SOUTH FLORIDA · MIAMI VS FORT LAUDERDALE · TWO NOAA GAUGES
Miami International sits about 12 miles from South Beach, a 20 to 45 minute drive depending on traffic. Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood is about 25 miles from the same sand, 35 to 50 minutes on I-95. Plenty of travelers fly into one airport and sleep near the other, and the fare often decides it for them. What changes over those 25 miles is smaller than the two names suggest.
Average highs at the two airport gauges never differ by a full degree in any month. The sea off both stays above 76.9°F all year. Both counties tax a hotel night at 6%, on top of the 6% state sales tax. So the comparison below runs on what each city publishes: rules with dates on them, tickets with prices, parks with counted parking spaces.
SIDE BY SIDE · MIAMI VS FORT LAUDERDALE
For a first trip, book Miami: the two weather series sit within a degree of each other and the lodging tax is 12% on both sides, so the decision falls to the named, priced things each city publishes.
NOAA 1991-2020 NORMALS · STATIONS USW00012839 AND USW00012849 · SAME 0.10-INCH RAIN THRESHOLD
Go for: Miami if you want ticketed days and free transit (Vizcaya at $20, Pérez Art Museum free Thursday evenings, a Metromover that costs nothing and runs every 90 seconds at rush hour). Fort Lauderdale if you want 2.2 miles of state-park beach with 1,410 parking spaces behind it.
Think twice before: bringing a car to South Beach in March. The 2026 spring-break measures put the Art Deco District garages on flat rates of $40 to $100 and the non-resident tow at $548, plus administrative fees.
Normals: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 · Tax: Florida DOR form DR-15TDT · Parks: Florida DEP inventory 2024 · full sources at the end
On this page
- Which of the two cities to bookMiami or Fort Lauderdale
- Monthly highs, rain days and sea temperatureThe 12-month table for both
- Where the two weather series come fromStations USW00012839 and USW00012849
- Spring break parking and towing rulesThe Miami Beach measures for 2026
- Lodging tax and admission prices12% on both sides, tickets named
- Things to do with a price or a count on themVizcaya, PAMM and three state parks
- Miami or Fort Lauderdale in SeptemberThe month that splits them
Miami’s month pages run from January through December, and Fort Lauderdale has the same twelve, starting at January. Neighborhoods and bases live in the Miami city guide, and the dry season both cities share, November through April, is set out in the statewide calendar.
Miami or Fort Lauderdale
Book Miami for a first trip. It publishes more that you can put in a day and price before you land: Vizcaya Museum and Gardens at $20 for adults while restoration work continues, down from a usual $25, with $5 for children 6 to 12 and free entry under 6. The Pérez Art Museum Miami is free from 5 to 9 p.m. every Thursday and free all day on the second Saturday of the month. A single Metrorail or Metrobus ride is $2.25, the daily cap is $5.65, and the Metromover costs nothing at all.
Fort Lauderdale is the better booking when your fare lands at FLL, an airport that boarded 17,096,131 passengers in 2024 and is classed a large hub by the FAA. It also answers the traveler who wants beach and a place to leave the car: Dr. Von D. Mizell-Eula Johnson State Park is counted by the state at 2.2 miles of beach, 1,410 parking spaces, 2.6 miles of hiking trail and 4,531 feet of boardwalk. Families who would rather not book a hotel have the 14 cabins at Oleta River State Park, on the bay side.
Weather does not decide this one, whatever the two reputations suggest. March highs are 80.6°F at the Miami gauge and 79.7°F at the Fort Lauderdale gauge. February sea-surface averages read 76.9°F and 77.5°F, the warmer figure belonging to Fort Lauderdale. January rain days at the same 0.10-inch threshold match exactly, 3.8 on each side. And the lodging tax is identical, 6% county plus 6% state, 12% on the rate you were quoted.
Check one thing before you commit: which airport your fare uses, and what the transfer costs at the hour you arrive. That is 12 miles and 20 to 45 minutes from MIA to South Beach, against 25 miles and 35 to 50 minutes from FLL on I-95. If the trip falls in March, read what Miami Beach has published for that year’s spring break as well, since the city reissues and adjusts its measures each winter.
