Hollywood Beach & the Broadwalk: A Day Trip and Beach Guide
Twenty miles up the coast from South Beach, the towers drop away and the beach gets a promenade instead: a wide, brick-paved path with a bike lane alongside, running past ice cream counters, small motels, Latin American cafés and couples who have been wintering here since the 1980s. You hear as much French as English, because half of Quebec seems to spend February on it. Search for Hollywood Beach Florida and this is what you are looking at: the Broadwalk, two and a half miles of old-fashioned seaside with none of South Beach’s attitude and very little of its price.
This guide covers Hollywood Beach as a day trip or a base: getting there from Miami, parking and the free shuttle, the Broadwalk and what is on it, the beach itself, the dog beach and its unusual hours, where to eat and stay, and what to pair it with nearby, from a mangrove boardwalk to a hotel shaped like a guitar. Prices and hours were checked in September and October 2026, and some, like beach parking, are not published clearly, so treat them as the right order of magnitude. For the beaches inside Miami-Dade, see our Miami beaches guide.
Hollywood Beach at a Glance
| What | Detail (checked autumn 2026) |
|---|---|
| Where | Hollywood, in Broward County, between Hallandale Beach and Dania Beach, about 20 miles north of downtown Miami |
| The Broadwalk | About 2.5 miles of brick-paved promenade with a separate bike lane and more than 50 restaurants |
| Beach entry | Free |
| Parking | City garages and metered lots, roughly $3 to $4 an hour for non-residents; fill by mid-morning at weekends |
| Free shuttle | The on-demand Sun Shuttle along A1A, Sunday to Thursday 10am to 9pm, later at weekends |
| Dog beach | Between Custer and Pershing streets; Friday to Sunday only, late afternoon; $10 per dog for non-residents |
| From Miami | 35–45 minutes by car from downtown; 15–20 minutes from Sunny Isles |
| Best for | An easygoing beach day, cycling, families, budget stays, snowbird season people-watching |
How Hollywood Is Different From Miami Beach
Hollywood Beach is a different kind of place from the beaches to the south, and knowing that before you go is the key to enjoying it. There is no Art Deco district, no beach clubs with bottle service and very few towers right on the Broadwalk. Instead, there are low-rise motels, rental apartments, family-run restaurants and a crowd that is older, more relaxed and more international than you might expect.
In winter, Hollywood is one of the great gathering places of French-Canadian snowbirds. From roughly January to March, you will see Quebec license plates in the lots, Canadian flags on balconies and menus and signs in French. In summer, the crowd is more local and more Latin American, with families from across Broward and Miami-Dade. At any time of year it is unpretentious, a little scruffy in places and genuinely friendly, which is exactly its appeal.
The Broadwalk
It is a Broadwalk, not a boardwalk, and locals will tell you so. There are no wooden planks. It is a wide, paved promenade of brick and concrete running about two and a half miles along the sand, with a separate lane for bikes and skaters and a low wall between the path and the beach.
What is on it
The Broadwalk is lined with more than 50 restaurants and cafés, along with ice cream shops, bike and surrey rental stands, beachwear shops and a run of small oceanfront hotels and motels. The busiest stretch is around Johnson Street, where you find Margaritaville Hollywood Beach Resort, Charnow Park with its splash pad, and the bandshell that hosts free concerts and shows in season. North and south of the center, the Broadwalk gets quieter, more residential and more pleasant for a long walk.
Walking and cycling it
Walking the full length and back is about five miles, a long but flat morning. Cycling is the better way to see it all. Bikes and four-wheeled surreys, the pedal carts with a canopy that families pile into, can be rented from stands along the Broadwalk, and the separate bike lane means you are not weaving between pedestrians. Go early, before the sun gets strong and the path gets busy, and stop for coffee halfway.
The Broadwalk also connects with the Fort Lauderdale Water Taxi, whose southernmost stop is at Margaritaville. A water taxi ride up the Intracoastal to Fort Lauderdale is one of the more unusual ways to link the two, and our Fort Lauderdale from Miami guide covers it.
