Fort Lauderdale Travel Forum

My wife & I (50 yr olds)will be staying at the Vacation Village Bonaventure Weston, Ft Lauderdale between 28 June and 1 July 2008. Coming from Orlando after 7 days there.
1. Any feedback regarding the resort will be helpful.
2. Is a car absolutely essential to move around Ft Lauderdale? Who to rental from?
3. Suggested places to see and go to without trying to do too much and without breaking the bank.
4. Any other suggestions will be helpful.
Thanks

I always rent a car from Thrifty when I go to Ft Lauderdale. If you do not want to rent a car, you can always take the bus to go where you want to, but I find the car rental option more convenient. The hotel you are staying at is not really in Ft Lauderdale, it is in Weston, so I would rent a car to go places.

You can reach Miami Beach in about 30 minutes and I would say it is worth going there once to enjoy the South Beach (if you have not been there before).

Since you will be close to Ft Lauderdale, you must go to Las Olas Boulevard and to the beach one day. It is a trendy boulevard with lots of sidewalk cafes, restaurants and boutiques. There is live entertainment at night and it is just a very nice area to go to.

Another must do in Ft Lauderdale is the Riverwalk. It is packed during the weekend, but worth a trip. There are several shops, open air restaurants plus a huge stage with live entertainment after 7pm. We always go there around 5:00pm, browse to the shops a little and get a table outdoor from where you can see the stage with live performers. We eat dinner there while enjoying the live music, dance and the atmosphere. If you have to choose between these 2 places, I would say go to Las Olas boulevard and the beach during the day and hit Riverwalk during the evening hours.

If you want to visit some places the town is known for, go to Bonnet House and Stranahan House.
Bonnet House (you need to take a tour)is on a 35 acres plantation and you will get a feel of the Old Florida.
Stranahan House is also a nice place to go to. It is the oldest building in town.

If your wife must do some shopping while there and if you do not mind spending almost 1 day shopping, go to the Sawgrass Mills Mall (it is an outlet mall). The place is huge, but I found it time consuming. I usually get small souvenirs for family and friends from the Riverwalk stores or from the stores on Las Olas Boulevard.

Another option you may consider is taking a sightseeing cruise with Jungle Queen. The cruise takes 3 hours. They also offer a dinner cruise. Check out their web site for more information: http://www.junglequeen.com/
There are also several other companies that offer riverfront cruises, but I really like the Jungle Queen one.

Another place we really enjoyed was the Mai Kai Polynesian Dinner. The place gets mixed reviews, but we really enjoyed it there (good food, good service, great atmosphere): http://www.maikai.com/

Also, let me know if you are interested in sports fishing and I can send you the information of the company my father used last year when we were there. They offer the option of doing a shared charter (up to 8 people per trip). My dad took the trip and it was just him and 2 other people on the boat. They caught lots of fish during the 4 hour trip and it was one of the highlights of his vacation (he enjoys fishing and was looking forward to the trip!). He went twice with them in the 10 days we stayed there because he had lots of fun during the first fishing trip.

Have fun in Ft Lauderdale. It is a really nice place to go to and you will love it there!
Monica

Thanks for that monica17
Yes will definately be taking a car, infact will have a car in Orlando and will bring it down to Ft Lauderdale.
We have just noticed that there are 2 more things that we might just do as they are on when we are there - ProRodeo and a baseball game. Looks like the other things we will do are the Jungle Queen (maybe the dinner cruise if the time suits us), Stanahan House, Bonnet House, Las Olas, RiverWalk. That sounds plenty. Thanks for everything. If there is anything else to would like to suggest please feel free to do so.

Your plan sounds good to me! Make sure you do the RiverWalk after 5pm and catch the show. It is free entertainment and makes for a nice and relaxing evening. Get a table outside, upstairs, to see the stage and the show while enjoying a drink and maybe dinner.
Have fun in Ft Lauderdale!
Monica