How to get to the Fort Lauderdale boat show
FORT LAUDERDALE – Sprawling over seven waterfront locations and expecting 110,000 attendees, the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show can be challenging to get to and to get around.
“Every year we look to try and improve over what we did last year,” says Andrew Doole, president of U.S. boat shows at Informa Markets, producer of the Fort Lauderdale show. “Obviously, there is a lot of construction around town, but we’re trying to maintain and add to any parking that we can to improve the experience.”
This year sees the addition of three parking garages, the removal of parking at the War Memorial Auditorium and a continuation of the successful Water Taxi route from downtown, which shuttled more than 25,000 people a day last year, according to John Nigro, Informa’s director of operations.
Main show site
Perhaps the best news for this year’s show is the addition of the new Las Olas Parking Garage, which offers self-parking for $40 per day. An Uber/Lyft stop is also located nearby, on the south side of Las Olas Boulevard. This is at the north end of the show, which is linked via floating docks and inter-show shuttle to the main show site at Bahia Mar.
For the ultimate convenience, valet parking is available for $75 per day at the show’s main entrance at SE Fifth St. and Seabreeze Boulevard, which is also a taxi stop.
Superyacht Village
The site formerly known as Sails Marina in the 17th Street Causeway’s southeast corner has been re-named Pier South and will host the show’s largest
The 2019 Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show runs Wednesday through Sunday.
yachts in a new endeavor called Superyacht Village. Both valet and self-parking ($40 a day) are on site, as well as an Uber/Lyft stop, located under the bridge on the southeast side.
Remote parking
Last year saw a transformation of the parking available downtown, which Nigro describes as “a massive success.” The 12 designated boat show parking locations — including a brand new garage at 305 S. Andrews Ave. — funnel boat-show attendees via Beachhopper golf carts to the Riverside Hotel Water Taxi stop. From here, visitors go by boat to Bahia Mar for $12, which includes all-day Water Taxi rides to and from the show and between show locations.
The downtown Brightline station also offers complimentary shuttle bus service (red route) to the Water Taxi dock. Brightline, rebranding as Virgin Trains USA, is extending a 25 percent discount on SMART tickets and 10 percent off SMARTPLUS and SELECT tickets with promo code FLIBS19.
What Nigro calls “the best
deal in town,” show-goers can park remotely for free at The Galleria mall, or valet for $10, and walk to the Water Taxi stop at the DoubleTree/ GALLERYone hotel. Parking is available directly at DoubleTree. The mall is at 2414 Sunrise Blvd.
Convention Center
The Convention Center will have self-parking and a taxi stop as in past years. New this year are 500 spaces nearby at the Art Institute at 1799 SE 17th St. A walking path will be established to the Convention Center.
Between show sites
A complimentary bus system, sponsored by West Marine, runs between the Convention Center and Bahia Mar (blue route), and between Pier South, Pier Sixty-Six, Bahia Mar, and the Convention Center (green route).
The Water Taxi also travels between show sites for $12 per day, with stops at Las Olas Marina, Bahia Mar, Pier Sixty-Six, Hilton Fort Lauderdale Marina, and the Convention Center.
The boat show runs Wednesday through Sunday.