| nightguy |
I'm going to Miami over the Easter weekend and am curious about a few things:
1. Most of the car rentals are hugely expensive, around $500, leading me to believe this will still be a crazy busy time. Will it ?
2. I got a late deal on an SUV for ~$200 for 5 days. I don't mind wasting the money on a car even though we're mostly hanging out at the hotel. Will I have a prayer of getting around say South Beach and finding a place to park ? How much to park ?
3. Would it be better to take taxis ? We're staying a little west of the airport and they estimated fares between $30-35 to South Beach. I can't imagine we'd go more than a couple of times.
4. Would it be worth it to drive up to Kennedy Space Center ? It looks like 3+ hours. Not sure why we didn't do this from Orlando a couple of months ago.
Any other advice especially sightseeing stuff would be great. We've been on two cruises out of Miami, and other than being stuck overnight a couple of years ago and getting shuttled to South Beach haven't seen anything beyond the route between the airport and the shipyard.
Thanks in advance !! :) |
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| dj-mdx2 |
Try tripadvisor.com and search for the miami forum.
Also soutbeach-usa.com has some info.
Just a sample of the kind of replies on tripadvisor:
http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopi...mi_Florida.html
From what I remember, hotel valet parking will cost you around $25-30. The taxi fare from the airport sounds about right, but it will be murderous trying to get a ride back. Might be worth it to stay 2 or 3 blocks away from the actual beach if you're looking for a hotel. |
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| bmorris2784 |
You should try this place they pick you up in a limo at your hotel FREE. Have your hotel call them. You can walk around the South Beach area for awile then have them take you back. They run from noon until 1am on weekends.
Paesanos
764 Washington Avenue
Miami Beach, Florida - 33139
For a romantic meal and some quiet conversation, spend an evening with Paesanos while enjoying authentic Italian cusine. Free limosine service to and from the hotel brings you to the doorstep of Paesanos, located one block from Ocean Drive. At Paesanos, choose from the most exquisite pasta, seafood, steak and veal. At Paesanos you get it all, great location, great atmosphere and most important-great food. |
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| nightguy |
quote:
Originally posted by dj-mdx2
Try tripadvisor.com and search for the miami forum.
Also soutbeach-usa.com has some info.
Hmmm...the first one is ok, second one doesn't work. I thought maybe I could get a response from one of the friendly Miami people.
Thanks bmorris for the restaurant recommendation... |
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| G. COLTON |
Sounds cheap to me. I just got back from a week in San Francisco and I paid $28.57 per night, including tax, for parking at my lodging. Since it was valet add a few dollars each way. Otherwise it was find a spot on the street.
G |
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| dj-mdx2 |
quote:
Originally posted by nightguy
Hmmm...the first one is ok, second one doesn't work. I thought maybe I could get a response from one of the friendly Miami people.
Thanks bmorris for the restaurant recommendation...
Sorry about the link. Try this one:
http://www.southbeach-usa.com/ |
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| nightguy |
quote:
Originally posted by dj-mdx2
Sorry about the link. Try this one:
http://www.southbeach-usa.com/
Ah much better. Thought I had corrected it myself but ended up on some sales portal last night. Thank you.
Zafer: Funny you gave me the link to Pier 66. You been there ? My grandparents used to take me to Fort Lauderdale for an annual convention at the hotel. Great place. Wonder if it still has the express glass elevator on the back of the building that goes to the top. My dad was just saying the other day he wants to stay there sometime. I think I still have some 25 year old Pier 66 soap in his closet. |
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| zafer |
Yes, I've been there, you can consider me SF'ian. Last time was a couple of years ago. It still has that elevator. I've never stayed there after leaving SL `cause it isn't on the beach. Spent a 4th of July night up there out on the terrace. It was great, fireworks everywhere ;)
...forgive me for asking but, why the heck are you staying in a hotel west of MIA? :confused: |
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| nightguy |
quote:
Originally posted by zafer
...forgive me for asking but, why the heck are you staying in a hotel west of MIA? :confused:
It's only about 5 miles west. Everything else was booked or really expensive. My wife, to her credit, just wants to sit by a pool in some warm weather for 75% of the vacation. This from the gal that after 2 1/2 days of hitting Honolulu hard sat on Kaanapali Beach, Maui for two hours and told me we needed to go sightsee and do things. However, I was just moments ago told she'll need to have the phone and Crackberry with her poolside. :3:
We might have to look for some bargains at other hotels though. |
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| zafer |
| ....watch it, there is only 4 miles of civilization west of MIA! 5th mile you're in the everglades, where a ValuJet went down about 10yrs ago. |
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| ltkrm |
Try looking for a hotel in coconut grove(Cocowalk), or on biscayne blvd. just south of downtown. There is more life there than west of MIA. Also when you go to SOBE (south beach) try taking a stroll down the length of lincoln rd. (outdoor walking mall) which is a great night spot for restaurants (all have outdoor sidewalk seating) and bars. Bayside marketplace is fun too.
Miami is great!!!!!
Have fun. |
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| nightguy |
Thanks for the advice and the websites. We had a great trip. We stayed at the Doral only because we got a good deal and we mostly wanted to chill out. We don't golf much, especially at $175 a round. I used their jogging trail and wasn't really that impressed with the Red course nor what I saw of the other 4. We meant to spend a day at the beach but we got up late almost every day and didn't feel like packing a day's worth of stuff.
I highly recommend at least a drive thorogh Coral Gables and Coconut Grove. Found some great shoes at Steve Madden and got the wife to eat at Hooter's ! I'm neutral on Biscayne Bay. I've been through the area a few times now and it's exactly what I expected. OK shopping in a really bad neighborhood. It could have been the terrible food at Snapper's. Cold food and several tables as well as us were complaining of spoiled shrimp. Not what I expected at a seafood place. That was odd because it was the only bad meal we had the entire trip....should have gone to Hooter's again because their shrimp rocked. We got most of our money back so it worked out ok. But the concept of an NBA arena next to the place seems odd to me.
South Beach was fabulous as always but I was disappointed in the low number of freaks, especially on a Friday night. By comparison to other trips, the people were just not very interesting, probably exactly what everybody thought looking at me. We also found easy cheap parking in the municipal ramp. Only $1 hour if you get there before 9, otherwise a flat $10. Beautiful cars there too.
I also recommend the 3+ hour trip to Kennedy Space Center. We should have gone when we were in Orlando but were overdosed on Disney.
We rented a 4x2 TrailBlazer. I liked the extra foot and leg room because I'm tall but missed the MDX badly. There's some kind of terrible mismatch between the Chevy 4.2 Vortec and the tranny. Just no get up and go at all. Still probably better than the (old body) Grand Cherokee they tried to give us. I would have gone crazy on the trip to Kennedy with no room because of the crappy tranny intrusion into the footwell. It was also filthy inside and out. Took almost a half hour to straighten that out...thanks Alamo. |
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| G. COLTON |
Must have been something wrong with that Trail Blazer. They are 275hp and the one I test drove moved out quite well.
G |
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| nightguy |
quote:
Originally posted by G. COLTON
Must have been something wrong with that Trail Blazer. They are 275hp and the one I test drove moved out quite well.
G
Could be...it is a rental after all. Who know wha happened but I would expect better for 8000 miles. It's a heavy vehicle too but the Acura is much quicker IMO. |
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