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Go Miami Card Review

Leo S — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 01:54:02 +0000

Go Miami Card – Save up to 55% with one fixed price ticket to 35 attractions

Go card Miami is the one ticket for more than 35 Miami attractions. Discount admission to Miami attractions is guaranteed through Go Miami car. Travelers can save up to 55% on total retail cost of the attraction admission tickets price. Overall, the Go Miami Card is the way to go for all Miami locals and vacations and take advantage of convenience and saving.

Go Card Miami includes top Miami attractions such as the Seaquarium, Jungle Island, Everglades tours, Coral Castle, Kennedy Space Center, Bass Museum of Art and other 29 more things to do in Miami. “Skip the line” feature is one of the best features of the pass. Go Miami card comes with 1 (one), 2 (Two), 3 (Three), 5 (Five) or 7 (Seven) day validity options.

Go Card Miami in Brief…

Get FREE admission to 35 Miami attractions
Pass extras let you skip the line and save more money with other deals.
Exclusive bonus offers of the Go pass let you save even more on shopping.

Following ticket prices are listed before discounted rates. Time to time go Miami Card, company of SmartDestinations.com, offers discounted rates on total cost of the card. In that case, discounted go card price will be even cheaper than mentioned below:

=============================
Days     Child         Adult
============================
1 day    $64.99     $49.99
2 day    $94.99     $84.99
3 day    $144.99   $114.99
5 day    $189.99   $159.99
7 day    $229.99   $184.99
=============================

How does SmartDestinations.com offer discount?
Smart Destinations, the Go City Cards and Explorer Pass Company, work with local attractions and get discounted price. Attractions agree to give discounted rates because Smart Destinations drives millions of visitors every year to local attractions. This discount is offered as Go Card to tourists. Overall Smart Destinations lower down the price and offers you a real saving compared to the cost of buying individual tickets at each attraction.

Will it really save me money?
That’s a genuine question. Following sample Miami attraction itinerary will help you understand the real saving. Below mentioned Miami itinerary is designed by considering 2 adults travelers.

Day One Itinerary
Jungle Island ($59.82)
Miami Seaquarium ($81.22)

Day Two Itinerary
Everglades Eco Adventure Tour    ($98)
Mai-Kai Polynesian Dinner Show (Bonus with 3, 5, and 7-day cards!)    ($90)
Day Three Itinerary
Duck Tours South Beach    ($64)
Island Queen Cruises    ($50)
Vizcaya Museum and Gardens    ($30)

————————————————————————————————-
Total spend if purchased separately               ($473.04)
Cost of Go City Cards 2 adult 3-day cards    $289.98
TOTAL Savings with cards    $183.06

On top of that, Go Card travelers get additional deals and discounts at restaurants, shops and other places.

I would say that save your energy to find Miami flight and hotel deals. Go Miami Card will save your effort to do research on finding ways to save on attraction admission fees. Buy Go Miami card and make your Miami vacation easy to see and do things for less.

Following list of attractions and activities are included as part of the Miami Go Card.

Art Deco Walking Tour
Bar Hop Shuttle
Bass Museum of Art
Bonnet House Museum & Gardens
City Tour and Everglades Eco Adventure (Bonus Choice with 3, 5 and 7-Day Cards)
Coral Castle
Daytona 500 Experience: The Official Attraction of NASCAR
Duck Tours South Beach
Fort Lauderdale Duck Tours
Fun Spot Action Park
Gator Park Airboat Tours
Gatorland: The Alligator Capital of the World
GoCar Tours: The Storytelling Car
Gold Coast Railroad Museum
Historical Museum of Southern Florida
Island Queen Cruises
Island Queen Cruises – Bayside Blaster
Jewish Museum of Florida
Jungle Island
Jungle Queen Riverboat
Kennedy Space Center
Key West Tour From Miami (Bonus Choice with 3, 5 and 7-Day Go Cards)
Lion Country Safari
Lowe Art Museum
Mai-Kai Polynesian Dinner Show (Bonus Choice with 3, 5 and 7-Day Cards)
Miami Art Museum
Miami Beach 1-Day Bicycle Rental
Miami Childrens Museum
Miami Metrozoo
Miami Science Museum
Miami Seaquarium
Miami Tour Company: City Tour of Miami
Miami Tour Company: Everglades Eco Adventure
Palm Beach Princess Casino Cruise
Pelican Harbor Seabird Station
Ripleys Believe It or Not!
Sawgrass Recreation Park
Schnebly Redlands Winery
The Wolfsonian–FIU Museum
Vizcaya Museum and Gardens
Wings Over Miami Air Museum
World Erotic Art Museum

Haulover Beach: Best Nude Beach in Miami

Leo S — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 03:12:29 +0000

Haulover Park Beach is renowned best beach for Nude Sunbathing in Miami, South Florida. Not only that, the Haulover Park beach is one of the most beautiful family-friendly beaches in South Florida. The Haulover Park beach is located between the intercostals waterway and Atlantic Ocean offering more than 1 and half mile of sand to the people. Every year millions of visitors all around the world visit the beach.

