A single low-budget Hollywood movie changed FORT LAUDERDALE from a mild-mannered little town that happened to adjoin seven miles of palm-shaded white sands into a byword for uninhibited beach life. Following the 1960 teen-exploitation movie Where the Boys Are , Fort Lauderdale instantly became the number-one Spring Break venue in the US, drawing hundreds of thousands of frenzied students each year. Having fueled its economic boom on underage drinking and lascivious excess, however, the city promptly turned its back on the revelers. By the end of the 1980s, it had imposed enough restrictions on boozing and wild behavior to put an end to the bacchanal, and Fort Lauderdale has transformed itself into a thriving pleasure port, catering to individual yacht-owners and major cruise liners alike, that's also one of the fastest-growing residential areas in the country.

For visitors, Fort Lauderdale contains two main areas of interest. Downtown focuses on a few blocks between E Broward and E Las Olas boulevards, which cross US-1 a couple of miles east of I-95. Heavily prettified with parks and promenades, it's a surprisingly pleasant place for a stroll, especially if you follow the half-mile pedestrian Riverwalk along the north shore of the New River. Las Olas Boulevard itself, the main shopping district , remains busy day and night, with boutiques, galleries, restaurants, bars and sidewalk cafés in abundance. It's also home to the stimulating Museum of Art , 1 E Las Olas Blvd (Tues-Sat 10am-5pm, Fri 10am-8pm, Sun noon-5pm; $10; tel 954/525-5500). The largely modern collection features several of the twentieth century's biggest names, but also celebrates 1960s work by the CoBrA movement of artists from Copenhagen, Brussels and Amsterdam. Not far west, the simulators and interactive displays at the Museum of Discovery and Science , 401 SW 2nd St (Mon-Sat 10am-5pm, Sun noon-6pm; $12.50 including one IMAX film; tel 954/467-6637), should pacify kids pining for Disney with a blockbuster 3D IMAX theater (call for showtimes).

Most visitors, nonetheless, still come for the beach . Cross the arching intracoastal waterway bridge, about two miles along Las Olas Boulevard from downtown, and the mood changes appreciably. Where Las Olas ends, beach-side Fort Lauderdale begins - T-shirt, sunscreen and beachwear stores are suddenly everywhere. Along the seafront, Fort Lauderdale Beach Boulevard once bore the brunt of Spring Break partying, but only a few beachfront bars suggest the carousing of the past, and the attractive new promenade draws an altogether healthier crowd of joggers, in-line skaters and cyclists.