Travel Thursday: Reloving One of The Gay Meccas of America, Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Living in Fort Lauderdale for the past 7 years and having a revolving door on my guest room for visitors from New England, across the country, and from other nations, the task of finding things for guests to do has always been, but with COVID, I’m actually getting back to the basics of what makes the Greater Fort Lauderdale area one of the easiest places to live as an LGBT citizen.

Often times a city wants to get away from banging on the same drum as to what may place that city on the map. Greater Fort Lauderdale has some great stretches of sand that draw tourists and locals to the Atlantic Shoreline. During this summer, the open space of the beach has been a great escape from any crowds as you can make your own section of the beach happen, or just keep walking for miles, watching the wave, the boys, and the sun.

You can explore the eight distinct beaches of Greater Fort Lauderdale that cover 23 beautiful miles of Atlantic coastline by clicking over to sunny.org. Here are three of our favorites.

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Sebastian Beach – A small section of the Fort Lauderdale sea coast has been scouted out by the locals living in and tourists visiting one of the hottest gay tourist destinations in the country. May you call it Sebastian or Sebastian Street Beach, you’ll know you’re there when you see the bears and the boys in the speedos. Fort Lauderdale’s Sebastian Beach is one of the more active sandy spots for the friends of Dorothy and has been named the “Hottest U.S. Gay Beach” by Out Traveler. It’s proximity to major hotels, gay resorts, and Wilton Manors makes it one of the best metropolitan – gay beach destinations out there. You’ll want to stay all day, but eventually the sun will fall behind the resorts and cast shade on the gay festivities, but we’re good with the shade. Check out the great food like Casablanca or a little further down, Coconuts. Visit year round for it’s always hot in Florida. The popular gay beach is located where Sebastian Street and A1A meet along the ocean, just steps south of the Casablanca Cafe, which we highly recommended, too. Alos recommended is searching for #sebastianbeach on Instagram. After looking art some of those pics, we need to get over there ASAP.

Stonewall – No, no new sand was added to the Atlantic shore, but there was a new gay beach created! Just this past July we shared that Fort Lauderdale Gays Claimed A New Beach Spot & Name It Stonewall. According to South Florida Gay News, this wonderful gathering of men, which has its own Facebook group, unofficially proclaimed the section Stonewall Beach. Despite there being no guarantee that this proclamation will become official or gain traction, the original group members remain hopeful. The gay sand is always nicer, isn’t it?

Haulover – You may find that more tourists know about this beach than locals. Know for it clothing-optional freeness, Haulover Beach also has ample parking, and other facilities like restrooms, concession stand, rentals, and plenty of sand. Remember that last clothing optional beach you went to where you had to hike forever and know some secret word to write in the sand ad be between this and that pole? Not the case here. Haulover is not in the heart of the Pompano or Fort Lauderdale like Stonewall and Sebastian respectively, but it’s located just north of Miami right off major roads. It needs to be as it is often ranked one of the Top 10 nude beaches in the world, is family-friendly, and is the oldest officially recognized nude beach in Florida. You don’t have to bare it all, but if you want to, haul yourself over to Haulover Beach. If you want to take a peek at who is there, take a look at the beach’s unofficial Instagram page:

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A post shared by Haulover Beach (@hauloverbeachfl)

It’s been a pleasure getting to know the beaches of Fort Lauderdale once again. With things as they are and making travel plans seems a little bit daunting and has the need of you being a little more cautious, it’s nice to know these open spaces and relaxing venues are there for us to kind of escape it all, while still being safe.

And if you are worried about COVID and travel, check out the Travel & Community Resources for Greater Fort Lauderdale.

Greater Fort Lauderdale beaches are open and ready to welcome you. Your safety is our number one priority, therefore guidelines and procedures are in place to ensure social distancing and prevent the spread of COVID-19. For more information on guidelines for visitors, what’s open and more visit our COVID-19 Advisory page.

And do the Instagram thing and follow visitlauderdale for more information on dining, where to stay, arts & culture, and more!