Beaches On Key West?

I have been doing some research on beaches around Key West and I get the sense that its not a place to go for beaches?

My family wants to go to southern Florida for Christmas and we are worried that Miami might no be warm enough so we want to go further south to make sure that we get beach weather...but if there aren%26#39;t good beaches then there is no point!

I have read some reviews on the Beach at the Fort and the Honda bahia state park...both look really nice.

QUESTIONS:

1. Is it usually warm enough at Christmas on Key West to swim?

2. Are the beaches any good?

Thanks...

Beaches On Key West?

1. Probably. Late December thru the start of March is the time when you could run into the odd cold front, but normaly the daytime temps will be in the low 70%26#39;s.

2. No, they aren%26#39;t very good. Fort Zachary Taylor is the best. Go to webshots and type in ';Ft. Taylor Key West'; under the community seach and you will find plenty of picutres of the actual beach so you can judge for yourself whether it is up to snuff. Bahia Honda is nice too, but out of the way and too much of a park for my tastes.

Beaches On Key West?

Key west is wonderful but definitely NOT a beach place. We stopped along Smathers Beach, it smelled really really bad, and the beach itself was filthy, although they are in the process of cleaning it, I was suprised how dirty it was and heard it was because of the storms last year, but you would think they%26#39;d have it cleaned by now. We also went to the water by Duvall Beach club, didn%26#39;t smell, but lots of seaweed and broken glass all over, we ended up at the club having a drink. I would suggest another place for beaches. I think you would really be disappointed in KW if that%26#39;s what you are looking for.

If you are looking for beautiful beaches, you need to go to the Panhandle. Parts of the Gulf Coast are nice too however prices are much more expensive for accommodations. The Keys are more well known for kayaking and nature. SCUBA is O.K. however for that you need to go farther into the Caribbean.

agree with the advice you%26#39;re getting...

%26amp; also don%26#39;t think the climate in KW would be much different than Miami %26amp; environs. But you could proobably go to Cancun cheaper %26amp; have much better swimming.

i prefer the beaches on the gulf coast around naples

never been to the panhandle and am thinking of visiting that region next year, any advice on where to stay???

cancun was far too hot when i went, the sea was hotter than the air (which was in the 30-34 oC) so stuck to the pool

i%26#39;d recommend the bahamas for some truly lovely beaches and i managed to get a 3 day trip there from florida for about $125 each which was really cheap, and that was hotel and flight inc

the flight was very wierd though, one of the hostesses was stood up on take off and rolled a loo roll down the isle asking people to cheer on the left or right depending on which way it rolled!!!!!

and they had a bit of gambling also, which was good because i won! :-)

KeyBound: I think they meant the storms THIS year... Katrina thwacked us right before you arrived. Just as the seaweed from Dennis was starting to degrade, Katrina dumped another couple of tons on our shores. It%26#39;s really amazing the kind of trash that gets stirred up by storms. We%26#39;ve been finding beer cans with pull tabs, which makes them ... what, at least a decade old?

I personally like the Treasure Island/madeira area. A little past Treasure Island is a small beach it was Sunset Beach I believe, they have a lot of shells, rocks you can walk out on in the water and there is hardly every anyone there. It is my favorite place of all the places in florida for beaches. I dont know what the weather/temp is around Christmas there, but I would think it wouldn%26#39;t be bad, but not sure.

exchange for switch

hi

would i get a better exchange rate if i were to withdraw cash in orlando with my switch/maestro card than the exchange rate over hear i have heard that you get a better exchange rate over there as with a credit card,are cash machines easy to find also is maestro/delta as readily accepted to make payments in orlando at restaurants/stores etc thanks

exchange for switch

Many bank double charge for taking out cash and many cash machines in Orlando charge $1 do it can be expensive.

scars

finest hotel in Kissimmee (192)

Wich are the finest hotels in the Kissimmee (192 street) area, regardless of the price? (Money is no object). Thank you.

finest hotel in Kissimmee (192)

No offense, but if money is no object....why stay in Kissimmee? Try other locations in Orlando for a ';fine hotel'; as there are several areas with better hotels than Kissimmee...ie: Lake Buena Vista, International Drive and of course most of the on site hotels at Disney and Universal Studios

finest hotel in Kissimmee (192)

Havn%26#39;t stayed there but the Gaylord Palms looks very impressive.

