<p>My son and I are flying in next week for a campus tour. I'd love a little advice to help us with our planning - thanks!</p>
<p>1) We are staying downtown and won't have a car. It looks like we can take metro to campus. We need to be at the Ashe Building by 10 am. Does anyone know how long it will take from Brickell to campus by metro? And once we get to the metro stop, is it close and easy to find the building?</p>
<p>2) Is there anything that's not on the tour that we need to see on campus while we're there? We plan to spend the day in that area, anything in particular to see or do around Coral Gables/Coconut Grove?</p>
<p>3) Lastly - we have 2 1/2 days in Florida. Any other not to miss activities or sites?</p>
<p>1) Brickel is about a 10-15 minute train ride from UM, and trains run every ten minutes on weekdays, so you’ll probably want to catch the 9:20 or 9:30 train, depending on how early you want to arrive.</p>
<p>Once you arrive, you’ll cross the road at the crosswalk and follow Ponce De Leon to the right (north) until you get to the main UM entrance (there will be a big sign that says “University of Miami” and a guard station. Then walk down that sidewalk and follow it all the way until you get to a circle, then continue walking. At this point the University Center will be on your left, and an elevated area called the Rock will be on your right. You’re going to take the trail that cuts diagonally across the giant lawn, and the building at the end of that houses the admission office. It’s probably a 10-15 minute walk from the train station.</p>
<p>If you get lost, just ask anyone and they should be able to tell you how to get to the admission office.</p>
<p>2) Maybe the baseball stadium? If I were you I’d go to one of the dining halls and have lunch after the tour (it’s $10.50 I think). Maybe check out Sunset place and go see a movie?</p>
<p>3) There’s rapids water park in Ft. Lauderdale, Miami beach of course, you can go scuba diving with underwater unlimited, you can go to a marlins game, I know pretty soon there’s a soccer game coming up, there’s the venetian pools, ice skating (though it does seem pretty ironic to go to Miami to go ice skating), coconut grove, and a ton more. :)</p>
<p>Hi ljrfrm - my son and I visited in April and had a great time. I was not familiar with Miami at all (and I am ‘directionally challenged’ - LOL), but my son figured out the metro/mover easily and we took some trips into downtown Miami and explored a bit - really enjoyed that, walking around Biscayne Bay, the marina area. You can take a tour boat ride (we didn’t) if you’re in the mood (husband and I may do that while we have some time during orientation). At the recommendation of one of the profs, we visited the Viscaya Museum and Gardens, which was really nice - not sure if it would have been my son’s top pick, but think he enjoyed it as well.</p>
<p>Metro passes are ~$4 for the day, so you can really get a lot of usage from them and go just about anywhere pretty quickly. very convenient. </p>
<p>For S’s birthday (while we were visiting), we went to Berry’s (in the grove) restaurant - in Coconut Grove - and really enjoyed that a lot. Food was great!</p>
<p>My daughter and I did the same thing, didn’t rent a car and relied on public transport for our few days in Florida. We stayed at the Holiday Inn right across the street from the U for the February open house. We took the MetroRail to the Government Center stop (I think that’s what its called) and we took the bus 120 Beach Max to 18th street and Collins in South Beach. Did the Duck Tour, walked along the beach and ate at Johnny Rockets.</p>
<p>Yes and no. It was one Duck tour that spent most of the time in the water. Saw Star Island and the other islands where the rich and famous have their homes. Plus the land portion is all about South Beach and was very informative. Plus we got an idea where restaurants were. After the tour, we walked the beach and remembered where Johnny Rockets was. I liked it-but we hit all Duck Tours where we go. I still get emails from Duck Tours London. Be on the left side if you do decide to do the tour, though.</p>