budget tips or travel advice Miami area..Not going on cruise

[Claw]

We are planning on a last min Miami trip for the week at spring break. My son is a Heat basketball fan so we will go to a game . I will prob fly into Fort Lauderdale and we would like to see the Everglades and part of the Keys. Should we stay near the arena for heat game to avoid traffic? Possibly stay at several locations
or one central and drive rental? Would love any advice on what to see, do , eat, avoid? We want to explore best of the area but not party type. My dh isn't a big city type and we are traveling with 13 yr ds and 23 dd. I always like to go as budget friendly as we can while still enjoying our travels
Thanks .

 

[Claw]

Any advice is appreciated!

 

[HeatherC]

Over February break, my dd and I stayed in Dania Beach...right near the FLL airport. We stayed in the Residence Inn Dania Beach and it was great. We had a studio suite with full kitchen. The hotel also has free breakfast which was great as well as free happy hour during the early part of the week.

It was a great location to explore Florida. Hollywood Beach was like ten minutes away and is nice with a two mile boardwalk lined with shops and restaurants. Miami is about 30 minutes away. We also drove down to Key West one day and across Alligator Alley to Sanibel and Fort Myers beach.

Not sure if you definitely have to stay in Miami, but wanted to let you know that this place worked out great location wise.

You can also check the forum board on tripadvisor for more Miami specific info.

Have a wonderful trip!

 

[Claw]

Thanks, I'll look into that area.

 

[jalapeno_pretzel]

There's a Rainforest Cafe a bit to the west of Ft. Lauderdale. Ft. Lauderdale has several nice public pools that are almost like mini water parks (probably geared for younger than your kids though). If you like zoos, the Miami zoo is a great one. Venetian Pool in Coral Gables. Crandon Park on Key Biscayne in Miami. If you're going to the Keys, Pennekamp State Park on Key Largo. The Keys are a bit of a drive from Miami, I don't think I would make it a day trip, however that time of year hotels in the Keys will be quite pricey. Skip the Miami Seaquarium, it was quite dumpy.

 

[ksh1111]

We have been in Miami 3 x in the last year, and have to say the traffic is crazy. We only moved the rental on one of the 3 days, otherwise going to stuff we could walk to. If you can stay in Ft Lauderdale and just go in for the game, that is what I would do. We just spent 3 nights in a hotel on Brickell and even from 7 floors up, the traffic kept me up.

The Miami Zoo was pretty good. We really wanted to feed the giraffes, but after waiting in line for an hour, we gave up.

We loved the Everglades! There are gators you can see from the boardwalk.

There are all sorts of nice beaches, so going to see Miami Beach isn't that great in my opinion.

 

[smokeyblue]

I would maybe suggest spending one night in Miami and going to the game and than getting out of town. Either go to the keys or go back to Ft. Lauderdale or whatever other beach area you can find up north. We were just in Miami in November for the weekend and it was awful!!! If your husband doesn't like big cities, Miami is the absolute worst. Our rental car got keyed within 30 minutes of leaving the airport and my boyfriends credit card got "skimmed" at a gas station and he ended up with $900 worth of charges to Universal Studios on his card.

 

[Claw]

Thanks, we are actually flying into MIA on a Sat. And the game is Mon night. We are going to stay in Keys Tues and Wed nights so now I need to decide what area to stay in the nights Before the game. And if I should rent a car or rely on other transportation and rent car Tues morn- Thurs. Planning Everglades on way to keys . Any other recommendations? Or what to avoid?