If you’re looking for an authentic Italian bakery in Fort Lauderdale, Pan’E Dolci Bakery Fort Lauderdale is absolutely worth a stop. This café-style bakery is known for its Italian pastries, desserts, coffee, and massive savory sandwiches. The display cases are filled with cannolis, cookies, croissants, and breads, and they even have 22 flavors of homemade gelato.
Everything looks so good that it’s honestly hard to decide what to order.
If you’re visiting Fort Lauderdale for a short stop or before a flight, this bakery fits easily into a quick itinerary. I talk more about how to plan a short visit in my guide to One Day in Fort Lauderdale: What to Do If You Only Have a Few Hours.
And if you’re planning a longer stay, you can find hotels in Fort Lauderdale here. I usually find great deals and plenty of options.
Walking into Pan’E Dolci Bakery in Fort Lauderdale feels like stepping into a traditional Italian bakery. The pastry cases are packed with options, and the smell of fresh bread and desserts hits you immediately. If you’ve ever walked into a bakery and suddenly wanted to order one of everything, this is that moment.
The atmosphere is casual. You can grab something to go, or sit down and enjoy it at one of the small tables inside. When we visited it wasn’t overly busy, but there was a steady flow of people coming in and out — which is usually a good sign.
The staff was also incredibly friendly and happy to help explain what different pastries were. Honestly, everything looked so good that I wished I had a bigger stomach so I could try more.
There are a lot of great options here, but these are the things we tried.
I ordered the Italian sandwich, and calling it a sandwich almost feels like an understatement.
This thing was huge.
It’s made with fresh sliced salami, provolone cheese, ham, tomatoes, eggplant, and fresh basil on focaccia bread.
The ingredients tasted incredibly fresh, and the focaccia bread held everything together perfectly.
The sandwich was so big that I ate half for lunch and saved the other half for the next day — which honestly felt like a bonus meal.
The Nutella donut is an absolute must. If you’re deciding between pastries, get this one. It’s soft, sweet, and filled with Nutella. Basically everything a donut should be.
We also tried the apricot cookie with pecans (sometimes walnuts), raisins, and cinnamon. It’s a traditional Italian-style cookie that’s packed with flavor and a little different from your typical bakery dessert. If you like fruit-forward pastries, this is a great one to try but if you can only get one thing make it the Nutella donut!
The portions at Pan’E Dolci Bakery Fort Lauderdale are very generous. The sandwich alone was about $20, but it’s large enough to easily split between two people or save half for later.
The pastries are only a few dollars each, which makes it easy to try several things. This is dangerous information if you’re someone who believes dessert is a perfectly reasonable breakfast option. (No judgment here.)
The biggest thing that stands out here is the variety.
You’ll find everything from:
Cannolis
Biscotti
Croissants
Cookies
Italian breads
Gelato
Huge savory sandwiches
It’s the kind of place where you walk in planning to grab one thing and suddenly want to try five.
If you’re planning a full food-focused trip through South Florida, this bakery pairs really well with some of the Cuban and Latin spots across the region. I share more great food stops in my guide to Little Havana Miami: What to See, Eat & Do.
A few quick things to know before visiting Pan’E Dolci Bakery Fort Lauderdale:
It’s casual and easy to stop in
You can grab food to-go or sit down
Portions are large, especially the sandwiches
The pastry selection changes depending on what’s fresh
If you’re flying out of the area afterward, it’s also helpful to know the airport layout and timing. I break that down in my Fort Lauderdale Airport Guide: What to Know About FLL Before You Fly. If you’re flying into South Florida for a food trip like this, I usually start by comparing flights so I can arrive early enough to actually enjoy the day instead of losing it to travel. You can compare flight options here.
Absolutely.
If you love Italian bakeries, Pan’E Dolci Bakery Fort Lauderdale is a great stop. Between the huge sandwiches, the fresh pastries, and the friendly atmosphere, it’s the kind of place that’s easy to come back to again.
And if you go, don’t leave without trying the Nutella donut.
If you’re continuing your food tour around South Florida, I also put together a guide to Where to Eat in South Beach Miami: A Local Food Guide, which includes several of my favorite restaurants and must-order dishes.
Let’s talk about when to actually book that Dubai trip you’ve been pinning for two years. I get asked this constantly, so here’s the honest breakdown: October through April is your window. Anything outside that and you’re basically touring in a sauna!
October and November give you warm days and cooler nights, which is basically the sweet spot for wandering around without melting. December through February is peak season: gorgeous weather. March and April are the quiet insider pick, right before summer heat shows up and ruins everyone’s plans.
Saving this for later? That’s what it’s here for. Full breakdown linked in bio.
If you’re chasing energy, beaches, nightlife, and nonstop luxury, Dubai takes the crown. If you’re craving culture, iconic architecture, and meaningful landmarks at a slower pace, Abu Dhabi shines.🤍
My advice? Base yourself in Dubai and do Abu Dhabi as a day trip! The perfect balance of excitement and culture in the UAE.
Want the full breakdown? Check out my Dubai and Abu Dhabi guide for tips, itineraries, and must-sees!
I do not like seafood. 🐟 So when I booked a tasting menu at a restaurant built around aquarium walls at Atlantis The Palm, I was nervous.
Ossiano sits underwater fish gliding past the whole meal, moody lighting, the kind of room that makes you lower your voice without meaning to. It’s not cheap, and it’s not trying to be. You’re paying for the entire experience.
Here’s the honest part: they have a vegetarian tasting menu, and I assumed it would be an afterthought. It ended up in my top five meals of all time. Course after course, the same care and precision as the seafood-forward menu everyone comes for. They even swapped in a steak for the main and it still felt cohesive with everything around it.
By course four you’re full. They bring out three more breads anyway. I ate all of it. No regrets.
Small detail that stuck with me my dress was black, so they swapped my napkin from white to black without me asking. That’s the kind of thing that tells you everything about a place.
Full breakdown of the menu, the vegetarian option, and what to expect linked in bio.
Dubai is all skyline until you drive an hour into the dunes and it goes completely silent. Bab Al Shams was that shift for us: slower, quieter, more intentional than anything we did in the city.
If you want nightlife or walkable everything, this isn’t your stop. But if you want a night that feels like a reset, it delivers, polished service, food I’m still thinking about, and a setting that never tries too hard.
Full review (and whether it’s worth adding to your Dubai itinerary) is linked in bio. 🏜️
I flew @emirates economy to Dubai fully expecting to just survive the flight. We booked seats by the exit row — @bradplummer1 got the legroom (he’s 6’7”), I got a normal seat right next to him, and it saved us money over booking two extra-legroom seats. Smart trick if you’re traveling with someone who needs the extra space and you don’t.
The food alone earned this post. Warm chicken, a Waldorf salad that actually tasted fresh, real butter on the roll, and a breakfast spread that put most airport brunches to shame. Add in the twinkling-star cabin lighting once dinner wrapped, and it felt less like a flight and more like the trip had already started.
Not everything was perfect — the wifi didn’t work for me at all, so if you’re planning to get work done in the air, download what you need beforehand. But that was the only miss in an otherwise excellent long haul.
If you’ve got Emirates lounge access in Dubai, use it. Showers, buffets, quiet corners to nap it makes the layover feel like a reset instead of a slog.
Full review seats, food, lounge, and the wifi situation is on the blog. Link in bio. ✈️
Follow @travelwithwendyplummer for Beautiful Beach Destinations, City Guides, Foodie Spots, and Luxury Hotel Recommendations.
