Hi, this will hopefully explain how to get around Florida without a car.
Written by two travelers who like to keep it cheap.
I'll get back on the topic question now that I have the experience with local transport.
We went from the airport in Orlando to Kissimmee by bus, had to transfer 2 times, and took 1, 5 hr. it was okay.
Within Kissimmee it's easy to go to Disney's theme parks from the hostel we stayed in; it was the only hostel in Kissimmee. To go to Universal and SeaWorld is another story, you got to take a taxi or look for a (free) shuttle to Universal or SeaWorld, Some hotel do offer those. Getting there on busses takes about 2hrs, and it's only a 15-20 min car ride.
Try to avoid spending a spare day in Kissimmee since there's not really much going on, you do need a car to get to the fun spots e.g. Daytona beach or Orlando downtown, Busses don't drive all the way.
Lynx is the name of the bus company and it works easy, make sure you tell the driver that you transfer, that way you don't have to pay the full amount when you hop on another bus. 1 dollar 50 for 2hr.
Lynx brings you to Greyhound station, and greyhound takes you through west east coast all the way to Miami. With stops in Ft. Lauderdale, west palm beach and some other. We believe that greyhound is expensive, 45 dollar for a 3hr ride. In West palm beach you can get around on busses but expect to head home early because the last bus from the beach leaves at 4 p.m. Unless you want to take a taxi, Taxi’s aren’t always reliable, we had to pay double because he crossed a bridge and drove us in the wrong direction and than back.
Once settled you can access downtown and the beach with the bus,
You can go from downtown to the beach by foot which is a fun hike.
Then we took the Tri rail which is located downtown, trirail runs from west-palm beach to Ft. Lauderdale and Miami, this is the best way to get from A to B fast and cheap, Trirail is not very familiar by the locals here, not many people where on the train and it’s dirt cheap.
We didn’t like Ft. Lauderdale that much except for the insane yachts equipped with jet ski’s small speedboats. Ft. Lauderdale has his own metro station, it’s easy and fast, busses run often to different directions around town till late.
The tri-rail brought us to Miami, another good thing about tri-rail is that when you show your ticket to a bus driver you get to ride the bus for free, also a tri-rail shuttle brings you up town, also for nothing than a smile.
Getting around in Miami south-beach area is easy, the bus is going all along a boulevard and hopping on or dropping off is easy.
Amtrak brought us from Miami back to Kissimmee within 3 hrs, the ride is comfortable but expensive, Amtrak can bring you to bigger city around Florida (and the rest of U.S), since we were short on schedules with only a couple of days left in the U.S. the last thing you want is spending your spare time on a train, Amtrak schedules are during the day.
And now we’re flying back home as I write this blog.
Conclusion on travelling in east Florida with no car;
Positive
- You get to meet people on the bus and see more of the local people in different area’s
- See how friendly some bus drivers can be, In West Palm Beach a female bus driver really took the time and explained everything about how it works with local transport, (palmtran west palm beach ) She even gave us a free day transfer ticket.
- Another male bus driver made a detour to drop us off right in front of the hotel.
- You need to focus more on when to get off, that might be negative too.
- Free rides when showing a tri-rail ticket.
- It’s cheap.
Negative
- Spent waiting time.
- Massive detours
- You cannot always go wherever you want to go.
- Busses don’t run always after dark.
- Meet and greet with junks and drunk people hanging around bus stops or stations.
- You can see more places with a car..
- You look cooler in Miami in a cabriolet or hummer limousine cruising up and down the boulevard.
We found out that getting around on local transport in FL is a whole other story than getting around in countries as Malysia and parts on south america.
travel with an endless smile,
Roel & Anka, Netherlands.
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