Total number of nights before the flight out of Orlando?

You want some sort of beach location in Miami? What time is your arrival? And on what day of the week?

It would be extremely inconvenient to be in Miami without an automobile.

We have driven from Miami to Key West several times (including a few weeks ago) and each time it has been a tiring and boring drive.

The drive up A1A, on the other hand, is enjoyable most of the way to beautiful Amelia Island. There are great places to stay on the Atlantic Coast. I suggest you explore beach and water activities north of Miami.

The Gulf Coast has some delightful beaches, but the area around Fort Myers-St Petersburg-Tampa is built up in a most unappealing way.

How many days are you traveling?

HTTY

Why don't you rent your car and go on down the road to Key Largo or such and have a nice first night on the beach.

To begin, a hotel recommendation in Miami Beach: Try the SoBeYou B&B in South Beach. It's on a quiet street about 4 blocks from the beach and close to the center of the action. You could stay there without a car and still have access to lots of good restaurants and clubs in SB. You'll have to figure out the transportation from the airport to the hotel. (I understood you to say you're staying only one night in Miami?)

After your stay there, you can rent the car to head to Key West. As one poster mentioned, it's kind of a boring drive, but really not that bad from Miami. I like Key West. The pain is in driving back from Key West to Orlando, IMHO.

Thank you all!
We will be arriving in Miami around 3pm on a Wednesday and we are staying 12 nights. We only want to stay in Miami for 1 night at the most. As long as we can spend some time on a beach before the lack of large beaches in the Keys. I was recommended to take a shuttle to the hotel and then rent the car the next day. This could change.

We kind of planned on checking out many of the Keys on the way to Key West. On our way back up we could make stops along the way.

Where do you like to stay?

We drove from Tampa to Key West and then back up to Orlando. I loved the drive down the Keys, thought it was fascinating to have ocean on both sides of the car! The Gulf side was also nice but a bit full of ostentatious housing estates for my liking.

Loved Key Largo and would have liked to have more days there, likewise Islamorada. Key West was interesting and well worth the trek down but had so many hawkers.I got a bit sick of everyone wanting my money.

Have you been to the Everglades? If not then I would definitely suggest a night in Homestead so you can check out the gators (and visit Robert is Here fruit stand for the best milkshakes in the entire world!).

On the way back up to Orlando we stayed in Melbourne and visited Cape Canaveral. It was a real highlight. We also went out to the beach directly opposite Patrick Airforce Base. It was lovely and pretty much deserted at sunset.

http://demansersintheusa.blogspot.com.au/2012/12/the-keys-to-relaxation.html

And I forgot to say, definitely quote your AAA number everywhere you go. Over the course of our trip to the US we saved hundreds of dollars in AAA discounts

Better than a AAA discount would be making some reservations with Priceline or Hotwire.
I would still check on renting the car right away. You may pay more renting at the hotel. I don't quite "get" the reason for not just starting on south.
The Keys to me are really fun--I immediately begin to feel like I'm in the Caribbean--the air seems balmier, everything gets more laid back!! Fun.
Be sure to have some water and snacks in the car. We were in Islamarado one time, and friends in our group drove to Key West for the day. There was a bad accident and they were held up on the road for 4 hours in a traffic jam!!

I guess if you've never seen South Beach and you wanted to spend a night there, that's fine.

But honestly, I'd just get my car at the airport and head to Largo for the night and start enjoying the laid back Keys atmosphere. Casual eating there and start relaxing.

Taking a hotel shuttle for one night in Miami, then the next day taking a taxi to go to a rental car place and then heading through the traffic just doesn't seem like a good way to start the vacation. Too much "logistics". And would you really save that much when all finished compared to just getting your car at the airport and going?

The problem with using Hotwire or Priceline for the rental car is that it is a one way rental -- you still can't do that there, can you?

I was really suggesting Priceline for the first night in Key Largo as I had also suggested that a number of times. But they are renting in one place and returning another--I think you can punch that button, but not sure.

Many of our friends and family LOVED the drive down there.

We heard from many that checking out South Beach was worth it. That would be the reason for not just heading down to the Keys right away. We are also getting in at about 3...if we headed straight down would this be a great deal of traffic?

@Kwaussie- Where did you stay in Key Largo/Islamorada? Glad to know that the Everglades are enjoyable!

Thanks for the info about the rental...I just didn't think we should skip out on a larger beach if we are in Miami...may be we'll check one out on the way back up to Orlando.

Amazing advice about making sure there are snacks in the car. That sounds like a bit of a disaster your friends went through!

Some rental companies allow you to return the car as long as it's the same company...even if a different city.

South Beach would definitely be worth it--but not with a shuttle and not already having your car rental done, IMO. Consolidate where you can to enjoy the most. Parking for one night vs. shuttle, etc. You do the math.

We stayed at the Mermaid and Alligator B&B in Key West.
I would highly recommend it. We had the Carribbean Suite.
Check out this fantastic place to stay. We also stayed at a Holiday Inn at Marathon which was surprisingl nice and Dove Creek Lodge ( forgot the name of this place ) We drove from Fort Lauderdale ( after a cruise ) and thought the scenery was great. We also did a great day trip cruise from Marathon which was lovely and we also saw the manatees???
Donna
Australia

"Some rental companies allow you to return the car as long as it's the same company...even if a different city."

Yes, of course they do. This comment may have been aimed at me since I mentioned that you can't do that though with Priceline -- but I was cautioned that the Priceline recommendation was for hotels, not car rentals.

But do be aware that for years Florida rarely had a drop off charge for rental cars. More recently they have been added by some companies and some locations. So be very careful. Sometimes those drop off fees don't show up until the final contract! Read and check carefully.

We stayed at the Key West Inn in Key Largo and the La Siesta in Islamorada. I found both of them cheaply on Wotif. Both worked well for us because they had a separate bedroom for our son and a kitchen. La Siesta had a lovely pool and included breakfast by the pool. The Key West Inn had seen better days but was comfortable enough.

The info centre in Islamorada was very helpful. They'll point you in the direction of a place you can feed the tarpon (fish). Great fun but be careful you don't get bitten!

We stayed at the Parrot Key resort in Key West and were very disappointed. Over priced and a long way from the town centre.

We rented our car in Tampa and dropped off in Orlando- there were no one way drop off fees in Florida for us but we did buy a SunPass and were glad we had, there seems to be a toll every 5 minutes in the South!

Watch for speed traps and intersections where photos and videos are taken.

HTTY