Gay Fort Lauderdale &
Wilton Manors
Gay Fort Lauderdale has experienced a renaissance over the past decade thanks to the influx of many gay-owned businesses, male-only resort hotels, gay beaches and international events.
Fort Lauderdale is the perfect year-round gay escape!
Fort Lauderdale is a chilled out beach town with almost perfect weather, countless attractions and a gay scene that would put Miami to shame! The city has a relaxed vibe where everyone is welcome.
This is our insider gay guide to Fort Lauderdale featuring highlights from the gay scene of Wilton Manors to the best gay beaches, events and gay hotels.
Table of Contents
Gay Fort Lauderdale Hotels & Resorts
Fort Lauderdale has an impressive array of gay-friendly and male-only hotels and resorts. Here are some of our editor’s top choices.
3 Star – Located in Fort Lauderdale, 10 minutes’ walk from Sebastian Street Gay Beach, The Grand Resort and Spa – All Male Spa Resort is a gay-owned-and-operated men’s resort. Wilton Manors is 7.6 km away. The resort has a clothing optional relaxation area and an excellent spa.
3 Star – Situated in Fort Lauderdale, 2.2 km from Fort Lauderdale Beach, Pineapple Point Guesthouse & Resort – Gay Men’s Resort features accommodation with free bikes, free private parking, a fitness centre and a bar.
Located minutes away from Wilton Manors, Cabanas Guest House is a beautiful, lush spa and resort in the heart of Fort Lauderdale. Cabanas is one of the best Gay Spa resorts in Fort Lauderdale with clothing optional areas.
Recommended Hotels in Gay Fort Lauderdale
4 Star – Boasting an exceptional location on Fort Lauderdale’s Intracoastal Waterway, moments from the area’s main sites, this elegant hotel offers luxurious rooms, modern amenities and a full-service spa.
With a private Water Bus stop directly on-site, guests at The Pillars Hotel can easily explore some of the area’s main sites.
1 km from Las Olas Boulevard, The Dalmar, Fort Lauderdale, The Dalmar has a beachside lounge area and a sophisticated rooftop bar. All rooms boast a flat-screen TV with satellite channels and a private bathroom. The hotel has a 24-hour front desk, an a la carte breakfast and free WiFi.
Most of the rooms offer a skyline view and have a clean modern design with an elegant yet glamorous finish.
Directly on the beach, a 25-minute walk to the gay beach, but perfectly located to stroll barefoot out of your room and onto warm sand. This Marriott brings some Floridian charm to the premises and offers guests handsome quarters and Intracoastal views and unbeatable beach access.
Guest rooms feature a flat-screen TV, desk, and seating area with floor-to-ceiling windows. Select Harbor Beach Marriott rooms feature a spa bath.
Gay Map of Fort Lauderdale
Fort Lauderdale Gay Bars
Fort Lauderdale’s gay nightlife scene is laid back, with a neighborhood-feel, casual yet friendly. Wilton Manors attracts locals from afar and tourists looking for fun. Here are our top choices of where to party.
- Gym Sportsbar– Floor-to-ceiling windows keep the parade outside in view, while inside, true to its name, large flat screen TVs broadcast current sports of all variety.
- Village Pub – The two bar areas are separated by a large dance floor, and the place has great music. There’s sports memorabilia on the walls and athletic bartenders pouring drinks. The crowd is diverse, friendly, and the valet parking adds a touch of class.
- Georgie’s Alibi – Very popular bar, Inside, the men usually range from their late-30s to their mid-60s, with a little wiggle room on both ends, giving the crowd a fun but well-mannered feel. Their happy hour promotions attract visitors from near and far!
- Drynk Bar & Lounge -lounge serves a roster of unique cocktails and specialty martinis to sip indoors or on the patio. Comfortable furniture, soft lighting, and open windows make for a comfortable experience.
Gay Clubs
Clubs
- Ramrod – Fort Lauderdale’s main leather bar and is packed on Fridays and Saturdays from 10pm on. Other popular events include Bare Butt night, Pig Dance night, Caged Hunks, undie night and Best Buns evening!
- Hunters – with their wildly popular Fur Fridays (with $2 drinks!) and Classic 54 Sunday T-dance. Two-stories, with an often wild dance floor and smoking hot bartenders.
