VacationSelector
Praia Mole in Florianopolis, Florianopolis
FlorianopolisPraia Mole in Florianopolis
The skyline and yachts on the canals, Fort Lauderdale
Fort LauderdaleThe skyline and yachts on the canals

Photos: Florianopolis by Papa Pic, CC0; Fort Lauderdale by KeanoManu, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Florianopolis or Fort Lauderdale?

Our verdict in twelve categories, each scored against the same fixed benchmark cities, and the climate month by month, so you can choose for your trip.

Choose Florianopolis for

  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on Florianopolis’s own page.

Choose Fort Lauderdale for

  • shopping
  • live music and the arts
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Fort Lauderdale’s own page.

Scoreboard

Twelve categories on one fixed scale from 0 to 100. The shaded stretch is the gap between the two.

Beaches & swimming. Florianopolis 85, Fort Lauderdale 88: Fort Lauderdale leads by 3 points.
Food & drink. Florianopolis 58, Fort Lauderdale 47: Florianopolis leads by 11 points.
Culture & sights. Florianopolis 33, Fort Lauderdale 28: Florianopolis leads by 5 points.
Nightlife. Florianopolis 60, Fort Lauderdale 52: Florianopolis leads by 8 points.
Nature & outdoors. Florianopolis 78, Fort Lauderdale 62: Florianopolis leads by 16 points.
Day trips. Florianopolis 50, Fort Lauderdale 58: Fort Lauderdale leads by 8 points.
Good for families. Florianopolis 60, Fort Lauderdale 66: Fort Lauderdale leads by 6 points.
Getting around. Florianopolis 28, Fort Lauderdale 32: Fort Lauderdale leads by 4 points.
Shopping & style. Florianopolis 33, Fort Lauderdale 52: Fort Lauderdale leads by 19 points.
Affordability. Florianopolis 60, Fort Lauderdale 32: Florianopolis leads by 28 points.
Live music & performing arts. Florianopolis 28, Fort Lauderdale 42: Fort Lauderdale leads by 14 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Florianopolis 45, Fort Lauderdale 40: Florianopolis leads by 5 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Florianopolis and Fort Lauderdale.

Your match

Pick a travel style or drag the sliders, and both match scores follow your weighting.

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Florianopolis
52match

Wins on prices and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

Fort Lauderdale
50match

Wins on shopping and live music and the arts with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Florianopolis in July

21 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
91 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
18 °Csea
11 hdaylight a day

Fort Lauderdale in July

32 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
166 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
29 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
FlorianopolisFort Lauderdale

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Florianopolis: 1991-2020 normals, Florianopolis (1.7 km from centre). Fort Lauderdale: 1991-2020 normals, Fort Lauderdale (7.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureFlorianopolisFort Lauderdale
Official languagePortuguese-
CurrencyBrazilian Real (BRL)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCN60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-3UTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 190, ambulance 192, fire 193911
Elevation3 m11 m
Main airportHercílio Luz International Airport (FLN)9 km from centre21 non-stop destinationsFort Lauderdale Hollywood International Airport (FLL)7 km from centre136 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureFlorianopolisFort Lauderdale
City population587,486182,760
People per km²8701,829
Museums within 10 km116
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C7 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Florianopolis or Fort Lauderdale somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Structured data from Wikidata (CC0). Weather data by Meteostat. Meteorological data provided by NOAA, DWD and others. Rainfall where no rain gauge is within 25 km is from the TerraClimate 1991-2020 climatology (Abatzoglou et al. 2018, Scientific Data), read at the city. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. Non-stop route lists from the "Airlines and destinations" tables on English Wikipedia airport articles, by Wikipedia contributors, reused under CC BY-SA 4.0. Currency from the ISO 4217 register maintained by SIX, cross-checked against country data from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Price level from World Bank open data (PPP conversion factor for private consumption and official exchange rate), CC BY 4.0. Time zones from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0); clock offsets computed from the IANA time zone database. Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm.

Category scores are our editorial verdict under rubric v3, each placed against the same fixed benchmark cities; the climate figures are measured. How the scores are set. Snapshot generated 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.