Fort Lauderdale to Key West

[riverdees05 Platinum Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close riverdees05]

What is the best route to take from FLL to Key West? We will be driving that on Sunday. I ran Mapquest, but seems like there should be a better and easier route.

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

I would not recommend 1 or 95 to 1. 1 is a crawl.

Take a freeway west to a tollroad south and pick up 1 at Florida City.

I'm thinking googlemap or mapquest it and pick your best route.

Have fun and say Hi to The Galleon for us.

Drink a toast to the Conch Man.

[chriskre Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close chriskre]

On Sunday you won't hit much traffic.

I-95 now has an express lane but you have to have a Sunpass account to use it although I don't think it's necessary to use the lanes on Sundays.

Yes you can go west and then South on the Florida turnpike but you gotta go way west and they've added tolls like every 3 or 4 miles. It's really getting expensive to run the turnpike thru Dade and Broward these days.

I-95 is the free route. I-95 South ends on US1 right near my house.
If you have time to see Key Biscayne you are right there. It's our local "Key". They've got a few beaches and the State beach, Cape Florida is on the end of the key. Miami Seaquarium is also on the Key. The Rusty Pelican is a nice landmark restaurant that has great views of Downtown Miami across the Bay.

Then it goes very local along US1 with alot of lights along the way but, you'll drive thru Coconut Grove, Coral Gables, Pinecrest, Kendall, Cutler Bay on the way down. You'll end in Florida City where there is an outlet mall if you like that kind of thing. If you have time and like Mexican food, Homestead has great Mexican food. I recommend Toro Taco if you want a real family run restaurant and have the time to stop.

Enjoy your trip. The weather is beautiful right now.

[pranas Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close pranas]

From Fort Lauderdale you would be better off taking the Florida Turnpike. Yes it will cost a few bucks and is a few more miles longer but you will save a lot o time and hassle by avoiding city traffic. If you would be driving from south Miami, taking US 1 woiuld be best but not from Fort Lauderdale. I do this drive regularly becuase I live in the Ft. Lauderdale area. Went the other way several times and will not do it again unless I need to be in that area.

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

On Sunday you won't hit much traffic.

I-95 now has an express lane but you have to have a Sunpass account to use it although I don't think it's necessary to use the lanes on Sundays.

Yes you can go west and then South on the Florida turnpike but you gotta go way west and they've added tolls like every 3 or 4 miles. It's really getting expensive to run the turnpike thru Dade and Broward these days.

I-95 is the free route. I-95 South ends on US1 right near my house.
If you have time to see Key Biscayne you are right there. It's our local "Key". They've got a few beaches and the State beach, Cape Florida is on the end of the key. Miami Seaquarium is also on the Key. The Rusty Pelican is a nice landmark restaurant that has great views of Downtown Miami across the Bay.

Then it goes very local along US1 with alot of lights along the way but, you'll drive thru Coconut Grove, Coral Gables, Pinecrest, Kendall, Cutler Bay on the way down. You'll end in Florida City where there is an outlet mall if you like that kind of thing. If you have time and like Mexican food, Homestead has great Mexican food. I recommend Toro Taco if you want a real family run restaurant and have the time to stop.

Enjoy your trip. The weather is beautiful right now.

That would be a nice day-trip.

[chriskre Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close chriskre]

What is the best route to take from FLL to Key West? We will be driving that on Sunday. I ran Mapquest, but seems like there should be a better and easier route.

If your goal is to just get there then yes take the turnpike. If you are only going to Key West for one day the drive is 4 hours to get to Key West so you'll want to just get there and not bother with any side trips. If you are staying overnight in Key West for a few days then taking the slow roads IMO is more interesting but maybe that's because I know where to stop along the way like at Cracker Barrel and Toro Taco.

That would be a nice day-trip.

True, my city beautiful makes a nice day trip. Might as well stop and have some Cuban food while you're at it. On Key Biscayne there is La Carreta restaurant. Not the best Cuban food but decent and very typical for Miami.
Bayside and Coconut Grove also make a nice stop as does Coral Gables and South Beach for that matter.

[bigfrank Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close bigfrank]

It is a very long ride on 1 but we did it because we wanted to see the sites, It took about 4-5 hours. If you want to have an unreal dinner experience book a reservation at Florida Resort - Florida Keys Beach Resort & Spa - Luxury Private Island Retreat , the only way to get there is by boat which they provide free of charge. It is rated # 1 in Florida and #5 in the USA.

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

We had our Cuban food at that little place on Key West. I think I ordered the wrong thing.

Coming back from Key West to Orlando there was a wreck on 1 and we sat for 3 hours. We left The Galleon fairly early and it was really late getting to Orange Lake. Seems like we got to Melbourne about dinnertime and there was a Shell's there (not any more).

We also found a Shells skirting around Miami going to Key West.

[riverdees05 Platinum Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close riverdees05]

Thanks for all the help will drink a toast to the Conch Man.

[riverdees05 Platinum Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close riverdees05]

Took the freeway west to the tollroad south and pick up 1 at Florida City. Cost around 6 dollars for tolls, but we didn't leave Fort Lauderdale till 3:00pm, so we opted for the fast route. May take another route back. We
ate dinner at Toro Taco, good Mexican food. We are in unit F23 and have a water view form the deck.

Thanks for all the help.

[chriskre Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close chriskre]

Have fun.

JLB they closed all the Shells restaurants. I think they went belly up.