I would suggest the Comfort Suites Maingate East on Florida Plaza Blvd. Please do not get confused-there is also a Comfort Suites Maingate, but that%26#39;s not the one I am talking about here. I can%26#39;t say it%26#39;s a real fancy hotel, but it is probably the most satisfactory hotel in Kissimmee. This particular hotel was chosen as the best Comfort Suites in 2003. It is still relative new, only about 5 years old. It gets phenominal reviews (I have to admit that I didn%26#39;t have time to read all 145 of them) on this site. I don%26#39;t think you could go wrong with staying here. This is one of those instances in which an excellent hotel doesn%26#39;t necessarily have to be a four or five star hotel to please its guests. Please consider staying at the Comfort Suites Maingate EAST. Enjoy your stay!

The Gaylord Palms is another option, but I have heard that it is a bit overpriced. Also, their hotels are enormous in size and the service isn%26#39;t always the best. Other favorites that I would suggest instead are the Bahama Bay Resort, Fairfield at Cypress Palms (I think it is a timeshare, but I am not exactly sure), and Windsor Palms (condos). I would again also suggest the Comfort Suites Maingate East if you want a chain hotel with large, clean rooms.

The finest hotels in the Disney area are not on 192. Great villa rental area that I can highly recommend, but not excellent hotels. Some of the brand new condo resorts should be nice, but not plush. The nearest 5* property to Disney is the Hyatt Grand Crpress in Lake Buena Vista and its condo property, The Villas at Grand Cypress. Beautiful pool area and overall a really nice property with al amenities.

The Grande Lakes area has a JW Marriott and Ritz Carlton that are 2 excellent choices, but further from Disney. Marriott Orlando World Center is also good and has its own golf course, but it%26#39;s HUGE and busy expanding its convention area.

there%26#39;s nothing on 192 that comes close to these in quality. there are villas in Formosa Gardens Estates that are the match for any hotel, but no services.

If you want to stay inside of the park, try the Grand Floridian. It is a fancy Victorian hotel whose exterior is based of the Hotel Del Coronado in California. You can easily visit any of the Disney theme parks via the monorail, which stops at several of the hotels, including this one. This is the nicest hotel that I can recommend that is in a very convenient location. If you%26#39;d rather stay in Orlando, try either one of the hotels at the Grande Lakes (Ritz Carlton or JW Marriott) or the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress. The hotels that I am recommending today are much nicer than any of the ones in Kissimmee. I believe these are more of the type of hotel that you are looking for. Any one would be an excellent choice. Let me know which one(s) you will consider staying at.

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Best Food Delivery

Ok so I am bringing my three kids over in October and already have a list of places we will probably eat out. We will probably also eat at the hotel a couple of nights.

But last time we came a couple of years ago there were a number of nights where the kids were worn out and just wanted to go to bed leaving the adults to sort out dinner and we scoured the phone book for restuarants that would deliver, Chinese, Pizza etc.

I was just wondering if there were some inside information out there of the best places that will deliver food to your hotel ?

Any help will be much appreciated.

Best Food Delivery

Is it something I said ?

Or am I doing something wrong, or am I just plain asking the wrong questions ?

I think I have posted 5 or 6 times and never had a reply about anything.

Never Mind.

Best Food Delivery

PHILEASFOGG66

Maybe people dont know the answer :)

Where are you staying ?

Sorry that you have not had a responses to your other questions. When I was staying in the I Drive we got several deliveries from Dominoes pizza. Really nice Pizza and the hotel gave us coupons which meant you order one and get one free.

That is teh only service I used but I would as the reception about it as they are bound to have some coupons for something.

Hope this helps a bit

Thanks for the responses. Staying at the Nick Hotel Lake Buena Vista area.

On last visit we stayed at the Disney Beach Club villas and took pot luck from the yellow pages, some good some not so good.

Just a word of warning. If you get Flyers under your door DONT use them. It was found out that most of them are not proper takeaways etc but cook there food in terrible conditions. One was found to be preparing Pizza in a garage.

