Beach (Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood: to rent, taxi, restaurants)

[batyam]

Hi,
will be staying in hilton marina this week. Will have car for most of the week. Please suggest beaches to visit, don't mind driving up to half an hour each way if it is worth it. Here is my criteria of a good beach listed in the mattter of impportance:

1. Calm water (yeah, traveling with kids)
2. White sand, ability to rent beach chairs umbrellas
3. Restroom
4. Bar and restaurant

I can take taxi if it is easier but don't mind driving if needed.

Thanks for your suggestions

[intelfan11315]

I don't know if you're going to find white sand unless you go to the gulf side, but I could be wrong. That being said, you should find the rest of that in Ft Lauderdale. You should also take a trip to Miami Beach, thats an experience of its own, theres a playground there for the kids too.

[ruski]

There is no white sand on our coast. You only find that on Florida's West Coast (Naples, Fort Myers, and especially Sarasota) and also on the Panhandle (Pensacola).

As for calm water - most of South Florida beaches are very calm. But you still should be aware of rip currents.

[batyam]

Thanks, any particular places you would suggest?

[tr00th]

IMO one of the best beaches in Broward is Hollywood Beach. They just fixed it up a few years ago with a new boardwalk with little shops and restaurants. The water is calm, and they have a small kids area where water shoots up from the ground and "rains" on your kids, very popular with families.

From where you are staying, it is south of you, so it shouldn't be hard to get there.

[Reptoid Humidian]

you'll find white sand at Haulover, but it's a nude beach!

[Reptoid Humidian]

The sand at any of the beaches from Ft Lauderdale on down is certainly whiter than any of the junk you'll find here in San Diego.
But yeah, nothing exceeds the Gulf coast for pure white sand.

[SouthAfrica75]

Hollywood Beach by Johnson Street is probably the best bet.

Good parking, pleanty of bars, restaurants and shops.... Places for kids to play besides the sand and ocean.....

Hollywood Beach Broadwalk - VisitHollywoodFL.org

[Nolefan34]

Fort Lauderdale Beach is the best and closest beach to where you are staying. You can take Las Olas Blvd or the 17th Street Causeway across to the beaches. You will want to park south of Las Olas Blvd in the public parking areas.

Most of the beaches here are very nice. They don't have white hourglass sand like the west coast, but they are still good beaches.

[ruski]

Hollywood is great because there are a lot of places to eat/shop right along the beach, great boardwalk, and you can rent bikes to ride along the said boardwalk.

I would throw in Haulover beach, but some parts are not for kids, but some families bring their kids to those parts anyway.

Fort Lauderdale beach itself is nice.

Another favorite is Red Reef beach in Boca Raton. VERY nice and there is a reef. You can snorkle around the reaf and look at all kinds of fish.