Parking, Miami or Hollywood

I live in South Florida and my son recently moved from Houston to Orlando. I now find myself driving to Orlando and back at least once, sometimes, twice a month. I was looking into the possibility of substituting a relaxing train ride for that 4+ hour high speed drive but ran into one problem.

Parking. I recently visited the Miami Amtrak station but the parking lot left much to be desired for leaving one's car unattended for two or three days. I am going to check the Hollywood (FL) station next week to see if it offers anything better.

I choose not to bother my friends to get up at 5AM to drop me off at a train station. All the private parking concessions that I talked to have airport shuttles but nothing to AmTrac. Parking availability seems to be the only downside to my becoming a regular Amtrac rider. Any suggestions as to weekend parking availability at Amtrac stations in either Miami or Hollywood.

The hollywood or ft. lauderdale stations have plenty of parking.

If you're only going to be gone for one or two days, then you might be OK at MIA. There have been problems in the past, but that area of Hialeah is mostly industrial. On the East side of the customer parking lot there is a residential area. I haven't heard of any problems down there lately. Maybe some of our South FL members could chime in on this one. If it is of much concern, however, then I would recommend parking at HOL or FTL as the previous poster states. Formerly OBS...

Guest_sanuces_* said:

The hollywood or ft. lauderdale stations have plenty of parking.

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How secure is the parking? Well lighted? Fenced? Is it known to have problems with unattended vehicles.

Amtrak OBS Employee gone freight said:

If you're only going to be gone for one or two days, then you might be OK at MIA. There have been problems in the past, but that area of Hialeah is mostly industrial. On the East side of the customer parking lot there is a residential area. I haven't heard of any problems down there lately. Maybe some of our South FL members could chime in on this one. If it is of much concern, however, then I would recommend parking at HOL or FTL as the previous poster states. Formerly OBS...

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The Miami station attendant was rather uncommunicative when I asked him about any problems with unattended vehicles. I visited the station this past week. I was a little concerned about the location. Once the station is closed the area becomes very isolated.

As a minimum, it would be nice if the parking lot was fenced and locked when the station was closed.

Another possibility, if you live close to a metro bus stop, would be to take the public transit bus to the Amtrak station, just leave the car at home. just take a small carry-on bag. Since you are only about 200 miles from Orlando, you could even UPS a suitcase and it wouldn't cost much, send it the day before and it would probably be there when you arrive. Or drive to the station the evening before, and check your bag with them then, then drive home and take the bus the next morning without baggage. If you live closer to a tri-rail stop, you could take the bus to the tri-rail stop, take tri-rail to one of the joint tri-rail and Amtrak stops (Miami isn't one of them) and take Amtrak from that stop.

Having been a resident of South Florida for many years until just a few years ago, there is nowhere in South Florida that I would ever leave my car in an overnight lot such as at an Amtrak station.

AmtrakWPK said:

Another possibility, if you live close to a metro bus stop, would be to take the public transit bus to the Amtrak station, just leave the car at home. just take a small carry-on bag. Since you are only about 200 miles from Orlando, you could even UPS a suitcase and it wouldn't cost much, send it the day before and it would probably be there when you arrive. Or drive to the station the evening before, and check your bag with them then, then drive home and take the bus the next morning without baggage. If you live closer to a tri-rail stop, you could take the bus to the tri-rail stop, take tri-rail to one of the joint tri-rail and Amtrak stops (Miami isn't one of them) and take Amtrak from that stop.

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I appreciate the response. The metrobus to Miami Amtrak or a Tri-Rail station is not much of an option for me. It would take a few transfers and add probably 2 hrs to the trip. I am considering catching Tri-Rail at the Miami Airport Station and switching to AmTrac in Hollywood. Again, I need to check out the safety of unattended (for a weekend) vehicles at the Tri-Rail station or even if long term parking is allowed.

I confess to being a bit impatient. I like simplicity. My perfect scenario is to drive to an Amtrak station, park my car in relative safety, and board the train to Orlando. For this traveler, the take this, transfer to that, grab a cab, switch here solution is a too much of a hassle. Just my nature, but I would rather suffer the long drive.

Chatter163 said:

Having been a resident of South Florida for many years until just a few years ago, there is nowhere in South Florida that I would ever leave my car in an overnight lot such as at an Amtrak station.

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Change the statement to "unattended and unsecured" overnight parking and I agree with you, hence my nervousness. Every time I check out another option, that long drive to Orlando becomes a tad more agreeable.

FT.lauderdale\Airport station is your best bet.That is a highly used station.Unless you are driving a high end car.

If your travel was in the other direction I would not have any concerns. We have left a vehicle at the WPK Amtrak station long term for several trips, renting a car at our destinations. Ironically, we will probably pass by there tomorrow on the 6.5 hour drive down to Bahia Honda State Park.... Last time we went down there we took Amtrak to Miami and then rented a car.

FT.lauderdale\Airport station is your best bet.That is a highly used station.Unless you are driving a high end car.

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I disagree. Dade and Broward still have too high an auto theft rate (look at insurance premiums) to even consider this.

Does anyone have anything to chime in on the Deerfield Beach station? Considering leaving my car there for 4 days....(locked & empty) while my infant son & I head to cetral florida for Memorial Day weekend

Chatter163 said:

Having been a resident of South Florida for many years until just a few years ago, there is nowhere in South Florida that I would ever leave my car in an overnight lot such as at an Amtrak station.

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Yes. When Tri-Rail service stops running at night, all bets are off.

To the OP -

I would consider using the secure and attended parking lot of your choice at the Miami Airport and then using the Tri-Rail Commuter train up to Hollywood. Change to Amtrak for the Orlando area at the Hollywood station.

Also, for the shorter Amtrak ride, use the Silver Meteor. The Silver Star goes into and back out of Tampa which adds a couple of hours to the trip each direction.