Ask reception in the hotel for recomendations.

luggage trolleys at Orlando airport

Not everyone will know or remember that you have to pay for luggage trolleys at Orlando Airport.

We have no excuse .................. we do know but that did not stop us arriving without loose change on last 2 occasions ... DOH!!!

luggage trolleys at Orlando airport

Thats interesting,how much are they

luggage trolleys at Orlando airport

$3 each

And you dont get your money back so last time i asked if this man would like me to return his trolly for him, he was pleased and i%26#39;d saved $3.... er... erm... tight fisted sod arn%26#39;t i ...dead cheeky that is is%26#39;nt it, but this is America all said and done and they are well known for charging for everything, but this is little compensation for being in the worlds greatest playground, not far different to putting a pound in a Morrisons trolly except you dont get your money back... no wonder they think we%26#39;re a soft touch on landing here.

Does anyone know if they charge for trollleys at Sandford.

YES.....this was at Sanford, $3 unless you do what i did and i%26#39;ll try it again next week.... tight bugger that i am!

Minimanniak

Are you the guy who I spotted in cafe making a free snack from fixings in Magic Kingdom. (just like Tom Hanks in The Terminal). Free trolley - free snacks - worked out any free park passes yet. HA HA!

Hi,

was at Sanford recently got two trolleys and didn%26#39;t pay for either of them. They were just sort of er.... just there so I took them. Does this mean I stole someones trolleys? I thought they were free. When we were done with them I parked them up outside in the car park/parking lot, did I miss out on making $6....

jan

To be honest we never use the trolleys in any US airport we always get a porter. For a few dollars they will load up all the luggage on a massive trolley and to be honest we had 6 suitcases in August at Miami airport. You just tell them where you need to go and they will get you there as quickly as possible. Which was invaluable in Miami because we didn%26#39;t have a clue where to go.

u save car hire

has any one booked car hire through u save auto rental? just wondering if they are reliable because they are alot cheaper than dollar or alamo.

u save car hire

Nope. But got a good deal with airline network (dollar)yesterday. 拢440 for 19 days hire %26amp; that was dropping the car off in a different state. Cheaper than Dollar direct. Hope that helps.

u save car hire

thanks poppy399 for your reply.i%26#39;ll give them a try.im after a 12 seater mini bus so not every company does them.

Universal's Express Pass on sale on website is NOT the same...

I just called Universal Customer Service, and found out if you buy an express pass ($25 pp for 2 parks, based on 1 specific date) it is NOT the same as staying on property and using your hotel key for front of the line access. The difference is: with the bought pass, you can only go on each ride 1 time! Thus, i.e. if your kids love Spiderman, the first time they won%26#39;t have to wait on the regular line, but if they want to go again (and again), they%26#39;ll have to wait... In summary, the only way to go to Universal, is to stay on property!

Universal's Express Pass on sale on website is NOT the same...

ejan,

We took our daughter last August to Universal and stayed on site at the Hard Rock Hotel and had a wonderful time. I must say that staying on site is the best way to go, because of being able to be in the front of the lines, hardly any waiting, and you are right there at both Universal and Island of Adventures. We usually walked from the hotel to the park but you can also take the boats over. The Hard Rock had great activities planned for the children each day at the pool. We usually went to the parks in the morning and came back and stayed at the pool for the afternoon and then got ready for dinner. I think we only ate away from the property once. Jimmy Buffett%26#39;s Margaritaville restaurant located in City Walk had great food. Hope this helps and you have a great time.

Universal's Express Pass on sale on website is NOT the same...

That sounds great. We have booked the Hard Rock Hotel for next year and are really looking forward to it. This year we did a Disney resort hotel. Could you tell me whether they have a laundry at Hard Rock as we are going on a cruise prior to our week at Universal and I will need to do some laundry.

I actually just booked club room at Portofino (for Nov visit) at AAA rate of $307. Room is very big - over 500 sq ft. - with 2 queen beds. I know my kids (teens) would prefer Hard Rock, but I personally like peace and quiet! Some Hard Rock reviews complain about late night partying (noise in halls)...