The Hollywood Broadwalk: What It Is and How to Do It Right

Here is the short answer. The Hollywood Broadwalk is a brick promenade that runs nearly 2.5 miles along the Atlantic between Dania Beach Boulevard and the Hallandale Beach line, and it is one of the few places in Southeast Florida where you can park once and spend an entire day on foot. Park in the Garfield or Nebraska garage, start at Johnson Street, walk or ride the marked bike path, and plan around three rules most visitors learn the hard way: no glass, no alcohol, and no dogs outside one short stretch of sand. Every rate, hour and rule below came from the City of Hollywood's own pages this week.

We are Brad and Justina, founders of Yours Truly Hospitality. We manage vacation homes across Southeast Florida, from Pompano Beach and Lighthouse Point through greater Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach and Miami. Guests ask us for the Broadwalk more than almost any other single place on the map, usually phrased as "is it worth the drive." It is, if you go in with a plan.

What the Broadwalk Actually Is

Call it a boardwalk and a local will correct you. There are no boards. It is a paved, brick-lined promenade with a separated bike path beside the walking lane, hotels and cafes inland, and open sand on the ocean side for its whole length.

The city lists the address as A1A between Dania Beach Boulevard and Hallandale Beach, which tells you the shape of the thing: it is a corridor, not a destination with a front door. City parks run sunrise to sunset.

That corridor is the whole appeal. You are walking a continuous two and a half miles of oceanfront where you can stop for coffee, get back on, and stop again for dinner without moving your car.

Where to Park, and What It Actually Costs

This is where most day trips go wrong. People circle A1A looking for a meter. Use a garage instead.

The Office of Parking publishes its beach locations and rates directly. The two garages are the easy answer:

Garfield Garage, 300 Connecticut Street, open 24 hours, seven days. $3.00 per hour Monday through Thursday, $4.00 per hour Friday through Sunday.

Nebraska Garage, 327 Nebraska Street, open 24 hours, seven days. $2.00 per hour Monday through Thursday, $3.00 per hour Friday through Sunday.

Nebraska is the cheaper of the two by a dollar an hour, every day of the week, for two garages a few blocks apart. Over a six-hour beach day that gap is real money. It is the single most useful line in this post.

The surface lots along the beach run higher than both garages: $3.50 per hour Monday through Thursday and $4.50 per hour Friday through Sunday at the Keating Lot on South Ocean Drive, both Beach Community Center lots, the Summit Lot and Holland Park. Two of those have gates. The Summit Lot runs 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. The Holland Park lot at 700 Johnson Street locks its front gate at 7:30 p.m. from November through February and 8:30 p.m. from March through October, with no overnight parking. If you are staying for the evening music, do not park behind a gate that closes before you walk back.

Two more things worth knowing. Registered Hollywood residents pay roughly half, starting at $1.50 per hour at Garfield, which requires signing up with the city in advance. And during special events the beach garages switch to a prepaid $30 flat rate, so check the city calendar before a holiday weekend.

The Rules That Catch People Out

The city publishes a one-page rules sheet, and it is worth two minutes before you pack a cooler.

Alcohol and glass containers are prohibited in public areas. Not discouraged. Prohibited. Bring cans or plastic.

Coolers cannot exceed 36 inches in length or 75 quarts. Tables of any kind are prohibited on the beach, and no food or drink may be placed on or near the Broadwalk wall, which is the low wall everyone naturally uses as a table.

Canopies need open sides, with no single side longer than 10 feet, and they must sit at least 20 feet from the next canopy. Umbrellas need 10 feet of clearance from another umbrella or canopy. Open flames and barbecues are prohibited on both the beach and the Broadwalk.

Swimming is permitted only within 50 yards of shore, and a diver down flag is required for snorkeling or scuba.

On the promenade itself: scooters and motorized vehicles are prohibited, skateboards are prohibited on the Broadwalk and in the parks, and bicycling is permitted within the designated bike path only. That last one matters. The bike path is a separate marked lane, not the whole promenade, and on a crowded weekend the difference between a pleasant ride and a miserable one is whether the riders around you are staying in it.

The city also asks visitors not to smoke and not to bring balloons, which are dangerous to marine life.

Dogs: One Stretch Only

Pets are not permitted on the beach or the Broadwalk. There is exactly one exception, and it is small.

Dogs are allowed on Hollywood Beach only between Pershing and Custer Streets. That Dog Beach is free, open seven days a week from sunrise to sunset, with hours that can extend based on lifeguard staffing. Dogs need a current rabies tag, must be leashed anywhere outside that stretch, and owners clean up after them. Sick dogs, dogs in heat and aggressive dogs are not allowed.

If your plan involves the dog walking the promenade with you, change the plan.

Lifeguards, and When to Actually Swim

The Beach Safety Division runs 21 lifeguard towers and nine first aid stations, seven days a week, year round. Towers are staffed 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., extended to 7 p.m. on holidays and during special events.

Plan your swim inside that window. Sunrise on the Broadwalk is genuinely one of the best hours in South Florida, but before nine you are walking, not swimming.

The Johnson Street Anchor

If you only have half a day, start at Johnson Street. Two things sit there.

The Hollywood Beach Theatre is an outdoor stage on the Broadwalk at Johnson Street with free live music Wednesday through Sunday, 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Programming is provided by the Margaritaville Hollywood Beach Resort, and the lineup is published on the city's site and marked subject to change, so check the night you go.

Charnow Park is at 300 Connecticut Street, open 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., with a splash pad, a playground, outdoor fitness equipment, racquetball courts, restrooms and picnic pavilions. It shares an address with the Garfield Garage, which makes it the natural base for a family day: park above, come down, and the kids have water and shade before you have walked a block. Five pavilions rent by the hour, from $48.51 to $54.54 plus tax with a $100 refundable deposit, and non-residents pay a surcharge on top. No alcohol, no bounce houses.

For accessible access, the city lists eight beach entry points, including Carolina, Connecticut, Johnson, New York, Tyler, Harrison and Oregon Streets.

Getting There Without Moving the Car Twice

Hollywood runs an on-demand shuttle called the Sun Shuttle, booked through the Ride Circuit app, at $2 per rider. The beach sits in the eastern service zone. If you are staying downtown or you parked in a cheaper garage inland, it is a reasonable way to skip the beach parking question entirely. Hours vary by zone and day, so check the city's page before you rely on it for the trip back.

How We Tell Guests to Do It

Arrive by eight. Park at Nebraska. Walk north from Johnson with coffee while the promenade is still empty and the light is low. Swim after nine once the towers are staffed. Take the middle of the day off the sand, because that is when the heat and the crowd peak together. Come back for the seven o'clock music.

That is a full day, one parking charge, and no driving between stops. It is the reason we send guests here in the first place.

If you want to be within reach of this kind of day for a week instead of an afternoon, take a look at our South Florida vacation homes.