The Beach
The beach in front of the Broadwalk is wide, with soft, pale sand and plenty of room even on a busy weekend. Like most of the coast, it is a natural Atlantic beach with generally modest waves and the usual seasonal sargassum seaweed from late spring to summer. Lifeguards watch over the main stretches, and the standard flag system applies: green for calm, yellow for caution, red for high hazard and purple for dangerous marine life. Swim near a lifeguard tower, especially when the wind is onshore.
Chair and umbrella rentals are available on the sand, and many visitors bring their own from the car. Because there are few high-rises directly behind the Broadwalk, the beach keeps its afternoon sun longer than the tower-lined beaches of Sunny Isles, which matters in winter. Sea turtles nest here from spring through fall, so leave marked nests alone and keep lights off the sand at night.
Getting There From Miami
By car
| From | Route | Typical drive outside rush hour |
|---|---|---|
| Downtown Miami or Brickell | I-95 north to Hollywood Boulevard, then east to the beach | 35–45 minutes |
| South Beach | North on Collins Avenue and A1A through Sunny Isles and Hallandale, or across to I-95 | 45–60 minutes |
| Sunny Isles Beach | North on A1A through Golden Beach and Hallandale | 15–20 minutes |
| Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport | South on US-1 or I-95, then east | 10–15 minutes |
| Miami International Airport | I-95 north | 35–45 minutes |
The coastal route up A1A is slower but far more interesting than I-95, especially if you are coming from Miami Beach. Allow extra time on winter weekends, when the snowbird season and beach traffic meet.
By train and shuttle
Brightline does not stop in Hollywood; its nearest stations are Aventura and Fort Lauderdale. Tri-Rail, the regional commuter train, does stop at Hollywood station on Hollywood Boulevard by I-95, a few miles inland, and a rideshare covers the last stretch to the beach. Once you are there, the city’s free Sun Shuttle runs on demand along A1A between Hallandale Beach Boulevard and Dania Beach Boulevard, from 10am to 9pm Sunday to Thursday and later at weekends, with stops including the Garfield and Nevada garages. Our Miami transportation guide covers Tri-Rail and Brightline.
Parking
Parking is the one part of a Hollywood Beach day that needs a plan. The city runs several garages and metered lots close to the Broadwalk, including the large Garfield Street garage and the Nebraska Street garage, along with street meters on the side streets. Rates for non-residents have run around $3 an hour on weekdays and $4 at weekends, but the city does not publish one clear rate sheet, so read the signs or the parking app when you arrive and budget loosely.
The bigger problem is space. On sunny weekends, the garages nearest the busiest stretch fill by about 10:30am, and the queue for the last spaces is not how you want to start a beach day. Arrive early, aim for a garage away from Johnson Street, or park once and use the free Sun Shuttle. Private lots charge more, sometimes a lot more, on event days.
The Hollywood Dog Beach
Hollywood is one of the few places in South Florida where a dog can go onto an Atlantic beach, but the rules are specific, so read them before you load the dog into the car.
- Where: the stretch between Custer Street and Pershing Street.
- When: Friday, Saturday and Sunday only. During daylight saving time, from 4pm to 8pm; in winter, from 3pm to 7pm.
- Cost: a daily pass of $10 per dog for non-residents, $5 for Hollywood residents.
- Rules: no more than two dogs per pass holder, a current rabies tag on each dog, dogs under the owner’s control at all times, and owners clean up after them.
- Passes: on site, or from the Hollywood Parks, Recreation and Cultural Arts office at 1405 South 28th Avenue (954-921-3404).
Those are late-afternoon hours, so pair it with a morning elsewhere, and bring water, because the sand stays hot well into the afternoon in summer. In Miami-Dade, the dog beach at Haulover is the nearest alternative. Our pet-friendly hotels guide covers where to stay with a dog.
