Florida Trip/Road Trip

eeloe

Been to Florida twice now, once for our Honeymoon 2 years ago, and last year for our anniversary.

We've decided to give it a skip this year, and head over next March/April for 2 weeks.

We're thinking the first week, just do our usual stint in Orlando, do the theme parks and what not, but the second week is what i need advice one.

We're thinking of hiring a car, and not booking any hotels for week 2, until we get there. Planning on heading south from Orlando, down to Miami, and then driving down the keys, and back up to Orlando for our flight home.

Do you think 7 days would be enough time to do this kind of trip, while taking in a night or two in certain spots?

Dave1442397

Yes, it would. You could even drive from Miami to Key West, then work your way back up the keys. Why not fly home from Miami and save yourselves a 3.5 hour drive back to Orlando?

endofrainbow

Might be an idea to have accommodation sorted as Florida is very popular with Spring Breakers in March / April.

Lima Golf

We are doing this trip soon. We are flying into Orlando and out of Miami. Aer lingus do direct flights to both. One way car rentals are free within Florida too. We are doing 2 weeks split between Orlando (for 2 nights as we've been a few times) then West palm beach, ft lauderdale, Miami and key west - 3 nights in each.

Lima Golf

I have pre booked our hotels just to ensure we are staying in good areas/nice hotels. I've gotten some great rates with otel.com...so cheap I'm half wondering if we'll be turned away at the desk!!!

ProudDUB

Lima Golf wrote: »

I have pre booked our hotels just to ensure we are staying in good areas/nice hotels. I've gotten some great rates with otel.com...so cheap I'm half wondering if we'll be turned away at the desk!!!

Then why not contact them directly and confirm your reservations?

Lima Golf

ProudDUB wrote: »

Then why not contact them directly and confirm your reservations?

Yep I will before we go. I was sort of joking with that comment.

ProudDUB

I wasn't.

I always confirm hotel reservations. Gives great peace of mind, when travelling imo.

Elvisjuice

Lima Golf wrote: »

I have pre booked our hotels just to ensure we are staying in good areas/nice hotels. I've gotten some great rates with otel.com...so cheap I'm half wondering if we'll be turned away at the desk!!!

miami is a **** hole

BaronVon

Did that before, Orlando to Miami is a 4 hour spin, maybe another 4/5 hours down to Key West, and then close to 8 hours driving back from Key West to Orlando.

I only did 1 night in Key West, wish I did more, and did 3 nights on South Beach in Miami, whereas 2 would've been plenty.

eeloe

Sorry for not getting back to everyone, thanks for the replies!

Just tried to book the whole two week trip through Tour America, came back at 5grand for 2 people.

Gonna be booking it all myself through ebookers for about 1800-2000 for the two of us.

Has anyone experienced Air B&B in Florida, would it be worth a try, or should we just stick to hotels?

endofrainbow

[QUOTE

Has anyone experienced Air B&B in Florida, would it be worth a try, or should we just stick to hotels?[/QUOTE]

Have used Air Bnb in Florida but being perfectly honest, once you factor in cleaning and processing fees, hotels usually work out cheaper.

rushfan

eeloe wrote:

Has anyone experienced Air B&B in Florida, would it be worth a try, or should we just stick to hotels?

We did something similar 2 yrs ago, with 4 nights in Naples, 4 in Key West, and 5 in Miami. Personally, there's not much to Miami ( serious amount of homeless on the grass areas adj to South Beach, although they didn't hassle us ) . Naples was fantastic, very affluent in the main, KW was also amazing, very laid back and ideal if you're into water sports. Our accommodation in Miami was the Drexel Suites, IKEA on South Beach. Avoid.

Dial Hard

Haven't done Miami/Key West but have done Orlanda to Sarasota/Siesta Key and on to Fort Myers. The gulf coast is amazing, can't recommend it enough. On the drive down, take the Tamiami Trail from Tampa rather than the interstate, it's a gorgeous drive.

eeloe

Have the whole lot priced up for two weeks for 1928 for the two of us for two weeks. which i think it's pretty good.

Looking like this

week 1
Orlando(staying is Kissimee)
Week 2
2 nights in Fort Lauderdale
1 night in Miami
4 nights in Key West(air BnB coming in at 450, a hotel was coming to 1800)

eeloe

Okay we have our flights booked, and our first weeks hotel booked in Orlando.

I came up with a brain wave last night for the second week, instead of hiring a car, and staying in hotels, i was thinking or renting an RV and just driving that around for the last week.

Has anyone here done anything similar?

Palmy

RV's are not cheap to rent either and you will probably need to park at a RV park. You can't just park it where you want and you also want to park it somewhere safe. Ever tried parking an RV at South Beach? To be honest I'd just rent a car and hotel it. I don't really get the hype about the east coast of Florida apart from Key West. Then again I biased as I live on the gulf coast in Sarasota where we have the number one beach in the U.S , Siesta key .