Fern Forest Nature Center

My favorite local place to go for a walk. The forest is beautiful in its natural elegance and diversity. A well established canopy with old growth trees provide ample shade on hot Florida days. There is always a mix of some dry and some wetlands to walk through. Elevated boardwalks keep you separated from the wild animals that roam the forest floor and let you enjoy the wetter parts of the park from above. There are usually beautiful birds and animals around and a great staff to help with any questions.

Great spot just off of Lyons Road. Parking is easy, and free. Plenty of trails of varying length and potential mud levels. Many paths are elevated with great views. The nature center has a cool snake for viewing and information about the natural habitat. I would love to see it updated. Fern Forest does also provide event space, and is worth a look!

Some areas are muddy and wet but it makes the walk more adventurous. We enjoyed spotting all the different species of fern. Best to come on a cool breezy day! Lots of bugs out when the breeze isn’t

Awesome place situated in the middle of the city. It's lush green and so soothing. It has multiple trails, the cypress one is easier one while the nature trail might get your shoes dirty and has more bugs but you feel so close to nature. It's pretty awesome. They do have information center which is very decent. There are more than 100 parking spots so that should not be a problem.

Would definitely recommend for kids(especially cypress trail) as it has side rails all along.

Be prepared for the bugs/mosquitos and it's a swamp so pls expect them and don't crib about it.lol

Been a local for years, been here before, first time back since COVID. It's always a treat. BCPnR always have it so well maintained. The residents are too cute!

It's a beautiful park with ample parking. We didn't go into the nature center itself, but walked the trails.

Well maintained, fantastic trails smack in the center of Broward County.

You can do as short as a 1-2 mile hike or stretch it into as many miles as you like.

Trails: The pathways fork into multiple trails you can choose from. All of them have a slightly different feel to it, and it’s definitely well worth exploring each and every one of them. We went in the middle of a weekday between Christmas and New Year and they were plenty of people around!

There is a big rest area with a vending machine for water and soda and also water fountains and well maintained toilets. Closer to the trails you have a hose for cleaning up your boots as well. We also spotted County provided bug and pest repellent but we strongly recommend you bringing your own.

A small backpack with some trail mix, snacks, energy bars and water won’t go amiss for those longer stays.

Clothes and shoes - We spotted plenty of people ambling around in shorts, t shirt and running shoes and I suppose it works for a muggy day or if you’re simply slow walking or bird watching. I’d recommend running pants, tall socks and a full sleeved running shirt to keep the ticks and mosquitoes away. We also ran into some large spider webs along the way.

Trail running shoes will really come in handy if you’re into trail running. The trails are true trails - you have stones, deeply embedded roots, over growth, wet mud and other usual suspects if you’re into trail running.

Bonus: We spotted a bird that seemed to be sleeping as in it wasn’t budging an inch for about ten minutes. One of the bird watchers asked us to download an app called Seek by inaturalist. You open the app, point the in-app camera at the bird (or tree or mushroom or any other nature object) and voila! You get a detailed description of the thing you’re looking at! This was probably the coolest part of the trip!

This was my first time ever checking this place out. Overall, I think it was very nice. The boardwalks were quite nice and the walking trails were also interesting, although there was still a little bit of mud in certain places. Definitely nice that most of the walk is under a canopy of trees so there is lots of shade, except for a couple portions that are out in an open area. Nice place for a walk through nature if you need to escape the craziness of Broward County.