Date Night Ideas in Fort Lauderdale That Aren't Dinner and a Movie

There's nothing wrong with dinner and a movie. There's also nothing memorable about it. Fort Lauderdale has enough genuinely weird, romantic, and locally specific date options that defaulting to a chain restaurant and a 7:40pm showing is a missed opportunity. Here are seven recurring picks worth building a night around — none of which involve a multiplex.

The Wreck Bar inside B Ocean Resort on Fort Lauderdale Beach has been doing the mermaid show thing since the 1950s. The bar is built to look like the inside of a sunken Spanish galleon, with portholes that look directly into the hotel pool — and live mermaids who swim past them in choreographed routines. The early shows on Friday and Saturday nights are open to all ages; the late shows are 21+ aqua burlesque. Mermaid sightings happen Wednesday through Sunday in various formats. It's not a gimmick. It's one of the most genuinely unique date nights anywhere on the Florida coast.

Where: 1140 Seabreeze Blvd, Fort Lauderdale (B Ocean Resort) When: Wednesday–Sunday, with the 21+ Friday and Saturday late shows being the date-night sweet spot Cost: Ticketed for the late shows; food and drink minimum applies

Fort Lauderdale calls itself the Venice of America, and the canal network actually backs it up. Two operators run authentic gondola tours through the New River and Las Olas waterways year-round. Riverfront Gondola Tours docks next to Casa Sensei on Las Olas and offers a 90-minute ride that can include dinner served directly on the boat. Las Olas Gondola runs a 75-minute private cruise with a Venetian-style striped-shirt gondolier. Bring your own wine, drift past mansions and yachts, get back to land, and pretend you're not just a couple of locals who had no plans an hour earlier.

Where: 1200 E. Las Olas Blvd, Fort Lauderdale When: Daily, with sunset cruises being the obvious move Cost: Starts around $150 for two people; sunset and dinner add-ons cost more

If your idea of a date doesn't have to wait until sunset, The Wilder's Burlesque Brunch on Sundays is the move. Live burlesque performers, a full brunch menu, bottomless drinks, and a 1920s lounge atmosphere — all packed into a four-hour stretch in downtown Fort Lauderdale. It's interactive, it's not what your in-laws meant when they recommended brunch, and it lands squarely in the "things you'll talk about for weeks" category. Reservations are essential; this fills up.

Where: 701 E Broward Blvd, Fort Lauderdale When: Every Sunday, 12pm–4pm Cost: À la carte brunch menu with bottomless drink add-ons

Free, beachfront, every Friday during the season. Fort Lauderdale's Beach Business Improvement District puts on a live concert series at Las Olas Oceanside Park — across the road from the sand — with rotating local bands every week. Bring a beach chair, grab food from the makers market and food vendors that set up beforehand, and post up under the stars. The series runs from late January through early April each year, and shows go from 7pm to 9:30pm. It's the cheapest legitimately romantic thing in Fort Lauderdale, and the locals who show up week after week are the proof.

Where: Las Olas Oceanside Park, 3000 E Las Olas Blvd, Fort Lauderdale When: Fridays, 7:00–9:30pm during the winter–spring season Cost: Free

Mad Arts in Dania Beach is South Florida's first immersive digital art museum — 50,000 square feet of projection mapping, light installations, interactive exhibits, and outdoor sculpture across two floors. The exhibits rotate every few months, so it works as a date you can repeat. There's also an on-site cinema showing edgy independent films, and an outdoor garden that's free and open to the public. It's roughly halfway between Fort Lauderdale and Miami, just off Federal Highway, and Florida residents get 20% off admission.

Where: 481 S Federal Hwy, Dania Beach When: Tuesday–Sunday (closed Mondays); evening hours go until 10pm Friday and Saturday Cost: Ticketed; outdoor garden is free

The lowest-effort, lowest-cost option on this list — and one of the best. Hugh Taylor Birch State Park sits on a 180-acre barrier island between the Intracoastal and Fort Lauderdale Beach, with shaded picnic areas, paved trails for biking or walking, and waterfront tables that catch the breeze coming off the lagoon. Pack a cooler, bring a blanket, ride bikes through the park before settling in. The park stays open until sundown, which makes it ideal for golden hour. Florida residents pay a few bucks to drive in.

Where: 3109 E Sunrise Blvd, Fort Lauderdale When: Daily, 8am to sundown — aim to arrive 90 minutes before sunset Cost: $6 per vehicle for Florida residents

Wilton Manors does not do anything halfway. Lips, the long-running drag dinner show on Wilton Drive, runs themed nights nearly every night of the week — Bitchy Bingo on Wednesdays, Dragalicious Sunday Brunch, Dinner with the Divas, and more. The performers are loud, the food is fine, and the energy is the entire point. It's interactive, it's adult, and it's the kind of date that breaks the ice fast. Showing up for a first date here is a flex.

Where: 1421 E Oakland Park Blvd, Oakland Park (just off Wilton Drive) When: Tuesday through Sunday, with different themes each night Cost: Ticketed; dinner add-on available

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