Reasonably priced hotels in Fort Lauderdale (Sawgrass: rental car, oceanfront, rental)

[Dino1]

My wife and I are planning a vacation to For Lauderdale in May and would like advice on a clean, safe, reasonably priced hotel that is walking distance to nice shops, places to eat, etc. Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you.

[Nolefan34]

"Reasonably priced" is very subjective. Everyone has their own idea of what that means. Setting price aside for a moment, Fort Lauderdale Beach is the first place that pops in mind. There are lots of hotels right on the beach and places to walk and eat nearby without needing a rental car. You can get around anywhere on the beach easily by taxi cab or walking. The shopping isn't world class at all and is more touristy, but tons of entertainment and restaurants. In my mind, a beach hotel on A1A is the way to go. The Courtyard Marriott on A1A near Las Olas Blvd is a pretty decent hotel. Its no Ritz Carlton, but is probably the lowest priced good hotel on the beach. You can get rooms with oceanfront views.

Most of the shopping in Fort Lauderdale is about 1 mile inland on the US1 corridor. You would either need to rent a car or take a taxi cab. There are also city buses, but you would need to look up the routes online.

Now if you find beach prices too high, you can look into staying inland a bit more. Then you have thousands of options. The airport hotels are pretty close to everything since the airport is 1 mile from downtown. There are lots of hotels clustered around the airport and downtown. All of the typical chains. Lots of restaurants and shopping in between the airport and downtown on US1 and 17th Street.

A good place to walk around is Las Olas Blvd in downtown, but there are only a few hotels right off Las Olas. There is a place called the Riverside Hotel, but I'm not sure about prices.

Another option if you like shopping more than the beaches, is to stay out by Sawgrass Mills. Sawgrass is the 6th largest mall in America and largest outlet mall in America. Your wife would go nuts staying there. The downside is you're 25 minutes west of the ocean and would have to drive back and forth to go to the beach.