Hollywood Beach With Children
Hollywood is an easy beach for families. The Broadwalk is flat and safe for scooters and strollers, the ice cream is never far away, and there is space on the sand even on busy days. The best stop is Charnow Park, right on the Broadwalk near Johnson Street, which has an interactive splash pad, a playground and shaded picnic tables, and is free.
Renting a surrey for an hour is the other family favorite: everyone pedals, nobody steers in a straight line and it covers far more of the Broadwalk than small legs would. For more family days out, see our things to do in Miami with kids.
Eating and Drinking
Nobody drives to Hollywood Beach for a great meal, and that is fine. The Broadwalk’s restaurants are casual and mostly inexpensive by South Florida standards: Latin American and Caribbean kitchens, pizza, seafood baskets, burgers and plenty of ice cream. You can eat outdoors with your feet almost in the sand for a fraction of what the same view costs on Ocean Drive, though it is always worth checking the bill for an added service charge.
For something better, look one block inland or across the Intracoastal. Waterfront spots on the Intracoastal side, such as GG’s Waterfront Bar and Grill and Le Tub Saloon, a long-standing burger joint with a cult following, are local favorites. Downtown Hollywood, a few miles inland around Hollywood Boulevard and the ArtsPark at Young Circle, has a wider range of restaurants and bars if you are staying for the evening.
Beyond the Beach
Anne Kolb Nature Center
Just inland from the beach, across the Intracoastal, West Lake Park and the Anne Kolb Nature Center cover more than 1,500 acres of mangrove wetland, making it one of the largest urban parks in Florida. Boardwalks wind through the mangroves, and a six-story observation tower gives you a view over the whole lagoon to the beach and the ocean. The nature center is open daily from 9am to 5pm and is free, though some guided tours have a small fee. The marina rents kayaks, at last check around $15 an hour for a single and $20 for a double, which is a cheap and excellent way into the mangroves.
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino
About 15 minutes inland, the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Hollywood is impossible to miss: its main hotel tower is built in the shape of a giant guitar. It holds about 2,500 slot machines, roughly 200 table games and a 45-table poker room, along with restaurants, a concert venue and the DAER Dayclub, the biggest pool-party production in the area during the warm months. Miami-Dade’s own gambling options are limited, so this is where most people from Miami come to play.
Dania Beach and points north
Just north of Hollywood, the small city of Dania Beach has a fishing pier, quiet sand and Jaxson’s Ice Cream Parlor, which has been serving huge sundaes since 1956. Beyond it, Fort Lauderdale’s beach and Las Olas Boulevard are 20 minutes away, and Sawgrass Mills, one of the largest outlet malls in the country, is about half an hour’s drive inland. Our Sawgrass Mills guide and day trips from Miami cover both.
Where to Stay
Hollywood Beach is one of the best-value beach bases in South Florida, and staying here means stepping straight out onto the Broadwalk in the morning.
- Resorts. Margaritaville Hollywood Beach Resort is the big, lively option in the middle of the Broadwalk, with pools, restaurants and a water taxi stop. The Diplomat Beach Resort, at the southern end of the city, is the large, upmarket choice.
- Small hotels and motels. Dozens of family-run motels, inns and apartment rentals line the Broadwalk and the streets behind it, many of them aimed at long-stay winter visitors. Standards vary a lot, so read recent reviews carefully.
- Vacation rentals. Apartments and condos are plentiful, especially for stays of a week or more, and winter months book up early with returning snowbirds.
Expect to pay noticeably less than for a comparable beachfront room in Miami Beach, especially outside the winter peak. Our beachfront hotels guide covers the options closer to Miami.