Miami vs Fort Lauderdale weather: temperature, rain and sea
| Month | Miami high | FLL high | Miami days ≥0.10 in | FLL days ≥0.10 in | Miami sea | FLL sea |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 76.2°F | 75.6°F | 3.8 | 3.8 | 77.0°F | 77.6°F |
| Feb | 78.2°F | 77.4°F | 3.6 | 3.4 | 76.9°F | 77.5°F |
| Mar | 80.6°F | 79.7°F | 3.5 | 3.4 | 78.4°F | 78.6°F |
| Apr | 83.6°F | 82.9°F | 4.3 | 4.1 | 79.6°F | 79.7°F |
| May | 86.7°F | 85.8°F | 6.9 | 7.4 | 83.0°F | 83.1°F |
| Jun | 89.3°F | 88.4°F | 12.6 | 10.5 | 85.4°F | 85.4°F |
| Jul | 90.6°F | 90.0°F | 11.1 | 10.6 | 88.2°F | 88.1°F |
| Aug | 90.7°F | 90.0°F | 13.3 | 11.2 | 88.3°F | 88.2°F |
| Sep | 89.0°F | 88.3°F | 13.1 | 10.8 | 87.8°F | 87.7°F |
| Oct | 85.9°F | 85.4°F | 9.0 | 7.9 | 84.5°F | 84.5°F |
| Nov | 81.3°F | 80.8°F | 4.7 | 4.8 | 81.7°F | 82.1°F |
| Dec | 78.2°F | 77.7°F | 3.7 | 4.2 | 79.1°F | 79.3°F |
Both temperature columns are NOAA 1991-2020 normals read at an airport gauge, and both sea columns are ten-year averages of daily maxima from the Open-Meteo marine model, 2015 to 2024.
Miami runs warmer by less than a degree. The widest monthly gap in average highs is 0.9°F, and it shows up in March, May and June. The narrowest is 0.5°F, held through October, November and December. Overnight lows tip the other way at the end of summer: 77.9°F at the Fort Lauderdale gauge in August against 77.7°F at Miami’s, and 64.7°F against 64.3°F in December.
The sea is the same water, and the table shows it. The biggest monthly difference is 0.6°F, in January and February, with Fort Lauderdale on the warm side at 77.6°F and 77.5°F. June reads 85.4°F on both. July and August flip the order by a tenth of a degree. For anyone choosing where to swim, the useful line is the floor rather than the gap: neither city’s coldest month drops below 76.9°F.
Miami and Fort Lauderdale weather averages by month
The Miami figures come from station USW00012839 at Miami International Airport. The Fort Lauderdale ones come from USW00012849, listed as FT LAUDERDALE HOLLYWOOD AP, a gauge sitting about three miles inland from the sand. We found no published elevation for either station in the sources we read. Where you sleep is the reason to care: Miami Beach is a separate city built on barrier islands, with Biscayne Bay between it and the mainland, and no thermometer here stands on that side of the water.
The rain-day threshold is identical on both sides, at least 0.10 inch in a calendar day, over the same 1991-2020 period, so those two columns compare directly. The inch-or-more counts are published too: 3.6 days in an average June at Miami, 3.0 at Fort Lauderdale. The sea columns are a different measurement, the mean of daily maxima rather than a 24-hour mean, so they read a shade warm on both sides.
Spring break rules in Miami Beach and Fort Lauderdale
Miami Beach puts numbers on its spring break. For 2026 the four Art Deco District garages, between 5th and 16th Streets from Washington Avenue to Ocean Drive, went to flat rates of $40 to $100. The non-resident towing rate in that district was $548, double the regular rate, plus administrative fees. Police ran a traffic plan from 6 p.m. each Thursday through Sunday around South of Fifth and Flamingo Park, with garage and lot closures, restricted beach access and DUI checkpoints. There was no blanket curfew, and the beaches did not close at 6 p.m.
We found no equivalent published rule for Fort Lauderdale. That is a gap in our reading rather than a finding about the city: the operator pages we tried returned errors or rendered only in a browser, so this guide carries no Broward bus or train fare, no park entrance fee and no opening hour on that side. Nothing has been estimated to fill those holes.
On the ground that changes how a March day gets planned. In South Beach the move is to arrive without a car: the Miami Beach trolley is free, runs 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. seven days a week on five routes at about 20-minute intervals, and route 150 from the airport Metrorail station carries luggage racks for $2.25 each way. For a Fort Lauderdale park or bus, budget a phone call to the operator the week you travel, since we could not read their published hours.
Tourist tax and ticket prices in Miami and Fort Lauderdale
| What you pay | Miami side | Fort Lauderdale side |
|---|---|---|
| County transient rental tax | 6.0% (Miami-Dade) | 6.0% (Broward) |
| State sales tax, same night | 6% | 6% |
| Total on the quoted rate | 12% | 12% |
| Resort fee | Set by the property: about $25 average to $35-$95 published | No equivalent survey found in our sources |
| One transit ride | $2.25, daily cap $5.65, Metromover free | Fare not readable in our sources |
| A named ticket | Vizcaya $20 adult, $5 ages 6-12 | Park facilities counted, no fee readable |
Both counties levy a 6.0% transient rental tax, filed and paid alongside the 6% state sales tax. That is 12% on the nightly rate you were quoted, in Miami-Dade and in Broward alike, and form DR-15TDT gives a percentage with no dollar ceiling on either side, so the amount tracks the room rate upward without limit. A resort fee works differently, set by the property rather than the county. Published Miami Beach amounts diverge sharply, from around $25 on average to $35 to $95 depending on the hotel, and we found no equivalent survey for Fort Lauderdale properties.
