flying to Miami

[chip&dale1]

Hi ,has anyone flown into Miami International recently? we've just booked with Virgin for next July. We would be grateful for any tips and any recommendations for a hotel on the first night in Miami.
Thanks

 

[conny264]

We stayed at the Sofitel,close by and a Publix around the corner.Nice Pool.
Driving there was about 5-10 minutes.
Conny

 

[jharrowell]

We're doing this for the first time in December and my nutty partner is going to drive directly from the airport.

I'll let you know how that goes.

 

[mcarthur205]

We flew into Miami at the end of June, we stayed at the Embassy Suites which was about 5 mins by car from the airport. It was ok and included a breakfast buffet.

We considered driving straight to Orlando that evening but I was worried about fatigue and delays. Just as well, because although our flight was on time we couldn't land at Miami due to the airport being closed temporarily because of thunderstorms. After circling for about 30mins the pilot announced that we would have to divert to Nassau as we needed to refuel. We landed there and had to sit onboard for an hour while the plane was refuelled. Not comfortable as the temperature was 95 degrees and the air con was not running during refuelling. We eventually landed at Miami at 6.15pm (3 hours late). We got to our hotel about 7.45pm and by that time we were all exhausted. No way could we have driven to Orlando after all that.

 

[tony64]

We're doing this for the first time in December and my nutty partner is going to drive directly from the airport.

I'll let you know how that goes.

We flew into Miami at the end of June, we stayed at the Embassy Suites which was about 5 mins by car from the airport. It was ok and included a breakfast buffet.

We considered driving straight to Orlando that evening but I was worried about fatigue and delays. Just as well, because although our flight was on time we couldn't land at Miami due to the airport being closed temporarily because of thunderstorms. After circling for about 30mins the pilot announced that we would have to divert to Nassau as we needed to refuel. We landed there and had to sit onboard for an hour while the plane was refuelled. Not comfortable as the temperature was 95 degrees and the air con was not running during refuelling. We eventually landed at Miami at 6.15pm (3 hours late). We got to our hotel about 7.45pm and by that time we were all exhausted. No way could we have driven to Orlando after all that.

We are doing this in October with the drive up to Orlando on the same day. I really hope we don't get that sort of delay.
If we do; we will just have to book into a local hotel and run up the next day like the sane people on here.

 

[Lisa x]

Were flying to Miami and staying in Miami in October

We are booked into The Park Central hotel on South Beach. Enterprise are bringing our car to us the next day so that we can both drink on the flight without worrying about one of us having to drive!

We go to Orlando every year, sometimes a couple of times a year but this time we have decided to stay down the south of Florida (wonder if we end up finding the car driving towards Orlando )

We are doing Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Key West and possibly going to Treasure Island too!

 

[OldKeyWelsh]

We flew to Miami earlier this month and alo last August and both times we stayed the first night at the Hampton Inn & Suites at Blue Lagoon. Very close to the airport with a very good free hot breakfast and a free airport shuttle (we don't pick up the hire car until the next morning - we enjoy a drink or two on the flight over).
One thing to be aware of - none of the toll roads in Miami accept cash anymore. Check with your rental company as to what system they have in place to pay for tolls - they are difficult to avoid.

 

[marcus.ka]

One thing to be aware of - none of the toll roads in Miami accept cash anymore. Check with your rental company as to what system they have in place to pay for tolls - they are difficult to avoid.

Do they accept Credit Cards?

 

[OldKeyWelsh]

I think most hire companies have a system where you just drive through the tollbooths and then they debit your credit card (plus a daily admin charge) when the charges come through. We weren't made aware of this when we hired - I think the Alamo rep we had was more interested in trying to get us to upgrade from a fullsize car and pay for extra insurance.

 

[Fantasia Sam]

We're doing this too - flying Delta into Miami and then staying over, I wanted to stay close to the airport and stay somewhere nice so I picked Intercontinental at Doral Miami, then we'll drive up to Orlando in the morning.

We booked our car with Alamo as they are charging $6.00 max a week for using the tolls and then you pay for the tolls ontop - where as Dollar wanted to charge a $36.99 a week plus a discount on tolls ummmm I think I'll stick with Alamo LOL