Distances by car..can anyone advise please?

[milomummy]

As you may have read on my other post, we fly into Miami on December 21st. We intend on staying here for at least one night to get used to the time difference. Our thoughts were, that we would then drive up to Tampa and stay overnight at Busche Gardens, then head to Orlando, stay our 10 (or 12 if I can persuade the other half!) nights, before heading back down to Miami for a couple of days at the beach, where our departing flight leaves on the 7th of January.

Can anyone give me a rough idea of how long it would take to drive from Miami to Tampa, Tampa to Orlando, Orlando to Cape Canaveral, and then Cape Canaveral to Miami again?
With a 5 year old, I want to try and break up the travelling as much as possible.
Do you think it's worth staying overnight at Busche Gardens or is it 'do-able' from Orlando as a day trip? Likewise with the Kennedy Space Center?
Is Miami to Orlando a really long trip that needs breaking down a bit?

 

[JohnnySharp2]

Miami to Tampa 4 hours minimum, maybe slightly more depending on traffic, it's around 245 miles.
Tampa to Orlando just over an hour I would say, it's around 75 miles or so.
Orlando to Cape Canaveral, about the same, think it's just under 70 miles.
Cape Canaveral to Miami is around 210 miles, I would say 3 and a half hours maybe more.

Orlando to Busch Gardens is definitely a day trip, I wouldn't say you would need to stay overnight.

Miami to Orlando can be a long drive, I don't think you need to break it up, but I wouldn't fancy driving very long distances unless I was staying somewhere for a few nights, ie I wouldn't drive from Orlando > Miami for just 1 night, and wouldn't drive from Miami to Tampa for just one night also.
I have driven around most of Florida and loved travelling around, but I wouldn't spend hours in the car unless we were staying there for a few days.

 

[UKDEB]

Orlando to Tampa and Orlando to Cape Canaveral are easily do-able as day trips. As Johnny says, you're looking at somewhere around an hour each way.

Who are you flying with? We flew in and out of Miami with Virgin last August. The flight is an early one - from memory, I think we were scheduled to land at 2.15pm local time. We took the opportunity to drive as far as West Palm Beach and stayed at the PGA National.

Miami airport is like downtown Beirut compared with MCO. Immigration took longer and all the car rental companies are a shuttle ride away. Getting out of Miami is a challenge, too, but luckily we'd done it the previous year when we took a cruise from there, but flew in and out of Orlando. I'd also spent a lot of time studying maps and, as luck would have it, our rental car had NeverLost sat nav. The I-95 out of Miami is always congested, but you can avoid it altogether by using the Palmetto Expressway to reach the Turnpike. As long as you're not trying to navigate Miami during the rush hour, you'll find that the traffic is heavy, but keeps moving.

The Turnpike is definitely the best way to get from Miami to Orlando. It's a toll road, but for a good stretch it operates on a ticketing system, meaning you don't have to keep stopping to pay tolls. There's an interactive map which I found invaluable, although it did take me a while to get my head around it all. The website seems to be down at the moment:

http://www.floridasturnpike.com/

We landed in Miami a bit ahead of schedule and, even contending with the slow immigration, offsite car hire and getting out of Miami, we were pulling up to the PGA National before 5pm. This leg of the journey is only about 70 miles, but it's slower-going than from there to Orlando simply due to the weight of traffic coming out of Miami (I think it took us about an hour and a half). We knew we'd be awake at the crack of dawn the next day and we were really glad we'd made the effort to get a bit of the driving out of the way. The journey to Orlando took around 2.5 hours from West Palm Beach and we were checking in to SSR by 10am the next morning. We had to wait for the restaurant to open for breakfast at 7am, otherwise we'd have been off even earlier.

 

[wilma-bride]

Like Deb and Matt, we did the in-and-out of Miami route last August. But, unlike them, we drove direct to Orlando from Miami. If memory serves correctly, we landed bang on time but, with immigration and car rental delays, it was around 4:15 pm before we were on our way. Still, we were in Orlando and checking into Saratoga Springs by 8:15 pm. The only thing I would say is that, if at all possible, you should look to share the driving on the first day as that is one long drive, especially after a 9 hour flight and when it's the world's most boring road - no interesting sights to keep you awake. We would definitely fly in and out of Miami again if the price was right but would either stay overnight, as Deb and Matt did, or share the driving.

