Gold Coast Travel Guide

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Gold Coast

Finger Island, Fort Lauderdale © Greater Fort Lauderdale CVB

Stretching for about 60 miles (97km) down Florida’s southeast coast from luxurious Palm Beach in the north to Miami Beach lie a string of tropical, sunny and sandy beach resorts, collectively known as the Gold Coast. The popular strip currently attracts close on nine million holidaymakers every year. Development is proceeding apace as the natural landscape of sprawling grassland is replaced with opulent resorts and high-rise apartment blocks. The larger resort cities along the coast, West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale and Hollywood, are experiencing unprecedented building booms as the number of immigrants rises. Visitors and residents alike come to enjoy the natural attractions of the area, the laid-back atmosphere, the almost constant warm, sunny weather, the luxurious ‘country-club’ lifestyle and the hundreds of sophisticated shopping malls. The best way to explore it all is to take a meander by car along Florida A1A, a narrow road that winds along the coast connecting the long thin barrier islands that give the area its myriad golden sandy beaches. Alternatively, pick a resort, kick off your shoes and enjoy a summer vacation, any time of year.

Resorts

See our separate guides to the following Gold Coast holiday resorts: Fort Lauderdale, Palm Beach, Boca Raton and Pompano Beach

Attractions

Gumbo Limbo Environmental Complex

Situated in Boca Raton at Red Reef Park on a barrier island, Gumbo Limbo (named after a species of tree) is an eight-hectare (20-acre) marine and estuarine reserve dedicated to showcasing and preserving a concentration of plants known as a ‘tropical hammock’. The Environmental complex... see full details

Marine Life Center of Juno Beach

Some years ago Juno Beach resident Eleanor Fletcher, affectionately known locally as ‘the Turtle Lady’, began assembling a collection of turtle artefacts and information that has grown to become the Marine Life Center on the oceanfront at Loggerhead Park, which monitors turtles along the... see full details

Norton Museum of Art

Culture vultures should not miss out on one of Florida’s major cultural attractions, the Norton Museum of Art in trendy, upmarket West Palm Beach. The museum’s permanent collection is internationally renowned, including European, American, Chinese and contemporary art, from Renaissance through Baroque. There is also... see full details

Excursions

Seminole Reservation

An hour west of Fort Lauderdale on the road to Naples the Big Cypress Seminole Reservation boasts the Ah-Tah-Thi-Khi Museum, giving visitors an insight into the history and culture of Florida’s so-called ‘unconquered’ Indian tribe. The museum features exhibits and a living village where... see full details