Hi !
We are 3 (30 Year old) french friends comming to Florida for the first time in september for 2 weeks. We need advice on just about everything !
We land in FLL late at night, we plan to rent a car right at the airport and drive to Miami. We stay there 4 days, than we drive to Tampa for a couple of days (one day at bush garden park), a few days in Sanibel and 4 days in Key West.
Do you have any advice on 'must sees' in those places ? Do you feel we should trade a city for another ? Our plan is to mix lazy time on the beach, sight seeing and shopping.
I've seen a post on this site that i did not understand but feel that i should, it was about rental cars, tolls (I don't know what that is) and something about a sunpass ? Could someone explain ?
I've already travel to NYC and the west coast but never rented a car.
If you have any tips about Florida and/or USA in general, it would be great.
Thank you !

Tampa has some interesting sights, go to the old town area which has a Cuban history (Ybor City ).

Sunpass is an electronic car pass that lets you use toll roads that need it. http://www.floridasturnpike.com/all-...ng/SunPass.cfm

I don't know itineraries where you must have it, I've only been between Tampa and St Petersburg, then down to Naples on the west side and never needed one, but I checked ahead of time. I suspect you will need it with your itinerary, especially around Miami but you'll have to research it.

Your itinerary is rather odd with the Key West addition after you've driven from Miami up to Tampa, if that's the order. I don't get that.

Make yourself familiar of the car insurances required, as you could be in for a nasty shock when picking up the car. They don't use the concept of an excess limit, you are responsible for the total cost of the car unless appropriately insured

Christina, assuming their return flight is from Miami or Ft, Lauderdale, I'm not sure what you don't "get". And also you seem to be ignoring Sanibel between Tampa and Key West. Have you ever heard of a "circular trip"?

Sounds like a nice trip.

Rental cars - when renting a car in the US, there is a cost listed and then additional costs can be added on. For US citizens renting a car in the US, optional insurance is the largest additional cost - and the rental companies call it all sorts of things CDW (collision damage waiver), loss of use. Like the airlines, they keep coming up with new things to charge you for. Many US citizens have this insurance coverage through their credit cards or their own car insurance, so they decline the additional insurance.

However, many car rental companies require this of people from outside the US. This is because they can, but also because they may not already have this coverage that works while in the US. So when you look at car rental prices, take the insurance into consideration, since it can almost double the cost.

Fuel Options - car rental companies will offer you a variety of fuel options that are also designed to be confusing. Pick the one where you return the car full of fuel/gas and make sure you fill it up right before you return the car. (Gas is currently very inexpensive in the US).

SunPass - toll roads have special lanes for people who use a transponder, or little scanner thing that sits on the window and automatically charges the toll to a credit card or account. Car rental companies try to get you to rent one of these and then add the toll cost to your rental or charge you later. You can either do that or pay cash at tolls. In a few places (although I am not sure about Florida), there are no lanes where you can pay cash. For these, they take a photo of you license plate as you drive through and bill you later - although I have actually never been billed when I find myself in such a situation.

Depending on how late you arrive at FLL, I might consider staying one night at a hotel right near that airport and driving to Miami in the AM. It is an easy trip of less than an hour, but you will be tired, driving on unfamiliar roads.

I hope that clears up the rental car confusion. Have a good trip.

Considering that you're in your 30s, do you plan to stay in the South Beach area of Miami Beach and enjoy the nightlife and beach? If so, I can recommend the SoBeYou B&B. It's close to the action, but far enough away to be peaceful. (When we stayed there, a lot of Europeans were there.)

I like Key West, but I wonder if 4 days is too long there. Others may have a different opinion. It is a fun, lively place, but 3 days is about my max there.

Sanibel will present a nice change from Miami and KW. Very relaxing and laid back.

Hi, thank you all for your replies. We are staying in Miami beach, we found a good price on a hotel on booking. We do want to enjoy the night life, hoping that the time difference won't put us in bed by 8pm !
I understant better the concept of tolls and I think we will pay cash when we encounter one. It seems like the best way to avoid rental car companies overcharging us.
I will call my credit card service to know what kind of insurance they offer.
We promise to be respectful tourists and to leave decent tips !

"I understant better the concept of tolls and I think we will pay cash when we encounter one."

I'm afraid you don't quite understand the tolls. One of the issues is you may encounter toll booths where cash is NOT an option.

yes but "You can either do that or pay cash at tolls. In a few places (although I am not sure about Florida), there are no lanes where you can pay cash. For these, they take a photo of you license plate as you drive through and bill you later"

Do you guys have an option on your GPS devices to select 'free' itinirary ?