Miami’s priced entries: Vizcaya at $20 for adults, $5 for ages 6 to 12, free under 6, open Wednesday to Monday from 9:30 a.m. with last admission at 4:30 p.m. Pérez Art Museum Miami free on Thursday evenings. South Pointe Park free to walk into, its public lot from $2 an hour and $20 flat on weekends and public holidays. Crandon Park on Key Biscayne at $7 to park on weekdays and $10 at weekends. Everglades National Park at $35 per private vehicle for seven days. On the Fort Lauderdale side the state inventory counts facilities rather than fees: 275 parking spaces at Hugh Taylor Birch, 925 and 14 cabins at Oleta River.
One thing is missing from both sides equally: a hotel rate. No nightly price series exists here for Miami or for Fort Lauderdale, so no cheaper city is named here and none will be until the data is readable. What we hold for Miami is a market trend rather than a statistic, rates reported lowest August to October and highest February to April, and no equivalent seasonal read was available for Fort Lauderdale.
Things to do in Miami vs Fort Lauderdale
Miami holds the ticketed indoor day. Vizcaya stands in north Coconut Grove, inside the City of Miami, overlooking Biscayne Bay and a few minutes’ walk from the Vizcaya Metrorail station, and it closes on Tuesdays. Wynwood and Little Havana are mainland neighborhoods of the same city, South Beach belongs to Miami Beach, and Coral Gables is an independent municipality incorporated on April 29, 1925, with its own police and planning. Lummus Park, the free beach fronting Ocean Drive between 5th and 15th Streets, is open 24 hours with lifeguards, restrooms and picnic tables.
Fort Lauderdale’s answer is counted in parking spaces and shoreline. Dr. Von D. Mizell-Eula Johnson State Park holds 1,410 spaces, one designated swimming area, 2.2 miles of beach, 2.6 miles of trail and 4,531 feet of boardwalk. Hugh Taylor Birch is the small one, 275 spaces and 0.1 mile of beach, with a canoe, kayak and tube launch. Oleta River adds two more launches, a designated swimming area, 925 spaces and those 14 cabins, on the bay rather than the ocean.
Miami or Fort Lauderdale by month
September separates the two more than any other month in the table. The Miami gauge averages 10.22 inches of rain across 13.1 days at 0.10 inch or more. The Fort Lauderdale gauge records 8.02 inches across 10.8 days, a difference of 2.3 wet days and better than two inches, while highs stay within 0.7°F and the sea within a tenth of a degree. September is also the statistical peak of the Atlantic hurricane season, on the 10th. The month in detail sits on Miami in September and Fort Lauderdale in September.
The last word
Book the city your fare lands in, then spend the argument you saved on where inside it you sleep, because that is the choice that reshapes a week. Miami Beach is a separate city from the City of Miami, 82,890 residents against 442,241 at the 2020 census, with Biscayne Bay between them. The bus that crosses it is route 120, the Beach MAX, from the Downtown Bus Terminal over the MacArthur Causeway and north along Collins Avenue through Surfside and Bal Harbour to Aventura, $2.25, the same fare as Metrorail.
Sources & data for this guide
- Miami monthly normals, 1991-2020 · NOAA NCEI station USW00012839 (Miami International Airport) · checked Sep 13, 2026
- Fort Lauderdale monthly normals, 1991-2020 · NOAA NCEI station USW00012849 (FT LAUDERDALE HOLLYWOOD AP, about three miles inland) · checked Sep 13, 2026
- Sea-surface averages, mean of daily maxima 2015-2024 · Open-Meteo Marine API · checked Sep 13, 2026
- County and state lodging tax · Florida Department of Revenue, form DR-15TDT, rev. 03/25 · checked Sep 13, 2026
- State park facility counts · Florida DEP Recreational Facilities Inventory, 2024 annual report · checked Sep 13, 2026
- FLL passenger boardings, CY2024, large hub classification · Federal Aviation Administration · checked Sep 13, 2026
- Vizcaya hours and admission, Pérez Art Museum free hours · vizcaya.org and pamm.org · checked Sep 13, 2026
- Miami-Dade fares, Metromover, routes 120 and 150, Miami Beach trolley · Miami-Dade County and City of Miami Beach · checked Sep 13, 2026
- Spring break 2026 parking, towing and traffic measures · City of Miami Beach, relayed by NBC 6, CBS News Miami and WLRN · checked Sep 13, 2026
- Hurricane season dates and the September 10 peak · NOAA National Hurricane Center · checked Sep 13, 2026
- Editorial admission: we could not read Broward transit fares or Fort Lauderdale park hours and entrance fees (operator pages returned errors or rendered only in a browser), so no fare or fee is given for that side · checked Sep 13, 2026