The Isles are the finger streets running off Las Olas Boulevard, and they hold some of the most sought-after waterfront addresses in the city. Homes sit on deep-water canals with dockage and quick ocean access, which is what draws owners who keep a boat. Bridge clearance and canal depth vary street to street, and that detail is worth getting right. We confirm both by address before you make an offer.
The Las Olas Isles are the finger peninsulas running north and south off Las Olas Boulevard, between the mainland and the Intracoastal. Coconut Isle, Coral Way, Lido Drive, San Marco Drive, Royal Plaza Drive, Isle of Palms, Isle of Capri, Bontona, Mola. Nurmi Isles sits alongside with Fiesta Way and Royal Palm Drive. Hendricks Isle and Isle of Venice are the two that carry condominiums rather than estates.
They exist because of dredge-and-fill work in the 1920s that turned shallow-water flats into buildable waterfront. A century later, that engineering decision produced some of the most valuable land in the city.
Single-family dominates the peninsulas: Mediterranean Revival, mid-century ranch, and a steady stream of contemporary new construction replacing the ranches. Nearly every home has a private dock and a pool.
Hendricks Isle and Isle of Venice are the exception and worth knowing about. Low and mid-rise condominium buildings, not towers, serving buyers who want the address and the water without the maintenance of an estate.
This is the reason people buy here, so here is the honest version.
Canal widths vary meaningfully by street, running from roughly 85 feet on the narrower isles to 300 feet on the widest. Royal Plaza, Isle of Palms and Nurmi Isles sit on the wider water. Coconut, Coral Way, Lido and San Marco are narrower. Depths generally run 5 to 10 feet and up.
The isles have direct ocean access with no fixed bridges. The Las Olas Boulevard bridge is a bascule span that opens on schedule, and we confirm current clearance and opening times against the charts rather than from memory.
Experienced buyers here choose the isle before they choose the house. Canal width and turning-basin room decide which vessel fits, and that constraint runs one direction only.
Las Olas Boulevard is adjacent and walkable from most of the isles. The beach is about a mile east, closer from Nurmi. Downtown is roughly two miles west. Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International is about twenty minutes.
Harbordale Elementary, Sunrise Middle and Fort Lauderdale High serve the area. Broward County adjusts attendance boundaries periodically, so we confirm the current zone by address.
Boat owners, principally, and people who want a single-family house within walking distance of a real commercial street. The isles do not have Rio Vista’s walkable grid or its historic overlay, and they are not trying to. What they have is deep water at the back of the lot and Las Olas at the end of the street.
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