Traffic in Florida can be absolutely terrible, and paying tolls is one way to avoid some of this. Eliminate some time from Key West and instead visit one of the keys with a state park.

Yes, there are toll stations that don't take cash and will bill you by your license plate. However, you will be in a rental car and not your own car. They will send the bill to the rental car agency who will then add a substantial fee to your bill. Check with the rental agency to see how they would handle this.

christina: >>Your itinerary is rather odd with the Key West addition after you've driven from Miami up to Tampa, if that's the order. I don't get that.>>

I think a lot of tourists leave for Key West out of the Tampa area on the small ferry type "cruse" ships. It takes about 4 hours as I recall. I don't think it would be cheaper than driving down to Key West but it might be faster.

While in Key West I recommend:

1) Former President Truman's Little White House

http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/preside...ite_house.html

2) Earnest Hemmingway's House
http://www.hemingwayhome.com/


There are no real beaches in Key West but you can take organized dive trips which are a lot of fun.

We go and come frequently from FLL. I would not recommend arriving late at night, renting a car and driving to Miami right after a longish flight.

Renting a car right at the airport will be more convenient, but certainly be more expensive than renting from other places.

If you are arriving on a weekend night, hotels will be more expensive, but if you book a few weeks ahead, you should be able to find a good deal.

I suggest staying the first night near FLL at a hotel that provides a free shuttle, or take a shuttle directly from FLL to Miami that night. It should be about $50.00 for the three of you.

Check to be sure your place in Miami has parking. If not, parking will add to the cost of your car. Depending on where you are going, in Miami, the cost of the car, insurance, gas and parking may be more than a taxi a couple of times a day. Don't know for sure. Just something to check out. Also, if you want an evening out with a few drinks, you might not want to drive afterwards anyway. You could pick up the car when leaving Miami.

Another note on the tolls - I will preface this by saying that I don't need to rent a pass in FL, because I am driving my own car when I am here. But I recently rented a car in NY and, even with the surcharge the rental company charged, I thought it was absolutely worth having the pass for the reasons noted above - I didn't have to worry about running into a toll where there was no person to take cash, and I could just drive through the tolls instead of waiting in line. The convenience was worth the relatively small surcharge. (It is a much bigger charge if they have to send you a bill afterwards.) Hope you have a wonderful time!

Unless we are talking about a toll bridge somewhere which requires Sunpass there is absolutely nothing about the proposed itinerary that would require the use of a Sunpass and that includes the trip down I-95 between Fort Lauderdale and Miami and the trip to Key West provided the Turnpike Extension is not used for any portion.

The difficulty, if any, will arise if the driver is not familiar with the alternative non-tollway routes.

As to the safety of renting a car "late at night" which has not been well-defined by the OP, and the trip to Miami which, depending upon where in Miami might mean a max of 35 miles or so, and on I-95 which is probably a LOT SAFER to drive "late at night" than it would be during the day, that is rather subjective and obviously depends on too many factors to mention. There actually ARE airline passengers who sleep on planes.

Between Sanibel and Tampa, you could consider stopping for shopping/eating at St Armands Circle (Sarasota) and beach time at Lido Beach, then driving north on Longboat Key and Anna Maria Island (all the way to the City Pier) and then back to Bradenton and north across the Sunshine Skyway bridge to St Petersburg and across the bridge to Tampa....great beaches at Fort Desoto County Park, too. There's a great Dali Museum in St. Pete, if you're interested.

September is prime hurricane season in Florida. Consider trip insurance.

Hope you have a wonderful trip.

When you are staying in the Miami area, make sure to plan at least one afternoon/evening in the Wynwood area of Miami City. This is an up and coming, former industrial area of the city that draws lots of people in your age group from the US, south America, and Europe. Very cool district with lots of art galleries, street murals, and good cafes and restaurants. The "big box stores" like Target, and the upscale residential developments, are moving in, but it still has a somewhat edgy feel that is very different than South Beach. Some might think it has a similar feel to that of Williamsburg, NYC, a decade ago.

I've only been a few times but I have a great Wynwood restaurant recommendation: ALTER, easily the best dinner I've had during a winter in south Florida. The restaurant is a semi-finalist in the James Beard competition for "best new restaurant in the country" this year, and the chef is one of the semi-finalists for "rising star chef of the year;" those are a very big honors in the US food world.
You would need to make a reservation well in advance for dinner.


http://www.altermiami.com/