The Haulover park beach has white sand shore crowded with people enjoying activities such as ocean water surfing, tanning, picnic, biking and many other similar activities. It has been said that the beach is perfect for swimming and surfing. Lifeguards are always on patrol on the beach to make the place safe and keep track of weather and surf condition at the beach. Only the North end of the Haulover Beach is designated as nude beach. If you are looking for sunbathing without tan lines, then you must go to nude section of the beach!!…

Apart from North end, entire beach is family friendly. Across the street from the beach, you can take advantage of full-service marina, tennis court, restaurant, family 9 holes golf course, sundries shop and kite shops. As a whole, Haulover Beach is one of the Best Beaches in Miami.

Operation Hours of Haulover Beach:

Every Day Sunrise to Sunset.

Location of Haulover Beach Miami:
10800 Collins Avenue, Miami Beach
Phone: 305-947-3525

Related Best Beaches in Miami:

South Beach, Miami

Leo S — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 03:07:16 +0000

South Beach is the world famous one of the best beaches in Miami. South Beach starts somewhere from Indian Creek and goes up to southernmost 23 blocks of the island parallel to ocean drive. Usually south beach is crowded with people doing surfing, swimming, jogging and many other activities. Beach offers volleyball court as well. So if you like to hit some balls, come on get warmed up to hit some beach volley ball games.

South beach is not a “nude” beach, so make sure to wear short. Topless sunbathing is allowed. There are lifeguards patrolling the beach throughout the day so overall place is safe and secured. South Beach is located right on the Ocean Drive, a center of fine dining, famous nightclubs and shopping. You will enjoy watching people on Ocean drive. Famous nightclubs on Ocean Drive include Clevelander, Mango’s and many high-end clubs.

Operation Hours of South Beach:

Daily Sunrise to Sunset

Location of South Beach, Florida
South Beach section starts somewhere from Indian Creek and goes upto southernmost 23 blocks of the island parallel to ocean drive.

Parking: Challenge as Ocean Drive is the busiest and crowded place in Miami.

Related Best Beaches in Miami:

Lummus Park Beach, Miami Beach, Florida

Leo S — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 02:56:17 +0000

Lummus Park Beach is very well known for people watching. You can say best beach for people watching. Lummus Park Beach covers area starting from 5th street to 15th street. Lummus park beach allows you to take topless sunbathing but total nudity is prohibited. Usually it has been noted that Miami’s 12th Street is surrounded or crowded by gay couples and singles. Beach offers large surfing area at the South end. You can take advantage of nice restaurants on Ocean drive to quench your thirst and hunger. Ocean drive is well known for fine dining and shopping.

Operation Hours of Lummus Park Beach:

Daily from Sunrise to Sunset

Location of Lummus Park Beach Entrance:
10th St & Ocean Dr
Miami Beach, FL 33139
(305) 673-7577‎

Parking:
Always a challenge on Ocean Drive so you might want to try your luck for the best parking spot.

Related Best Beaches in Miami:

Bill Baggs Sate Park Beach, Miami, Florida

Leo S — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 02:50:54 +0000

Bill Baggs Sate Park beach is named among the top 10 beaches of the United Sates of America. In fact, Bill Baggs State Park beach is known as the best beach for scenery lovers. Every year millions of Miami Local and Miami Vacationers come to visit the beach. Park is located on the southern end of the Key Biscayne, as a result people love fishing by the water from a seawall. As a matter of fact, southern tip of the Key Biscayne is well renowned for shoreline fishing in entire south region. The Bill Baggs State park is always occupied by people having fun with activities such as water surfing, biking on the beach trails, kayaking and many more.

Main attraction of the Bill Baggs State park is the Cape Florida Lighthouse. People love taking sunbath under the shadow of the Cape Florida Lighthouse. This Cape Florida Lighthouse is the historical building in South Florida. This oldest standing structure of the Miami-Dade County was built during 1825. If you are interested in guided tour of the Lighthouse are available twice a day from Monday to Thursday.

Hungry folks can take advantage of Lighthouse Cafe as well as The boater’s Grill Cafe. If you are visiting Bill Baggs State Park for picnic then I would recommend you to rent pavilion where you can grill and cook your own yummy food. Usually pavilions rent starts from $100/day. Check with the park office for detail information on renting pavilion.