What a Day at Hollywood Beach Costs
Hollywood is one of the cheapest good beach days in South Florida. A typical day for two, checked in autumn 2026, looks like this:
| Item | Typical cost |
|---|---|
| The beach and the Broadwalk | Free |
| Parking in a city garage for five hours | Roughly $15 to $20 at non-resident rates |
| The Sun Shuttle along A1A | Free |
| Anne Kolb Nature Center and its tower | Free |
| A kayak at West Lake Park | About $15 an hour for a single, $20 for a double |
| Dog beach day pass | $10 per dog for non-residents |
| Casual lunch on the Broadwalk | Noticeably less than the same meal on Ocean Drive |
Bike and surrey rental prices vary from stand to stand and by the hour, so compare a couple before you commit. The real saving, compared with Miami Beach, is in what you do not pay: no valet, no beach-club day bed, no inflated cocktail prices and no premium for the view.
Tips for Winter Visitors
- Book early. Returning snowbirds often reserve the best Broadwalk rooms and apartments for January to March many months ahead.
- Think in weeks, not nights. Many smaller properties offer better rates for weekly and monthly stays than for a long weekend.
- Bring a light layer. Winter mornings and evenings can be breezy and cool by Florida standards, even when the afternoons are warm.
- Arrive early for parking on winter weekends, when locals, day-trippers and snowbirds all want the same garages.
- Watch the flags after a cold front. The wind and waves pick up, and Portuguese man o’ war can wash in on strong east winds.
- A little French helps. It is not necessary, but a bonjour goes a long way on the Broadwalk in February.
When to Go
| Months | Weather | What to expect |
|---|---|---|
| January to March | Highs around 76°F to 80°F, dry, sea in the low 70s | Peak snowbird season. The Broadwalk is at its busiest and most French-speaking; book rooms early and arrive early for parking. |
| April and May | Hot and mostly dry | Excellent beach weather as the winter crowd heads north. Seaweed starts to arrive. |
| June to September | Hot, humid, afternoon storms, warmest water | Quieter and cheaper, with more local families. Go early in the day. Hurricane season runs from June to November. |
| October to December | October around 85°F and still wet; November and December cooler and drier | Shoulder season and good value, before the snowbirds return in force. |
Weekday mornings are calm all year, and weekend afternoons are the busiest. For more on Miami-area weather, see our Miami weather by month guide.
A Day Trip From Miami
- 8:30am: Leave Miami early and drive up A1A, or take I-95 if you are short of time.
- 9:30am: Park in a city garage before the weekend rush and rent bikes or a surrey.
- 10am: Ride the length of the Broadwalk and back, with a coffee stop halfway.
- 11:30am: Swim and lie on the beach while the sun is high.
- 1pm: Lunch on the Broadwalk, outdoors and cheap.
- 2:30pm: Kayak or climb the tower at Anne Kolb Nature Center, or, on a Friday to Sunday, take the dog to the dog beach when it opens.
- Evening: Dinner on the Intracoastal or downtown, or a night at the Hard Rock, before the drive back to Miami.
A Short History
Hollywood was laid out in the 1920s by the developer Joseph W. Young, who named it Hollywood-by-the-Sea and planned it, unusually for the time, around wide boulevards and landscaped circles. The land boom collapsed, the 1926 hurricane hit hard, and Hollywood grew more slowly than Miami Beach. That slower growth is the reason it still looks the way it does. The Broadwalk was never swallowed by high-rises, and the small motels that went up in the postwar decades, aimed at families driving down from the Northeast and Canada, are still there, and some still draw families who have been coming back for generations.
Hollywood Compared With Nearby Beaches
| Beach | Feel | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Hollywood Beach | Low-rise, retro, relaxed, international | Walking, cycling, budget stays, families, snowbirds |
| Sunny Isles Beach | Wide sand under luxury towers | Resort stays and quiet beach days |
| Fort Lauderdale Beach | Wide, busy, with a beachfront bar strip | A livelier day out with more restaurants |
| South Beach | Glamorous, busy, expensive | Nightlife, people-watching and Art Deco |
For the nearest Miami-Dade options, see our Sunny Isles Beach guide, and for our ranking of the whole coast, the best beaches in Miami.
