas Riverfront area feels like an unsuccessful urban regeneration project. The walking trail along the river banks is perfectly pleasant, but it seems like it should have more life. Riverwalk Fort Lauderdale Recreation (www.riverwalkrec.com) offers plenty of activities there, though – whether it’s yoga sessions, bike and kayak hire or photography lessons.

A couple of blocks to the north is the NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale (www.nsuartmuseum.org). The emphasis is firmly on 20th-century works, with a heavy focus on the American realist William Glackens.

But the real reason to venture away from the beach is the boat cruises, which ply the waterways and shamelessly ogle the indisputably astonishing multimillion-dollar mansions. On the faux riverboat the Carrie B (www.carriebcruises.com) you can take 90 minute yacht-spotting trips for $23 (Dh84), and the gawping is backed by thoroughly entertaining commentary.

Meet the locals

A haven among the highly developed sprawl, the Hugh Taylor Birch State Park (www.birchstatepark.org) is an example of how things used to be. Mangroves, tropical trees, abundant bird life and freshwater lagoons are left as nature intended. Locals decompress on the walking trails or hire a canoe for a couple of hours.

Book a table

Las Olas Boulevard is the reliable restaurant strip, although style and price tags trump substance a lot of the time. For something more down-to-earth and homely, Giorgio’s (www.letseat.at/giorgios) does excellent Italian food, including wood-fired pizzas, from $12 (Dh44).

In the Portside Yachting Center, next to the oddly captivating 17th Street Bridge, Market 17 (www.market17.net) is obsessively farm-to-table, with its menu changing daily. Expect inventive offerings such as grilled antelope loin with creamy fregola pasta, shaved fennel, roasted red beets, sautéed kale, almond pesto and coffee butter for $44 (Dh162).

Shopper’s paradise

Covering more than 200,000 square metres, the Sawgrass Mills mall (www.simon.com/mall/sawgrass-mills) is one of the largest shopping centres in the country. Built on a single floor, it generally has a mid-range focus, with the odd upmarket department-store outlet.

More endearingly chaotic is the humungous Swap Shop flea market (www.floridaswapshop.com). It’s very much a case of finding gorgeous needles in a haystack of clutter, but that’s part of the fun.

What to avoid

Even with eyebrow-raising valet-parking charges at many hotels, trying to tackle Fort Lauderdale without your own car is tricky. If you are attempting to navigate the city in such a manner, pick your location wisely – the sprawl means that taxi costs can seriously rack up going across town for dinner.

Don’t miss

For all the celeb and yacht spotting, Fort Lauderdale’s primary attraction has always been its unquestionably starry 11-kilometre beach. If you want to bag a decent amount of space to yourself, the stretch opposite the Hugh Taylor Birch State Park tends to be quieter than the often-packed segments opposite the hotels farther along.

Getting there

Emirates (www.emirates.com) offers return flights from Dubai to Fort Lauderdale with a stop in New York from Dh5,245. Etihad (www.etihad.com) offers return fares from Abu Dhabi to Fort Lauderdale via New York from Dh7,615.