VacationSelector
The skyline and yachts on the canals, Fort Lauderdale
Fort LauderdaleThe skyline and yachts on the canals
The church of San Estanislao at Altos de Chavón, La Romana
La RomanaThe church of San Estanislao at Altos de Chavón

Photos: Fort Lauderdale by KeanoManu, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; La Romana by Edgar El, CC BY 3.0, cropped.

Fort Lauderdale or La Romana?

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

  • live music and the arts
  • shopping
  • nightlife

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

Choose La Romana for

  • prices
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on La Romana’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, La Romana 84: Fort Lauderdale leads by 4 points.
Food & drink. Fort Lauderdale 47, La Romana 38: Fort Lauderdale leads by 9 points.
Culture & sights. Fort Lauderdale 28, La Romana 24: Fort Lauderdale leads by 4 points.
Nightlife. Fort Lauderdale 52, La Romana 30: Fort Lauderdale leads by 22 points.
Nature & outdoors. Fort Lauderdale and La Romana are level on 62.
Day trips. Fort Lauderdale 58, La Romana 52: Fort Lauderdale leads by 6 points.
Good for families. Fort Lauderdale 66, La Romana 56: Fort Lauderdale leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Fort Lauderdale 32, La Romana 24: Fort Lauderdale leads by 8 points.
Shopping & style. Fort Lauderdale 52, La Romana 28: Fort Lauderdale leads by 24 points.
Affordability. Fort Lauderdale 32, La Romana 50: La Romana leads by 18 points.
Live music & performing arts. Fort Lauderdale 42, La Romana 17: Fort Lauderdale leads by 25 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Fort Lauderdale 40, La Romana 44: La Romana 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 La Romana.

Your match

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

Fort Lauderdale
Best match
50match

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

La Romana
42match

Wins on prices and wellness 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

La Romana in July

32 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
87 mmrain in the month
28 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Fort LauderdaleLa Romana

Where the figures come from

La Romana's temperatures are measured 65 km from the centre, at Punta Cana.

La Romana has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Fort Lauderdale: 1991-2020 normals, Fort Lauderdale (7.1 km from centre). La Romana: 1993-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Punta Cana (65.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureFort LauderdaleLa Romana
Official language-Spanish
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Dominican Peso (DOP)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB110 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC-4
Emergency number911911
Elevation11 m10 m
Main airportFort Lauderdale Hollywood International Airport (FLL)7 km from centre138 non-stop destinationsCasa De Campo International Airport (LRM)7 km from centre13 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureFort LauderdaleLa Romana
City population182,760139,238
People per km²1,829512
Museums within 10 km60
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Fort Lauderdale or La Romana 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.