First trip to Florida and looking for a slightly quieter town than Miami for myself and girlfriend,what do people suggest as a 10 day itinerary(without car)?Decided on FtLa for the beach but will probably get bored with lounging about afer 3 or 4 days.Any good restaurants/live music bars?Is it safe?
I plan to see a football game, is there a cheap form of travel to the pro stadium which I understand is about 40 miles away
Thanks
Mike

South Florida really requires a car. We have lousy public transportation down here. Are you friendly? Maybe you can get rides with people you meet but otherwise you'll be taking the taxi everywhere. Can't you even budget in a subcompact car?

When my car breaks down I can't even find friends who are available to give me rides. This is definitely a car town. Sorry!!

When I travel to major cities I like to take the public transportation but it doesn't really exist down here.

I have to agree with ab, that is a long time without a car in Ft. Lauderdale. There are tours to Miami for the day, there is also a 3 day Bahama's Cruise which would utilize some time. However, if you did that trip to the Bahama's for 3 days you could afford to rent a car considering cost. There is a water taxi which will you can take around to different places, but it seems to take a long time to get to one point to the other. I think a sub compact car would be helpful.

I did that for about 4 days a few years ago & thought I could manage without a car.
Did everything there was to do in Fort Lauderdale area - boat ride past all the millionaire homes, walk the beach, sit & read a book on the beach, etc.

Then HAD to rent a car - was getting bored out of my mind.
My motel had a car rental company come pick me up. They took me to their rental agency with no prices yet quoted. When they quoted, I nearly gagged. So I walked across the street to another rental agency to compare & took one from there. Too bad the motel had the other guys pick me up...
When I returned the car, I then had to catch a city bus back to my motel.

Anyhow - went to Cypress Gardens 1 day and the Everglades 1 day - took an air boat ride tour - while I had the car for two days.

If you're not a "lounge on the beach" person - you won't last 10 days without a car.

Oh - & just FYI, the ONE day cruise to the Bahamas is a RIP-OFF! The sales people don't tell you the whole time is spent in "getting there" & when you do, you arive at some ugly industrial port and were not told in advance you needed more money to take a TAXI to get to anything. The "anythings" are all in different directions - beach one way, shopping another way, etc. & you only are left with barely a couple hours actually in the Bahamas before returning to the ship.

The 3-day may be okay but as mentioned - a car rental would be cheaper & get you more places.

O.K. Point taken I'll hire a car .Any further advice?
Mike

I could suggest Key Largo. But my favorite is really Alabama Jack's. It's on Card Sound Road (turn left just after leaving Florida City, south of Miami.)

A truly great funky open-air bar. And they do have live country, at lease on the weekends. Water on one side, the road on the other. Gotta go in the day, though--they're not open evenings. Check it out here: http://chefmoz.org/United_States/FL/...958125112.html

ttt