- The Manor – late night dance club. Head to this multi-club post-midnight (at the earliest) and get on the dance floor. The weekend is a Friday – Sunday affair, with the odd Thursday thrown in. It has several rooms to relax, dance and party.
- Boardwalk – great place to come with friends. The cover is $10, the cokes are $6, and the private dances $25. The restaurant serves surprisingly good food.
Sex Clubs
- The Club Ft. Lauderdale One of the nicest bath houses in the country, The Club is popular for its extensive facilities, including a full gym, outdoor pool and deck area. It attracts a mixed crowd or all types, though most of the full-on sex happens in private rooms.
- Slammer is a straight-to-the-point sex club, with slings and lots of public sex, but no showers. There’s a live DJ in the cage on Friday and Saturday night, and you can bring your own booze. Seedy, but it serves its purpose.
- Club House 2 This is the sleaziest of the three sex clubs, attracting mostly an older, leathery crowd.
Gay Fort Lauderdale Events
Fort Lauderdale Gay Beaches
- Sebastian Street Beach- The Gay beach is where Sebastian Street meets A1A, near the Ritz Carlton hotel and next to the Fort Lauderdale beach. You’re will find a small gay crowd here on any sunny day, and a large gay crowd on the weekends. By 4pm, the hotels cast a shadow on the beach, so go early!
- Northeast 18th Street 18th Street Beach, – Not much farther north than the Sebastian Street Beach. Popular with local leather guys and bears.. It’s located at the intersection of 18th Street and Fort Lauderdale Beach Dr. (A1-A), Fort Lauderdale, at the North end of Fort Lauderdale Beach next to the dunes at NE 18th Street.
- Haulover nude beach – located between Miami and Fort Lauderdale, Haulover is one of Florida’s most famous nude beaches.
- Terramar Street beach – located at the end of Terramar Street near the Royal Palm Resort and opposite the Atlantic Hotel. A quieter alternative to Seabastian beach
Gay Restaurants in Fort Lauderdale
Dining out – Gay Restaurants in Fort Lauderdale
- Bubbles and Pearls – this is one of the best restaurants we ate at in Fort Lauderdale. B&P is open daily from 5pm to 10pm (11pm on weekends).
- Rosie’s Bar and Grill – best place for burgers before heading out to party in the Wilton Manors gay bars. Each week they produce a new Bow-Wow (Burger of the Week) and have a weekday happy hour from 11am to 7pm. Rosie’s is open every day from 11am to 11pm (midnight on weekends).
Classic Restaurants
- D’Angelo – Italian tapas to satisfy the foodie in you when you’re looking for a casual lunch fix. close to Wilton Manors, it brings the gays out for dinner, so it can be a nice place to mingle and meet, too.
- Capital Grille is an upscale steakhouse located near the Galleria mall, classic steakhouse elegance and the servers are top-notch.
- Secret Garden at Pillars Hotel Classy harbor side restaurant offers you quintessential Floridian balmy elegance. Small menu, high end quality dishes.
Breakfast or coffee
- Java Boys – (2230 Wilton Dr) There’s always a crowd here for their many varieties of coffees, hot and cold libations, and sweet treats.
- The Floridian – open since 1937, promises a hearty meal of omelets, pancakes, sausage and powdered-sugar French toast that are sure to fuel you with energy for the busy day ahead.
- OB House – sample the baked pancakes, as they are heavenly. Great to share.
Top things to See and do!
- Bonnet House Museum and Gardens – historic and whimsical 1921 estate showcases five ecosystems worth of verdurous grounds and wild animals, a swamp, and a small art gallery. The Bonnet House gives visitors a glimpse of how the wealthy lived in Fort Lauderdale at the beach less than a century ago.
- The Intracoastal Waterway by Water Taxi – runs parallel to the beach, home to Ft. Lauderdale’s many canals, waterfront mansions and yachts.
- Hugh Taylor Birch State Park – 180-acre protected reserve is a public park to preserve the subtropical paradise within the bustling and growing city. You can walk or jog through the park or tour by Segway through the nature reserve, observing a selection of birds and tortoises along the way as well as incredible specimens of plants and trees.