The Honest Verdict
Hollywood Beach is one of the most likeable beaches in South Florida, and one of the easiest to underrate. It is not glamorous, the food is simple and some of the motels have seen better decades. But the Broadwalk is a genuine pleasure, the beach is wide and uncrowded by Miami standards, and a day here costs a fraction of a day in South Beach.
Go if you want an easy, cheap, cheerful beach day, you like to walk or cycle, you are traveling with children or a dog, or you want a base between Miami and Fort Lauderdale.
Skip it if you want nightlife, designer hotels or a scene, or if you only have a day or two in Miami, in which case the beaches closer to the city make more sense. And if you go on a winter weekend, go early. The parking fills up long before the beach does.
Frequently Asked Questions
How far is Hollywood Beach from Miami?
About 20 miles north of downtown Miami, or 35 to 45 minutes by car outside rush hour. From Sunny Isles Beach it is only 15 to 20 minutes up A1A.
Is Hollywood Beach free?
Yes. The beach and the Broadwalk are free. You pay for parking, which has run around $3 to $4 an hour for non-residents in the city garages and lots.
What is the Hollywood Beach Broadwalk?
A paved oceanfront promenade, not a wooden boardwalk, running about two and a half miles along the beach, with a separate bike lane and more than 50 restaurants, cafés and shops.
Can you take dogs to Hollywood Beach?
Only to the dog beach between Custer and Pershing streets, on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, from 4pm to 8pm during daylight saving time and 3pm to 7pm in winter. A day pass costs $10 per dog for non-residents.
Is there a free shuttle on Hollywood Beach?
Yes. The on-demand Sun Shuttle runs along A1A between Hallandale Beach Boulevard and Dania Beach Boulevard, from 10am to 9pm Sunday to Thursday and later at weekends.
Why are there so many French-Canadians on Hollywood Beach?
For generations, Hollywood has been a favorite winter destination for snowbirds from Quebec, who come for the affordable motels and apartments, the Broadwalk and the warm weather. From January to March, French is spoken everywhere.
Can you get to Hollywood Beach without a car?
Yes, though it takes longer. Tri-Rail stops at Hollywood station, a few miles inland, and a rideshare covers the rest. Once there, the Sun Shuttle and the Broadwalk get you around.
Is the Seminole Hard Rock close to Hollywood Beach?
About 15 minutes inland by car. The guitar-shaped hotel tower, casino and DAER Dayclub make it an easy add-on to a beach day.
If your dog is the reason for the trip, our dog-friendly beaches guide sets Hollywood’s weekend dog beach alongside the options in Miami-Dade, including Haulover’s daily off-leash beach and the calm water at Hobie Island, with the rules, fees and best times for each.
Related Miami Guides
- Miami Beaches: The Complete Guide — every beach in Miami-Dade, and how to choose.
- Fort Lauderdale From Miami — the next stop up the coast.
- Day Trips From Miami — Hollywood and the best of the rest.
- Sunny Isles Beach — the tower-lined beach just south.
- Haulover Beach — surf, dogs and space in Miami-Dade.
- Sawgrass Mills — the giant outlet mall inland.
- Pet-Friendly Hotels in Miami — where to stay with a dog.
- Best Beaches in Miami — our ranking of the coast.
Photo Credits
The Broadwalk gateway at Hollywood Beach: Hollywood Beach (1) by Tamanoeconomico, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Sunbathers beside the Broadwalk: Hollywood Beach (2) by Tamanoeconomico, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Charnow Park: Charnow Park (Hollywood Beach) by Tamanoeconomico, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
The Guitar Hotel at Seminole Hard Rock: Hard Rock Casino Hotel Fort Lauderdale Florida, June 2021 by Rob Olivera, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Anne Kolb Nature Center: Anne Kolb Nature Center observation tower boardwalk view – panoramio by quyentr, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.