Ft. Lauderdale vs. Tampa (Miami, Fort Lauderdale: living, legal, versus)

[diamonte12]

Ft. Lauderdale or Tampa? Best place to move for a person in their earlier 20's to move with nightlife and young people? Which one do you prefer and why? Would love some advice and opinions. I've narrowed down my search to Ft. Lauderdale and Tampa.

[Nolefan34]

If you love nightlife, Fort Lauderdale is the better option. Fort Lauderdale has pretty good nightlife scattered around- Las Olas, Beachplace, and Hardrock. Fort Lauderdale is also only 30 minutes from South Beach- the capital of nightlife in America. Tampa has decent nightlife too, but not on the same scale as South FL.

In every other category, Tampa and Fort Lauderdale are equal. I cannot find any advantages of one city over the other. Fort Lauderdale is conveniently located between Miami and West Palm Beach, so you have 3 major international airports and 2 major cruiseports to choose from. Tampa/St. Pete just has one international airport and 1 cruiseport. Both cities are on the coasts. Both have good beaches. I would give Fort Lauderdale a slight edge in beaches because I think our beaches are superior to Clearwater/St. Pete and Fort Lauderdale is situated RIGHT on the beach instead of 15 miles inland.

Another difference in the two cities is the types of people who live there. Tampa has more of a Midwest influence and Fort Lauderdale has more of a Northeastern influence. You will find more ex-New Yorkers, ex-Bostonians, NJ, DC, and Californians in South FL. You will find more ex-Chicago, ex-Michigan, ex-Ohio, ex-Indiana, etc. in Tampa. Although I have been seeing tons of Illinois license plates in South FL recently.

[OptimusPrime69]

Tampa is snoooze-ville for younbg people, let's be honest, it's totally boring.
Take it from me, OP. I'm a young 20-something and Tampa is Boring with a capital B.

Fort lauderdale is your best bet.

[johnny1313]

Tampa would be great for a month or so, but after hitting all the spots you would soon ask yourself....is this it? It doesn't take long to exhaust all nightlife options there.

South Florida is 20x stronger. International vibe, versus white blue-collar feel in Tampa. It will take you a year to explore everything in South Florida.

[diamonte12]

Thank you this is exactly the kind of feedback I needed.

[Hawaii4evr]

Ft. Lauderdale has the best weather, and also has lots more going on for younger people, so I'd choose there.

[thatboybigbFL]

South Florida's nitelife is not all its cracked up to be, it's been on the decline, and the people are rude in South FL. You would probably have a lot more fun partying with Tampa folks, IMO. Don't come to Fort Lauderdale thinking you're going to have a blast with a ton of women unless you got a lot of $$$$$$, which you will just be used for. Down to earth people are not common in South FL.

[Nolefan34]

You have to separate South FL nightlife down into two categories. One is Miami/South Beach and two is the rest of South FL. Miami/South Beach is the nightlife capital of the country. If you get bored there, you may as well give up because nowhere in America has as much nightlife. Fort Lauderdale nightlife is slightly above average compared to other U.S. cities. Not great, but decent-pretty good. Your options are limited compared to Miami. But there are still enough places to go out to not get bored. Fort Lauderdale nightlife itself can be redundant if you always go out downtown. You can get a change of pace from Fort Lauderdale by driving further south to Hollywood and Miami.

You will find that people in general go out at night much more in South FL than other parts of the U.S. especially compared to the Southeast. Most southeastern cities are asleep by midnight. You will find a lot of people out during the evening hours here clogging up the roads, going places, and in the downtown and beach areas especially on Fri's and Sat's.

[JSnFla]

what are u looking for out of nightlife?? are u referring to hooking up with smoking hot girls or dating hot women, living the life? Ive lived in both places for 5 years originally from NY and in tampa now. In lauderdale and sofla the party scene is way, way shady and you will almost have to adopt a thug, as*h*le personality to get anywhere. hot girls down there have no respect for educated guys and they prefer to be treated poorly by thug types. tampa has plenty of nightlife, just as many if not more hot women and its a totally down to earth, normal scene. normal, smart guys with legal jobs go out with gorgeous women whereas in lauderdale u will want to be a drug dealer or thugged out poser to pull consistantly. if access to hot women is not what u mean by nightlife then disregard all this but sofla is still a very shady, dark, and untrustworthy place.

[ruski]

Originally Posted by JSnFla

what are u looking for out of nightlife?? are u referring to hooking up with smoking hot girls or dating hot women, living the life? Ive lived in both places for 5 years originally from NY and in tampa now. In lauderdale and sofla the party scene is way, way shady and you will almost have to adopt a thug, as*h*le personality to get anywhere. hot girls down there have no respect for educated guys and they prefer to be treated poorly by thug types. tampa has plenty of nightlife, just as many if not more hot women and its a totally down to earth, normal scene. normal, smart guys with legal jobs go out with gorgeous women whereas in lauderdale u will want to be a drug dealer or thugged out poser to pull consistantly. if access to hot women is not what u mean by nightlife then disregard all this but sofla is still a very shady, dark, and untrustworthy place.

Good thing I don't go clubbing, so I never see this shady, dark, untrustworthy side of South Florida.