Anyone familiar with Jacksonville ??

[sandee]

We got airline tickets to Jacksonville for 1/2 of what we'd have paid for Orlando airport. We're flying down the evening before our cruise and will arrive in Jacksonville at 9 p.m. I was hoping someone out there would be familiar with JAX and area around there & could tell me what they'd recommend. Just book a hotel nearby or start the drive to the Cape? Is it a big airport? Are car rental agencies on site? Any info would be appreciated. I know it's about a 3 hr. drive, but how far is JAX from Daytona Beach area? Thought of reserving a hotel in this area so we'd at least be on our way towards the port. Any suggestions appreciated.

 

[iloverags2]

The Jacksonville airport is not huge, but is large enough to have car rental agencies and several hotels on Airport Rd. The car rentals which have desks located directly inside the airport are Avis, Hertz, Budget, Dollar and National. Avis, Hertz and Budget all have their cars available at the airport. Dollar has a shuttle to their lot, and I'm not sure about National. We've used Avis and have never had a problem with them.

The drive to Daytona from the airport will be about 1 1/2 hours. You can make it down there in less time depending on the traffic, but giving yourselves a bit over an hour is a safe estimate.

As for hotels if you stay in Jacksonville, if you want to stay near the airport, there are several new hotels (which have opened in the past year) including Marriott Courtyard, Fairfield Inn, Hilton Garden Inn, and Residence Inn. There are also several hotels just south of the downtown area (about a 20 minute drive from the airport), the best being the Marriott Southpoint, located on Salisbury Rd. You can also find several hotels on Baymeadows Rd., which is a nice, clean area also. Off the top of my head, I know there's a Residence Inn there also, a Homewood Suites, Holiday Inn and several others.

Hope this helps in making your decision! Enjoy your trip!

 

[Mickeycrazie]

We always drive to Jacksonville and stay there on our way down. This time we are staying at a brand new Jameson Inn in Jacksonville just off I-95. We stayed at one back in 1999 in North Carolina and loved it. Here is the link to the Inn http://www.jameson-inns.com From there click on Florida and go down to the one in Jacksonville. I think they are very reasonable. And they are next door to an Applebees. And Jacksonville isn't be a 1-2 hours from Orlando. I think you'd like it there.

Mickeycrazie

 

[disney6]

We just flew in/out of JAX last weekend, it was great. We even met people in the airport on the way home that just came off the boat with us! The price certainly is better!

We arrived at 2pm so we drove to the Port - just under 3 hours. I have lived in Jacksonville for a short time around the Baymeadows area and it is nice. Also it will get you through downtown Jacksonville so you won't have to do that the next morning with rush hour! Personally I'd probably try to drive to the Port or at least Daytona as the less driving the next morning the more relaxed you'll be, plus you'll want to get to the port at a reasonable hour (say 10:30 or 11:00).

The airport is smallish but really very nice.

 

[sandee]

Thanks to all 3 of you. I always know I can count on someone out there having an answer to my question.... Based on your answers we'll rent from Avis, drive as far as Daytona and try the Jameson Inn the night before our return flight home!!

 

[albiats]

If you're arriving at the Jax airport about 9pm, you might not want to drive too far before getting a room for the night. Considering it might be 9:30 before you collect your luggage, get a car, and start heading south, Daytona might be a little bit optimistic.

I use rand McNally Tripmaker software on my pc and it shows Daytona as being 105 miles from the airport, which is on the north side of the city of Jacksonville. It shows the total distance from the airport to Port Canaveral as 183 miles, and that's very close to my own personal experience and sounds reasonable.

If you wanted to get away from the city that evening in order to clear most of the traffic the next morning, most of it is gone when you get to the Baymeadows exit, which is around exit number 101 on I-95 (below mile marker 350). There are several hotels there.

They're in the process of changing the exit signs to match the mile markers, but fo rthe next two years, they'll be marked both ways.

The World Golf Village with the Golf Hall of Fame is just a few miles south of there, at exit 95-A, about 40 miles south of the airport. Here's a link: http://www.wgv.com/hof/hof.html to it.
They open at 10am Mon to Sat and at 12 noon on Sunday and they have some very nice hotels there, as shown on the accomodations link on thier website.

The St Augustine exit is exit 95 and there are two large outlet malls there, this would be about 50 miles south of the airport. The city of St Augustine is about 8 or 9 miles east of the Interstate.

The next major interchange would be the Palm Coast area and it's about 80 miles south of the airport.

Daytona is about 110 miles south of the Jax airport.

Once you're south of Jacksonville, the speed limit is 70 mph. I would not recommend taking the I-295 loop around the city at taht time, it shouldn't be that busy and the draw bridges over the river have been eliminated.

They are adding a third lane in both directions of I-95 from the south end of Jacksonville until past St Augustine, but it shouldn't be a problem for you that time of the evening.

hope that helps

 

[Mickeycrazie]

I see that exit 101 off 95 is mentioned that is the exit that the Jameson Inn is located. Just an FYI if you're interested.

Mickeycrazie

 

[albiats]

Originally posted by Mickeycrazie
We always drive to Jacksonville and stay there on our way down. This time we are staying at a brand new Jameson Inn in Jacksonville just off I-95. We stayed at one back in 1999 in North Carolina and loved it. Here is the link to the Inn http://www.jameson-inns.com From there click on Florida and go down to the one in Jacksonville. I think they are very reasonable. And they are next door to an Applebees. And Jacksonville isn't be a 1-2 hours from Orlando. I think you'd like it there.
Mickeycrazie

This Jameson Inn is one exit north of the BayMeadows exit at the JT Butler Blvd, exit 101. It looks very nice from the outside and it is also very close to a Crackerbarrel Restaurant and three fast food restaurants: Wendy's, McDonalds, and Hardees.

It would be around 20 miles south of the Jax airport.

Port Canaveral and Walt Disney World are both about 180 miles from the airport. To get to WDW, you turn west on I-4 at Daytona, for the Port, you stay on I-95 south until you get to SR 528 east.

The Jacksonville airport is at I-95 exit 127B.
http://www.jaxairports.org/index.asp

It takes me 2.5 hours without any comfort stops to get to the Port or to get to WDW from I-95 near the center of downtown Jacksonville.

hope that helps

 

[Dave_from_Marietta]

Keep in mind that the exit numbers on I-95 have been changed. They will have "Old Exit #" signs, but you might find it easier to know what the new #'s are.

www11.myflorida.com/trafficoperations/exitnumb/i_95.htm