THE BEST GIRLS’ TRIP TO FT. LAUDERDALE
I am finally getting around to writing about the best girls’ trip to Ft. Lauderdale. Today I will share where we stayed, ate, and what we did. (spoiler alert, not much besides eating and beaching it). It truly was the perfect little getaway, despite all of the spring breakers invading our weekend, or did we invade theirs? We truly forget to account for it being college spring break and who knew that kids these days can afford to stay at fancy hotels and take over the hotel pools? When I was in college, we rented a dump of a place in Ocean City, MD.
WHERE WE STAYED
We stayed at the W HOTEL FT. LAUDERDALE and it was great! It was close to the beach and restaurants and the 5 of us had plenty of room to spread out. We ended up renting a condo on the side of the residence with a complete kitchen, living room, and dining room. The view was amazing. We also ordered some basics through Instacart (coffee, snacks, and booze) and had them delivered shortly after our arrival. It was perfect!
WHERE WE ATE
EL VEZ – The W Hotel has a cute Mexican restaurant with good food and we had dinner there the first night as well as brunch once. Both were great and plentiful. The drinks were yummy, but definitely on the pricier side for the size of the cocktails. The staff was friendly, helpful, and accommodating. We sat outside for brunch and had a great view of all the action going on on the streets and the beach.
BOATYARD – This was hands down our favorite place to eat during our stay. We loved it so much, we went there again on our last night. The food was impeccable and the atmosphere is top notch. We went there to celebrate our friends’ birthdays and had the best time. The DJ was playing all of our favorites and everything we ordered was divine. If you go, you MUST order the bimini bread. It is delicious. The only negative thing about the place that night was our waiter. He was terribly rude, and super unfriendly. The only time he paid us extra attention was when he pointed out the space to add an additional tip on top of the 18% auto gratuity. However, we didn’t let him ruin our evening and I would 1000% recommend this place.
COCONUTS – We had brunch here and it was absolutely amazing. When we go on our trips, we always order for the table so we get to try a bunch of things. It was the perfect way to go here as well. We had everything from the blueberry pancakes and fresh fruit, to the lobster BLT, along with mimosas. It was a blast and we had the perfect view of the Intercoastal and some big yachts to boot.
GG’ WATERFRONT – We sat outside on the deck and had a lovely water view. They are known for their stone crabs, among other things so we ordered those, along with some king crab legs and a couple of their specials. The food was good, not great! Especially for the prices. The stone crab was yummy. One of the seabass entrees was over cooked, but the other one was delish. The King crab legs were way over cooked and unedible. We sent feedback to the chef and after seeing them the manager took them off our bill! Which was a good thing, because the market price was a whopping $270 for 2 pounds! At that price, they should have been absolulty perfect and I am glad they did the right thing. Sidenote, we failed to ask the market price when we ordered and learned our lesson.
WHAT WE DID
BATHING SUIT | HAT | SUNNIES
Honestly, besides laying on the beach, not much and it was absolutely perfect. We ended up renting a cabana on the beach every day. It is $200 for the day, but so worth it if you plan on spending the day. They set it up for you with towels and you can order lunch and drinks from them. It was the perfect way to enjoy the ebach and also get a little separation from the spring break crowd. One day we tried the pool, but the DJ was so loud that we only lasted a few minutes. We are getting old, lol.
WHAT I WORE
I shared all of my outfit ideas in this post, as well as my go-to favorite travel outfit and everything was perfect. Planning outfits ahead of time really helps with over packing. One of the best tips I learned is to plan by event, so you will have an outfit for every occasion. I knew most of our time was going to be spent at the beach and at restaurants so I planned accordingly. Here they are again:
TRAVEL OUTFIT
| SWEATSHIRT | HAT | STUD EARRINGS | TOTE | SUNNIES | CARRY-ON | SWEATS | LUGGAGE | TEE | SNEAKERS
POOL OUTFIT
SUIT | SUNNIES | HAT | SARONG | LIPSTICK | SUNSCREEN | SANDALS
DINNER OUTFITS
LEFT: DRESS | LIPSTICK | BAG | NECKLACE | SLIDES | SHIMMER OIL
RIGHT:TOP | DENIM | SUNNIES | STUDS | CLUTCH | SANDALS | LIPSTICK | FRAGRANCE
Apparently, my friends read my blog because we all ended up wearing identical travel outfits. We took this picture right before heading to the airport.
We had an amazing time. It was nice to be able to just relax and unwind and I feel blessed and super lucky to have these girls in my life. We are already planning our next getaway. Stay Tuned!
XO,
Can I ask how you rented a cabana on the beach? Through the W hotel? I was told they don’t have them. Going for a girls weekend as well! Thanks!!
Hey there,
they were through the W hotel but you could not reserve them in advance. We just showed up on the beach the day of and reserved it for the day.nHave a blast!!!