Operation Hours of Bill Baggs Sate Park Beach:

Open from 8:00 am until sunset – 365 days a year
Lighthouse Tours: 10:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m., Twice a Day, From Monday through Thursday

Bill Baggs State Park Location:
1200 Crandon Boulevard, Key Biscayne
Phone: 305-361-5811

Related Best Beaches in Miami:

Virginia Key Beach Park – Best Beach for Solitude & Exploring History

Leo S — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 02:46:38 +0000

Virginia Key Beach Park is one of the best beaches for solitude lovers. The Virginia Key Beach Park features two sections – North and South. Both sections have their own entrances. South section of the beach is known as the Historic Virginia Key Beach Park. The Historic Virginia Key Beach Park used to be only for colored people. The south section of the park was closed sometime during 1982 and remained closed until 2008 grand re-opening. The Historic Virginia Key Beach Park is busy with families during weekends.

Historic Virginia Key Beach Park – South Section:
Location: 4020 Virginia Beach Drive, Key Biscayne – Beach is located south of Rickenbacker Causeway on east side of Biscayne bay.
Phone: 305-361-2833
Limited Free Parking

Operation Hours of Virginia Key Beach Park South

Sunrise to Sunset

Note: Miami-Dade county’s only beach where dogs on leashes are allowed.

Virginia Key Beach – North Section
Solitude lovers might want to consider the North Entrance of the beach. North section is very quiet and serene known as Virginia Key Beach.
Location: Beach is located north of Rickenbacker Causeway.
Phone: 305-361-2686 / 305-575-5256
Parking Fee

Operation Hours of Virginia Key Beach Park North

Sunrise to Sunset

Related Best Beaches in Miami:

Crandon Park Beach, Miami Florida

Leo S — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 02:40:07 +0000

Crandon Park Beach in Miami is known as the best family friendly beach located in Miami-Dade County. The Crandon Park beach features 2 miles of white sand beach. The beach is named among the top 10 beaches of the United States of America. Every year millions of Miami locals and Miami Vacationers visit Crandon Park for recreation activities. Crandon Park Beach offers white sand beach along with calm water, picnic areas for families, grills, walking trails, kayaks, Cabanas and huge vehicle parking area. The beach is lagoon style offering 6 to 12 feet deep water for surfers. Crandon Park beach is continuously monitored by beach lifeguard petrol team. If you get hungry then you can take advantage of some local food places or drive up to Key Biscayne food places to quench your thirst and hunger.

Families can enjoy the Crandon’s Family Amusement Center as well as Crandon gardens for rare and beautiful tropical plants such as beach peanut, the coontie and Biscayne prickly ash. The Crandon Park Beach offers rental Cabanas on south side of the beach to get away from the sun and crowd. Currently cabanas rents are as below (Prices might change anytime):

Daily on a first-come, first-served basis on the first or second floor – $37.45
Monthly on the second floor -$175 plus tax and deposit
Monthly/weekends – $280 plus tax and deposit
Semi-annually – $1,680 plus tax and deposit
Annually – $2,100 plus tax and deposit

Operation Hours of Crandon Park Beach:

Sunrise – Sunset
Office Hours: 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m., seven days a week

Crandon Park Beach Location:
4000 Crandon Boulevard, Key Biscayne
305-361-5421
Crandon Park Web Site

Related Best Beaches in Miami:

The Gold Coast Railroad Museum

Leo S — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 03:55:05 +0000

Courtesy Go Miami Card

The Gold Coast Railroad Museum preserves history and features variety of exhibits of historical rail and railroad equipment. Currently The Gold Coast Railroad Museum Exhibits includes following collection:

Ferdinand Magellan-U.S. Car #1
Silver Crescent
Naval Air Station Richmond
Rolling Stock and Equipment
Locomotives
Passenger Cars
Freight Cars
Other Equipment
Model Train Building

Also apart from Exhibits The Gold Coast Railroad Museum offers following rides

Link Rides – “Edwin Link Children’s Railroad”
Coach Rides – Standard Gauge Coach Car
Cab Rides – Standard Gauge Diesel-Electric Locomotive

On Wednesdays you can get a FREE train ride on Edwin Link 2-ft gauge train. Train departure times are scheduled at 11:00 am and 1:00 pm. Free rides are limited to 1 per person. If you really like the train ride and want to enjoy more then you can purchase additional rides for $2.50 each. The Link train is available for birthday parties, groups, and special events with advance notice.

