Anyone use West Palm Beach for Vero?

[scootert]

We usually try to fly into Melbourne, but the airfare fairies are not cooperating with fares. I checked and PBI is about $100 cheaper than Orlando and about $150 less than Melbourne.

What is the drive like from PBI -- is the airport easy to get in an dout of?? Thanks for your help

 

[JimMIA]

Yes PBI is easy to get in and out of , and it's just a short drive up to Vero. As an added bonus, it's a much larger airport than Melbourne, so you'll probably have better flight selection.

Other airports to check are FLL (Ft. Lauderdale) and MIA...both of which are considerably larger (i.e.. more flights) than either Melbourne or PBI. FLL is also quite easy in-and-out, and because of lower landing fees, many discount airlines fly into FLL.

MIA will offer more flights than all of the above combined, but it's rather user-cruel if you don't live here. It's not easy to get in/out, it's very crowded, and when you finally make it onto the highways and byways, you will be in the middle of our traffic. I know the place well and navigate it easily, but I wouldn't recommend it for anyone going to Vero unless flight availability was an issue. If you are flying Frequent Flyer tickets, MIA or MCO may offer a lot more availability than some of the other choices you're looking at.

 

[nezy]

Mom lives in West Palm and we fly in there often. Very user friendly airport and convenient to I-95 take North to Vero. It should be about a 45 min. drive, tops. There are a few Vero exits. I am not sure which is the best.
Fll is about an additional 45 minutes away, so if you can get a good rate at PBI, I would go there. As previous poster said, you may want to avoid Miami, which is an even further drive to Vero.

 

[JimMIA]

Just for reference, MIA is roughly a one-hour drive to FLL in normal traffic. Throw in rush hour, and all bets are off!

I would only use MIA if you couldn't get F/F tickets anywhere else. (And it's my home airport)

 

[scootert]

Thanks everyone - we're still hoping something will come through for Melbourne, but it's good to know PBI is a good backup - and closer than MCO. We're trying to avoid a long drive (or drive time) so Miami won't be on our list!! Thanks again

 

[twocjsmom]

We were down for the Orange bowl and flew in/out of WPB. It was very easy to get onto/off of the turnpike and 95 from the airport. The only downside we saw was that the car rental places were off site so you had to take a shuttle to get to the rental and build in time to drop it off, but other than that it was a good experience.

 

[Steamboat Bill]

Forget FLL or MIA and stick with PBA as it is a relaxing airport and closer to Vero.

 

[Par8hed]

I agree that PBI is a great choice. But I question the 45 minute estimate.

 

[pumpkinboy]

I'm with Par8hed, as usual. I would at least double the 45 min estimate - count on an hour and a half or more, even on the fastest route. We drove 75 mph plus the whole way and it still took more than two hours (after a 20 min stop at a nice rest-stop).

PBI is a nice moderate sized airport, with good highway connections (to I95). Sure, the car rental places are off-site, but that's not so bad. My complaint is that since we travel with our wheelchair-bound DS, we have a hard time tracking down a SkyCap; it seems that able-bodied snowbird seniors grab all of them ahead of us, since they are all off the plane before us.

Have fun!