FLIBS 2026: The Fort Lauderdale Boat Show, Done Right

The Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show runs Wednesday, October 28 through Sunday, November 1, 2026. It is the 67th edition, and the organizer expects more than 100,000 visitors and over 1,300 boats. The short version of this guide: buy tickets online before you arrive, because there is no box office at the show. Use the free show shuttles or the show Water Taxi instead of hunting for parking. And stay in a home 20 to 30 minutes up the coast, where the week feels calm instead of crushed. Everything below is the detail.

We're Brad and Justina, founders of Yours Truly Hospitality. We manage vacation homes across greater Fort Lauderdale, and show week is one of the busiest weeks of the fall in our part of the coast. This is the plan we hand our own guests.

What FLIBS Actually Is

FLIBS is less a convention than a temporary city built on the water. For five days, the Intracoastal fills with superyachts, sportfish boats, center consoles, tenders, and everything that goes on or in them. The show's own map names six sites: the Broward County Convention Center, Bahia Mar Yachting Center, Hall of Fame Marina, Las Olas Marina, Pier Sixty-Six Marina, and the Superyacht Village at Pier Sixty-Six South. Last year's show counted more than 1,300 boats and 1,000 exhibiting brands.

Bahia Mar is the heart of it. The marina anchors Fort Lauderdale's boating culture the other 51 weeks of the year, and during the show it becomes the main stage. If you only have one day, spend most of it there and at the Superyacht Village.

Two honest notes for first-timers. One: you cannot see all of it. The sites stretch along the Intracoastal from the Convention Center to Las Olas, so you pick your priorities, not your regrets. Two: you don't need to be shopping for a yacht to enjoy it. Plenty of visitors come for the spectacle, the gear, the demos, and the people-watching, and the show is built for them too.

Getting In and Around

Buy tickets online in advance. The show sells admission online only and says plainly that there is no box office onsite. The organizer's published prices: an Adult 1-Day General Admission ticket is $48 and an Adult 2-Day ticket is $80, both good Thursday through Sunday. The Wednesday Preview ticket is $73, and a 2-Day Preview plus General Admission ticket is $105. Children 6 to 12 are $19, and children under 6 get in free with an adult. The Windward VIP Experience is $459 for one day. Active military and veterans get a free one-day general admission ticket. Show hours are noon to 7 p.m. Wednesday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.

Now the part locals actually care about: do not drive to the docks. The show names the Broward County Convention Center, at 1950 Eisenhower Blvd, as its transportation hub. Park there once and ride the complimentary shuttles and golf carts, which come with your ticket and loop to Bahia Mar and the Superyacht Village. Coming by train? A show shuttle runs from the Brightline Fort Lauderdale station to the Riverside Hotel.

Fort Lauderdale earned the Venice of America name honestly, and the show Water Taxi is the scenic way in. Show passes are $15 a day or $65 for all five days, children under 5 ride free, and Windward VIP ticket holders ride free. Boats run noon to 8 p.m. Wednesday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday, between show stops that include the Riverside Hotel, the Convention Center, the GALLERYone DoubleTree, Shooters Waterfront and Bahia Mar. One thing first-timers miss: the Water Taxi suspends its regular routes during the show, so it is show stops only that week.

Where to Stay

Here's the strategy that separates a good show week from a tiring one: stay outside the crush.

Beachfront hotels near Bahia Mar book out far ahead and sit inside the busiest traffic of the year. Meanwhile, our homes in Pompano Beach and Lighthouse Point are 20 to 30 minutes up the coast, and during show week those neighborhoods feel like a different season. Quiet canals, open restaurant tables, a driveway for your car, and a patio for the evening debrief. Because the Water Taxi's regular Pompano route is suspended during the show, the clean plan from up here is a morning drive to the Convention Center hub, then shuttles or the show Water Taxi from there.

Our Oakland Park area homes split the difference. They sit about 6.5 miles from Bahia Mar, close enough for a quick morning run to the docks, far enough that you sleep in a real neighborhood instead of a staging area.

The honest math: you trade a short, predictable commute for a week that costs less stress at every other hour of the day. A kitchen for early coffee before the gates open. Space for the group that always forms around a boat show trip. A pool for the afternoon you inevitably skip. For most groups, that trade wins.

Beyond the Docks

Five days of boats is a lot of boats, even for boat people. Build in one land evening.

Las Olas Boulevard is the move. It's Fort Lauderdale's signature street, a walkable stretch of restaurants, galleries, and bars, and during show week it hums without gridlocking the way the beach corridor does. Park once or arrive by Water Taxi, walk the whole boulevard, read menus, and pick the room with the energy you want.

If you'd rather stay on the water for dinner, Shooters Waterfront sits right on the Intracoastal and is a show Water Taxi stop, so you can cruise to your table past the show traffic instead of through it. Time it right: the show boats stop at 8 p.m., or 6 p.m. on Sunday. Staying north in Pompano or Lighthouse Point? Two of our team's standing picks are minutes away in Deerfield Beach: JB's on the Beach, right on the sand, and Whale's Rib for local seafood.

One more for early risers: the beach at sunrise, before the gates open. Show week mornings on the sand are quieter than you'd expect, because everyone else is sleeping off the docks.

Book Early

Show week is the most demand-heavy stretch of Fort Lauderdale's fall. Exhibitors, brokers, crews, and buyers lock in accommodations months out, and they book long stays. With the show less than three weeks away, the best-located homes near the docks are mostly spoken for, which is one more reason to look a little north.

If your dates are firm, October 28 through November 1, book your home now and stop thinking about it. If you're flexible, arriving a day early or staying through the following Monday gets you the show plus a bonus day of the city with the crowds draining out.

The show brings the boats. The right home base decides whether the week feels like a spectacle or a slog. Stay where it's calm, park once at the hub or ride the water in, and let the crush belong to someone else. When you're ready, browse our Fort Lauderdale area vacation homes and set up your show week the way locals would. We'd love to host you.

Updated October 9, 2026. Re-checked on that date against the show's official site and the Water Taxi's own boat show page: dates, show hours, ticket prices, the online-only rule, the free shuttles and transportation hub, and Water Taxi show passes and hours. This revision corrects the earlier version, which counted seven venues and six miles of docks (the organizer's own release lists six locations and gives no dock length) and suggested riding the Water Taxi down from Pompano Beach, a route that is suspended during the show.