Is a beach run from MIA possible in 4 hrs?

Hello,

I will be connecting through MIA, and my stop there is about 3 hours. My (international) flight arrives at 2:30p and my (domestic) connection leaves around 7p.

I figure customs/immigration would only take about an hour.

I%26#39;ve never actually been in Miami, just MIA. Would it be incredibly crazy to try and go see a beach, eat something quick, and come back to MIA in time to catch my flight?

Or would traffic be so awful that this would be incredibly foolish?

What beach would be close?

Thanks!

Is a beach run from MIA possible in 4 hrs?

decheung%26gt;

You left out the deal breaker - weekday or weekend???

Weekday - fuhgeddaboudit.

Weekend - still a tight squeeze but less chance of a rush hour cluster-ph@#k. Also, if a number of flights hit customs at the same time your flight arrives, an hour is a sweet dream.

It might be more (uh) prudent not to plan to see Miami this time ...but SERIOUSLY - why not come back when you have more time?!

We%26#39;ll be here.

: )

AG

Is a beach run from MIA possible in 4 hrs?

You shouldn%26#39;t plan on being able to do it, but you may be able to do that if you%26#39;re lucky. If you manage to get through customs quickly, take a taxi to South Beach (you%26#39;ll see downtown miami, biscayne bay, and star island from the expressway on the way over) and you could see a beach (the closest from the airport is probably the northern end of South Beach) and then have the taxi drive you down ocean drive where you can take some pictures and stuff, maybe get a bite to eat, and then come back to the airport. This would only work on either a weekend or holiday however because in the late afternoon (when you are going to be here), traffic is horrendous on the weekdays. If you didn%26#39;t care about seeing the beach and still wanted to get out of the airport, you could take the metro from the airport into downtown and just look at downtown Miami and the buildings (go to bayfront park and you can see the port of miami and south beach from a distance)...and that would work out since the trains aren%26#39;t affected by traffic problems on the roads.

I totally forgot to say this would be on a Wednesday.

That said, this sounds like a recipie for disaster. I guess I%26#39;ll be staying at the airport!

Thanks though!

One thing you could do is take a taxi to Miracle Mile in Coral Gables - this area is really close to the airport, so even if the traffic is bad you could still do that. It%26#39;s a suburban area, but there are shops, restaurants, and a few touristy sights to see around there - it%26#39;s an Italian-style neighborhood that%26#39;s one of the nicest in Miami. That would be the only realistic thing to do on a Wednesday.