 

[UKDEB]

Thanks, Joh - you've reminded me of something else I meant to say. Flying into Miami was good for us - we really enjoyed our night at the PGA National and it was great to be checking in to SSR early the next morning because we were keen to be in the Grandstand section. Had we been checking in at 5pm or later (as we would normally having flown into Orlando), we probably wouldn't have been lucky with that.

However, I did find the last day a bit of a pain. It's a long, long day doing little other than going home. We met up with Joh and Gary for the drive back as they were on the same plane. I can't remember what time that was - possibly 10am. We stopped just outside Miami for something to eat and then needed to go straight to the airport. I think your plan to spend a couple of days in Miami at the end of the trip is a wise one and something we'll do should we ever fly from Miami again.

 

[paulh]

The only thing I would say is that, if at all possible, you should look to share the driving on the first day as that is one long drive, especially after a 9 hour flight and when it's the world's most boring road - .

we got diverted to miami(tampa closed) due to a huracane,we did the road in darkness and my co driver/navigater (DW) was asleep the whole way.only woke up when we were on world drive to see the devistation the huracane had done
Paulh

 

[milomummy]

Thanks for your replies so far. We are actually living in Germany (hubby is forces) so we'll be flying out of Dusseldorf airport directly into Miami. We are scheduled to land at 1800 so this is why we decided to stay at least one night in Miami, as we know we'll be pretty tired. We have been told that there is a fantastic shopping place in Fort Lauderdale, and it was suggested to us that we go with a couple of day's worth of clothing and then buy the rest as we go along..fine by me, any excuse to shop is excellent, so we figured stopping the night of arrival and the next night would give us ample opportunity to get what we need.

 

[milomummy]

Just to add...the price difference was significant in our choice to fly into Miami. To fly to Orlando would have cost €3000 for the 3 of us and we would have had to change flights somewhere along the way over our chosen dates. However, we got the flights for €1500 for the 3 of us, so as you can see, a substantial saving, and yes it means a trek to the airport this side (around 3 hours by train) and again a trek once we arrive in the US, but it means more spending money and that makes me happy!

 

[Hilary]

We flew back from Miami last week.

Miami airport is like downtown Beirut compared with MCO. Immigration took longer and all the car rental companies are a shuttle ride away. Getting out of Miami is a challenge, too,

We had a later flight into Miami (arrived at 17:45), so we stayed the first night in the Wyndham Miami airport hotel - flat $10 taxi fare for all airport hotels - and then got a cab to the Alamo depot the following morning at about 9am ($5 fare). The Alamo depot was really quiet, and the roads weren't too busy, although we still managed to make hash of getting out of Miami to get the Turnpike south to the Keys! We'll get it right one day, I'm sure , although I can't believe how it always catches us out when it should be so straightforward. It's nice to hear it's not just us though!

On our return, we were coming into Miami from just south of West Palm and decided to take the I95 instead of the Turnpike - not a smart move. As has been said, it's definitely worth paying the tolls to avoid the traffic on the I95! What we also noticed was how busy the Alamo depot was in the middle of the afternoon, compared to the morning when we'd picked up our car, so that might be worth considering if you do stay in Miami on arrival.

 

[PhilUK]

Have a play with this

http://www.mapquest.com/

Used it all over USA for years.

Phil

 

[KINGBOBOFTHENORTH]

An important reminder for the Miami metropolitan area: Do NOT venture off the interstate highways and toll roads! There are some very, very unsafe areas immediately adjacent the expressways.

BobK/Orlando

 

[cathy_s]

My guess on the time from Miami to Tampa would be around 5 hours.

Tampa (near Busch Gardens) to MK would be just over an hour (assuming you aren't travelling any time between 4-7 PM-much longer then!)

MK to the Cape is about an hour also. Longer if you take highway 50.

I have no idea about the Cape to Miami-never did it.

Currently gas in the Tampa Bay area is $3.75+ per gallon.

I wouldn't stay overnight near Busch Gardens...it can be a pretty iffy area. I seem to recall that there are day trips from Orlando area hotels to Busch Gdns. They are package deals with bus fare and ticket.

The Cape is a much shorter day trip than BG and IMO an easier drive.

You mention plans for Miami beach in early Jan. I must be too much of a Florida girl to even imagine going in the Atlantic in Jan!