- The World Aids museum – Noteworthy and of its kind to chronicle the fascinating, eye-opening, and often heart-wrenching history of HIV/AIDS.
- Stonewall Museum and Archives – Wilton Manors is home to the Stonewall National Archives, a collection of more than 5,000 LGBT items (T-shirts, posters, periodicals, etc.), dating back to the ‘60s and ‘70s. Highly recommended.
- FAT Village Art Walk – Held on the last Saturday of every month, this is truly the best in the city and gets bigger and better each year. FAT (Flagler Arts and Technology) Village is a few blocks off Las Olas but worlds away. Hipsters and creative types come together fora night of open studios, performances, food trucks, music and more.
- Air Boat Tour – Relive those James Bond movies and take an air-boat tour! Just a short drive from downtown Fort Lauderdale, Everglades Holiday Park hosts gator shows and an airboat tour across the vast swamp lands that is the Everglades.
Shopping in Fort Lauderdale
Las Olas Boulevard is a shopper’s paradise.
Ft. Lauderdale is home to Sawgrass, one of the largest outlet malls in the country, popular among visitors and locals alike. It’s about a 30-40 minute drive from the beach or Wilton Manors — well worth it for discount-luxury shoppers. Beyond Sawgrass, you’ll find all of the usual suspects here, along with a few gay-specific shops for your gay-specific needs.
The long strip of Las Olas Boulevard is brimming with shops, restaurants, bars, and a handful of art galleries in between. Extending all the way to Las Olas Beach, you can easily peruse the popular thoroughfare before heading to the water.
Las Olas has a full calendar of events such as the Las Olas Art Fair and the Las Olas Food and Wine Festival, where artists and foodies indulge big time in their respective passions. The architecture is not to be sniffed at either, as Las Olas boasts Mediterranean influence and landscaped gardens.
- Leather Werks (1226 NE 4th St) continues to serve the leather community with garments, accessories and play equipment.
- Pride Factory (850 NE 13th St) men’s fashion, gym, swim and underwear, adult DVDs and novelties, lubricants, cards, CDs, pride gear and gay-themed movies; jewellery, bracelets, pendants and watches.
- To the Moon (2205 Wilton Dr) candy, sweets and gourmet food from 80 countries, especially dark chocolate and licorice goodies; with over 90 types of dark chocolate bars and famous hard-to-find candy, this store is a heaven for those with a sweet tooth.
- BALL Beachwear is the place to go for the the perfect outfit for your next pool party. BALL Beachwear stocks the brands such as of Sauvage, Ruff Riders and Nasty Pig, as well as their own swimwear line.
- Mixing gay culture, high culture and the joys of retail is Gallery XO, located in Wilton Manors and presenting one of the largest gay art collections in the world.
Getting Around Fort Lauderdale
Broward County Transit offers an expansive system of buses covering many areas of the country. A one-way fare costs $2; an all-day pass is $5. The Tri-Rail commuter train stops at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport and downtown Fort Lauderdale. A round-trip from Fort Lauderdale to Miami, for example, costs just $5 on weekends.
Even when the ocean is rough, the inland waterways are ideal for paddle boarding or kayaking. Hop-on, hop-off water taxis cruise the Intracoastal Waterway from Oakland Park Boulevard (just north of Wilton Manors) to 17th Street Causeway, providing a refreshing, affordable break from the city’s car culture.
Fort Lauderdale Weather – When to visit?
Fort Lauderdale is a busy year-round destination thanks to its sunny climate. Peak season is between December and April. Yes, anytime in that whole half of the year. The warm climate (between the high 50s and mid-80s) makes it an ideal getaway for anyone looking to escape bitter winter temperatures.
Fort Lauderdale Apartments
The Captain’s Quarters
5 Bedrooms
The Captain’s Quarters offers a fully air-conditioned apartment with a living room, fully equipped kitchen with dishwasher and washing machine, 1 bathroom with a shower and 5 Bedrooms. Free WiFi & parking
Alani Bay
2 Bedrooms
All units here are air-conditioned and feature a flat-screen TV, a living room with a sofa, a well-equipped kitchen with a dining area, and a private bathroom with shower, a hairdryer and free toiletries. Free WiFi
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