Hollywood Beach
Overview
Hollywood Beach sits in Broward County between Fort Lauderdale and Miami, and what distinguishes it is the Broadwalk: a paved promenade running directly along the sand for roughly two and a half miles, lined with cafés, ice-cream counters, rental shops and low-rise hotels. It is closed to cars and busy with walkers, cyclists and joggers from early morning.
That arrangement gives the beach a different character from its neighbours. There is no wall of high-rise towers as at Sunny Isles to the south, and no boulevard traffic as at Fort Lauderdale to the north. The buildings are modest and the promenade is the social centre, which is why the beach draws a mix of local families, snowbirds and day visitors rather than a single crowd.
The sand is broad and pale, the water Atlantic and moderately surfed, and access is free along the whole length with numbered street entrances off the Broadwalk.
Photo summary of last month
They are published unedited and in date order, and they replace themselves as new submissions arrive, so what appears below is the most recent view of the beach rather than a promotional photograph.
Our current score here is 7.2. Hollywood is raked daily, which matters more than it sounds and is the main reason the beach so often reads better in the afternoon than it did at dawn.
Conditions vary along the two and a half miles, and the northern end toward Dania frequently differs from the central Broadwalk on the same morning.
Position relative to the Atlantic sargassum belt
Hollywood sits at the outer edge of the sargassum system rather than inside it. The Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt forms between West Africa and Brazil and travels west into the Caribbean; southeast Florida receives only the portion that survives that passage and is then carried north by the Florida Current, the flow that becomes the Gulf Stream.
Volumes here are therefore far lower than in the Mexican Caribbean or on the east coast of the Dominican Republic, which face the belt directly. And because the material arrives as scattered rafts rather than a continuous mass, whether it lands depends on the wind on the day: an easterly pushes it ashore, a westerly holds it offshore and the same week reads clean.
The decisive local factor is maintenance. Hollywood rakes its beach daily, and on a promenade whose entire economy depends on how the sand looks, that work is done thoroughly and early. A heavy overnight arrival is frequently gone before most visitors are out, which is why a morning photograph and an afternoon one can tell different stories about the same day.
The sargassum season
The window that concerns Broward County runs from roughly April to August, and within it wind direction decides individual days rather than the calendar. That is why our record for this coast shows clear and affected days alternating rather than a steady curve.
From December through March the coast is reliably clear. The wider picture, including how the belt has changed over the past decade, is set out in our Florida sargassum season guide.
Swimming conditions and safety
This is an open Atlantic beach with a gentle shelf and generally moderate surf, comparable to Fort Lauderdale and calmer than Florida's central coast. Rip currents are the principal hazard rather than wave height, and they form most readily on windy days and near structures.
The beach is lifeguarded and flies the standard warning flags. Purple indicates marine pests rather than sargassum, usually jellyfish or Portuguese man o' war, which arrive on the same onshore winds that carry the weed.
On sargassum: fresh weed in the water is harmless and simply unpleasant to swim through. The sulphurous smell comes from material that has decomposed on hot sand for a day or more, releasing hydrogen sulphide. Given the daily raking here, a strong smell is unusual and generally means an arrival heavy enough to outpace the crews.
Access and parking coordinates
Hollywood Beach (Johnson Street)
Central Hollywood Beach is reached at Johnson Street on the Broadwalk, served by the City of Hollywood's municipal garages and metered lots a block back from the sand, plus metered street parking. Payment is at the machines or by app. The garages are the reliable choice at weekends, when the beachfront meters fill.
Johnson St & N Broadwalk, Hollywood, FL 33019
Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport is about ten minutes north, which makes this one of the most convenient beaches in the county to reach on arrival. Miami is roughly half an hour south.
The Broadwalk
The promenade is the reason many people choose Hollywood over its neighbours. It runs the length of the beach with a separated lane for cyclists and skaters, and the businesses along it are small and independent rather than chains. Rental stands offer bicycles, and the flat two and a half miles make it an easy ride.
It also changes how a sargassum day feels. On a stretch where the promenade sits directly against the sand, a weed line is immediately visible from the café tables, which is part of why the city keeps the raking schedule it does.
The live camera
This beach has a live webcam on the Broadwalk, which is the fastest way to judge conditions before setting out. Given how much the sand changes between the early morning and after the raking crews have passed, a camera is more useful here than a seasonal average could ever be. It appears alongside the photographs and the current score on our live map.
Check live conditions before you go
Conditions at Hollywood Beach change within days and sometimes within hours, because the beach is raked daily and a heavy dawn can be cleared by mid-morning. On the live map we track it with dated photographs, the Broadwalk webcam and a daily condition score, so you can see how it looks now rather than how it usually looks.
See live conditions, photos & cams →