VacationSelector
The skyline and yachts on the canals, Fort Lauderdale
Fort LauderdaleThe skyline and yachts on the canals
Huntington Beach Pier on a summer day, Huntington Beach
Huntington BeachHuntington Beach Pier on a summer day

Photos: Fort Lauderdale by KeanoManu, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Huntington Beach by Stephen Leonardi, Pexels License.

Fort Lauderdale or Huntington Beach?

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 Fort Lauderdale for

  • beaches
  • culture and sights
  • nightlife

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

Choose Huntington Beach for

  • families
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Huntington Beach’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. Fort Lauderdale 88, Huntington Beach 70: Fort Lauderdale leads by 18 points.
Food & drink. Fort Lauderdale 47, Huntington Beach 46: Fort Lauderdale leads by 1 points.
Culture & sights. Fort Lauderdale 28, Huntington Beach 14: Fort Lauderdale leads by 14 points.
Nightlife. Fort Lauderdale 52, Huntington Beach 38: Fort Lauderdale leads by 14 points.
Nature & outdoors. Fort Lauderdale 62, Huntington Beach 58: Fort Lauderdale leads by 4 points.
Day trips. Fort Lauderdale 58, Huntington Beach 63: Huntington Beach leads by 5 points.
Good for families. Fort Lauderdale 66, Huntington Beach 82: Huntington Beach leads by 16 points.
Getting around. Fort Lauderdale 32, Huntington Beach 20: Fort Lauderdale leads by 12 points.
Shopping & style. Fort Lauderdale 52, Huntington Beach 42: Fort Lauderdale leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Fort Lauderdale 32, Huntington Beach 28: Fort Lauderdale leads by 4 points.
Live music & performing arts. Fort Lauderdale 42, Huntington Beach 33: Fort Lauderdale leads by 9 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Fort Lauderdale 40, Huntington Beach 36: Fort Lauderdale leads by 4 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Fort Lauderdale and Huntington Beach.

Your match

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

Fort Lauderdale
Best match
50match

Wins on beaches and culture and sights with your weighting.

Huntington Beach
44match

Wins on families and day trips with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Fort Lauderdale in July

32 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
166 mmrain in the month
29 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Huntington Beach in July

26 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
1 mmrain in the month
20 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Fort LauderdaleHuntington Beach

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Fort Lauderdale: 1991-2020 normals, Fort Lauderdale (7.1 km from centre). Huntington Beach: 1991-2020 normals, Santa Ana / Paularino (12.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureFort LauderdaleHuntington Beach
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC-8, UTC-7 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation11 m12 m
Main airportFort Lauderdale Hollywood International Airport (FLL)7 km from centre138 non-stop destinationsJohn Wayne Orange County International Airport (SNA)12 km from centre53 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureFort LauderdaleHuntington Beach
City population182,760198,711
People per km²1,8292,406
Museums within 10 km63
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 monthsNone

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Fort Lauderdale or Huntington Beach 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 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.