FREE access with Go Miami Card

Cost without the Go Miami Card:
Adult $6.00, Child $4.00

Hours of Operation at The Gold Coast Railroad Museum:

Monday-Friday, 10:00 am-4:00 pm;
Saturday and Sunday, 11:00 am-4:00 pm
Closed – May be closed major U.S. holidays.

Driving Direction to The Gold Coast Railroad Museum:

From the north: Take Florida Turnpike south and take exit #16 for SW 152nd Street.
Turn right (west) on SW 152nd Street and continue for about 1 mile to the Miami MetroZoo
Enter into MetroZoo’s complex and look for the Museum’s parking on the right side.

Public transportation to this place is little be inconvenient. But if you really want to take a chance then you might want to consider taking Coral Reef MAX bus (route 252) from Dadeland South train station.

Gold Coast Railroad Museum
12450 SW 152nd Street
Miami, FL 33177
888-608-7246
www.gcrm.org

The Coral Castle

Leo S — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 03:25:55 +0000

Courtesy Go Miami Card

Edward, one next-door guy, was born in Riga, Latvia on August 10th, 1887. He fell in love with 10 years younger than him and decided to marry. But tragedy of love, his girlfriend, Agnes, canceled the wedding just one day before the ceremony. Heartbroken Ed labored almost 25 years to build a coral rock monument to Agnes, which is known as Coral Castle today.

This entire coral castle was built by one man, yes he moved tons of coral rock by himself and used hand tools to carve and create the monuments. Ed achieved all these by himself without asking for any help. Ed did much of his work at night by lantern light and to help protect his privacy, he built numerous lookouts along the Castle walls. Whenever someone asked him a question that “how he moved corals?” – Ed always replied that “he understood the laws of weight and leverage well”.

The Coral Castle offers audio tour which explains the different specialty of the monuments. For example, one coral made into Sun Dial recording current time. That’s amazing accuracy. You would be amazed with Throne room, bedroom, children’s playground, the tower and living quarters. In addition to that Florida Table is worth watching where he envisioned politician making plans.

If you are looking proving the lost love then you might want to go visit the Coral Castle. It is truly a symbol of love carved and expressed through sea corals.

FREE Access with Go Miami Card.

Cost without the Go Miami card:
Adult $9.75, Child $5.00

Operation Hours of The Coral Castle:

Sunday-Thursday, 8:00 am-6:00 pm;
Friday-Saturday, 8:00 am-9:00 pm
Closed – Open 365 days a year

Driving Direction to The Coral Castle:
From the North:

Take FL Turnpike South and take exit # 5 (288th St.),
Take right and drive for 2 miles to SW 157th Ave. and turn right.
Coral Castle is on the right.

From the South:

Go North on US Highway 1/FL-5N. and turn right onto SW 288 St.,
Turn left onto SW 157th St.
Coral Castle is on the left.

The Coral Castle
Address: 28655 South Dixie Highway
Homestead, FL
33033
305-248-6345
www.coralcastle.com

Bonnet House Museum & Gardens

Leo S — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 18:49:25 +0000

Courtesy Go Miami Card

Bonnet House Museum & Gardens was built by a famous artist Frederic Clay Bartlett during 1921. Bonnet House is recognized as a complete home of and studio of a famous American artist. This artistic house is open to the public – local as well as Miami vacationers. Creativity of Bartlett family turned Bonnet House into unique Museum. House offers variety of displays such as Murals on the ceilings, balustrades, faux marble and sculptures. Floor and walls show the creativity using faux marble. Among all sculptures, fish sculptures are noticeable. Bartlett family’s antique collection portraying antique china to carousel animals shows the art of the 20th century. Bonnet House Museum & Garden is located on the beachfront covering 35 acres of sub-tropical land. Considering the tropical fact, Bonnet House Museum & Garden has become the home of squirrel monkeys, swans and many other tropical animals. I would say, house offers the art and creativity of the Bartlett which can be explored and felt today.

Ticket Pricing:
FREE entry with Go Miami Card
Cost without the Go Miami card: Adult $20.00, Child $16.00

Operation Hours of Bonnet House Museum & Gardens:

Tue to Sat 10:00 am-4:00 pm; Tour Times: 10:30 am, 11:30 am, 12:30 pm, 1:30 pm, 2:30 pm;
Sun 12:00 pm-4:00 pm; Tour Times: 12:30 pm, 1:30 pm, 2:30 pm
Close on Mondays, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. Also, All holiday hours are subject to change without notice.

Bonnet House Museum & Gardens
Address: 900 N. Birch Road
Fort Lauderdale, FL
33304
954-563-5393
www.bonnethouse.org