Miami Beach Transportation

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Miami International Airport is located a short eight miles northwest of downtown Miami. The airport is a hub for American Airlines, which is one of its worst features. Miami is the most popular airport for travelers between the U.S. and Latin America. In 2010, Miami had the most international flights of all American airports, though it is just the 28th busiest airport in the world and 12 busiest in the U.S.

I have only flown through Miami once, and it was a miserable experience. We landed during a small rainstorm, only to discover that our connecting flight to Tampa was outright cancelled, due to the same storm we had just landed in. How bad could the storm be if we landed, and flights to other cities were still departing on time? We stood in line for two hours to get American Airlines to reissue our tickets for a flight the next day, only to discover that American refused to fund our hotel because they blamed the cancellation on the weather that actually wasn't that bad!

I ended up renting a car and driving to Tampa. That cost me around $200. Screw American Airlines.

The bus transportation in Miami
has little to boast
compared to the ones in Europe.

You may wind up transfering
more than once
on very long routes.

The only efficient routes
are the ones that cross the
Miami Downtown-South Beach-Adventura.

There are several lines that
run infront of Bayside onto
Washington Avenue
going up Collins Avenue
and stopping at
the shopping mall of Adventura.

Make sure that you have in change
the exact bus fare of $1.25.
$1 bills are exepted.
All change, except pennies are accepted.

You must load onto the bus at
the designated bus stops.

If you are unaccostomed to
the air conditioning
bring a sweater,
it gets chilly in there.

The Greyhound is one of the opportunities available for non-drivers to travel around Florida and the United States. Its very reasonably priced and gets you to places that Amtrak doesn't travel to. I took the Greyhound from Miami to Key West.

The Greyhound presents the cheapest way to travel around America and offers routes to most tourist destinations and many more besides.

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South Beach is full of people and cars, but not so many places to park. Most hotels only offer valet parking if any parking at all, residential neighborhood streets are all reserved for locals, and even parking garage spots are limited. Parking is so infamously difficult there is even a free online game called South Beach Parking.

The city of Miami Beach operates over 8,000 parking meters with rates around $1.00 or $1.25 per hour. In South Beach, metered parking is enforced 9am through midnight.

The city also operates about six garages with room for about about 3,000 cars. These lots generally charge $1.00 an hour or $20 for each 24 hour period.

When i traveled to Miami Beach, Florida the guys over at Lifestyle Luxury Rentals really helped me out with a exotic car rental of my choosing. They gave me the keys to a brand new Ferrari F430 which is one of my favorite cars. They really know how to treat their clients like movie stars haha. If your in the mood to rent an exotic car the next time you visit south beach make sure to hit up Lifestyle Luxury Rentals they are the best!!!!

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We went 5 times to Miami. The firsty time (2002) by a one stop flight of Swiss via Zurich. The price was rather fair : 420 euros / capita but the journey lasted 13:30.
We prefered to fly with Air France (when it is not on strike - silly trick !) because the flight are "non stop", the arrival is at the beginnig of the afternoon when the plane is not late and the departure is in the evening the last day with a early arrival at CDG. In December 2008, the ticket price was 720 euros tax included.
The next time I will study the AA flights which are also non stop.

Unfortunately, the waiting at the border police is often long. But 1:30 hour of waiting at the Miami airport : look at the photo, Monique was not happy. A lot of passengers went from South America and they had to show a return ticket. So, there were discussions with the police and consequential delay.
Somebody told me to stand in the file which is just right the American one because the domestic clerk accepts the foreigners when he has finished with the American travellers. I was anable to check if the advice was right because, at our last trip, there were few people waiting at the border police.

Miami Beach is a very walkable city, but if you really or need or want to avoid walking (high heels will do that), you can definitely find taxis everywhere.

We used a taxi from our hotel to dinner since it was still raining a bit and we were all very hungry. We also used a taxi the morning of our departure to the airport. The ride was quick and cost about $35.

You can hail a taxi all over Miami Beach or right outside your hotel door. Be aware that Miami has implemented a fuel surcharge of $1.50 due to the high cost of gas.

We decided to take a weekend in Miami Beach, before to board our cruise ship the monday. Our group of 7 friends, we needed at least a shuttle vehicle for all us and lots of bags plus the ride to and from the ship. We find a nice and cheaper shuttle company, they offer a private ride in large van, we paid $65 from Miami airport to Hotel located in collins and 10 st (essex hotel, nice) and the same price from hotel to Port of Miami, and finally, $70 from Port back to airport at the final, nice everthing, the company always stay in touch when you arrive to airport or port, be sure you have your cell "on". At the final we split expenses and we pay $9 per person in each trip and everybody add just $1 to tip the guy driving, saving a lot in transportation and we get a nice service, thanks to the guys in easy shuttle in miami.