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Has anyone made the treck down to Sawgrass Mills? www.sawgrassmills.com. I was looking at an online map source for driving directions and it reckons that it is a 4 hour trip. Looking at the map I thought that you could do a nice trip going down to Sawgrass Mills and Fort Lauderdale, go across to Naples and then up the west coast to Tampa and back across. Maybe over a three/four day trip.
Any thoughts?
Nope, I haven't Euan but it looks an awful long way to go just to visit most of the brand name stores you can find around the Orlando area so I personally wouldn't make the trek for that sole reason but, if you want to visit the other places on your itinery, why not?
Ft Lauderdale's pretty nice (but mega expensive houses!), Naples is worth a visit and so is Tampa (you could call into Busch Gardens there).
florida4sun
05-09-2003, 07:14
We went to see the Eagles in concert at the OfficeMax Center and stayed in Fort Lauderdale for 2 days (Hayt Regency Pier 66 - highly recommend it). Webnt to Saw Grass Mills and while it is very large its no better than visiting the Florida Mall and the Millenia Mall. If your going tio Fiort Lauderdale dont shop just eat. There are some wonderful eateries in the area.
quote:Originally posted by MTP
Has anyone made the treck down to Sawgrass Mills? www.sawgrassmills.com. I was looking at mapquest for driving directions (http://www.mapquest.com/rtp/routeoverview.adp?rtpid=3f57b4ff%2d003d6%2d0477e%2 dcdbcf374) and it reckons that it is a 4 hour trip. Looking at the map I thought that you could do a nice trip going down to Sawgrass Mills and Fort Lauderdale, go across to Naples and then up the west coast to Tampa and back across. Maybe over a three/four day trip.
Any thoughts?
We stayed in Miami for a couple of nights at the end of December and travelled up the coast to Palm Beach via Fort Lauderdale etc. The coast road is very attractive, but very difficult to find anywhere to eat etc that is not very small expensive eateries. We ended up in Deerfield Beach where we had a very good meal.
Naturally (have 2 teenage daughters so say no more) we ended up at the Florida Sawmill Mall. Huge, vast and nothing there you can't get in Orlando. I may be influeced by the fact I had a splitting headache turning into a migraine and didn't want to go there in the first place!!
We have stayed on the Gulf Coast 3 times so far and love Sanibel and Captiva, Naples we were not so impressed with, but it's good to see. You could also do a trip to the Everglades and even get down to some of the Keys if you want. It's 4 hours from Miami to Key West if that gives you any idea!
We did Key West as part of our honeymoon tour and we quite enjoyed it, in a funny sort of way. We were a little unsure when we were there, felt that it was very full of tourists. After we left, though, we kind of felt that there was a good vibe there and when you got talking to the residents it was quite different. I would like to do Key West again, but I guess it is a ten hour drive from Orlando, so that is a fair trek with the two kids. This is also part of the reason we haven't done the Everglades yet.
We have meant to do Tampa and that coast, but I guess each holiday we have just ran out of days. Now that our youngest is in a bed and not a cot maybe the concept of just heading off won't be so bad.
I didn't want to head to Sawgrass Mills if it wasn't anything spectacular, and sometimes these very large malls can just be too overwhelming all at once. Part of the reason we like having the Annual Passes is so that we could perhaps do a mall in a morning and the parks in the afternoon.
CarolAnn
18-11-2004, 14:07
We visited Sawgrass Mills in April 04. To be honest, as Blott has said earlier, if you travel there from Orlando just to see it, you may be disappointed, it is a long to go for little gain! I didn't find it at all well priced compared to the various outlet malls in Orlando area, and there was nothing special there that comes to mind.We were in the area at the time so felt we ought not to miss the opportunity, but I certaily wouldn't go otherwise.
It is a long trek to Fort Lauderdale just for Sawgrass Mills, which is a great mall, but nothing special. There is actually a very nice mall near Tampa airport if you just want to try another shopping centre, and that is much nearer.
Whilst it may be a 4 hour journey on paper, the road does get extremely busy as it nears Fort Lauderdale, and is always busy from here to Miami. However, there are some great places to see just north of Fort Lauderdale, and some lovely beaches. There are lots of lovely malls in the Boca Raton area, and some great places to eat - not all of which are expensive.
If you made the journey you would be well advised to stay overnight to make the most of all that there is to see. If you do find yourself down Boca way DM me and I will recommend some fantastic restaurants. My daughter is working in Boca Raton at the moment and has sampled the delights of the area.
jolliffee
18-11-2004, 19:56
I like that area but think Boca and FL are a little expensive these days but I have a big liking for Deerfield Beach, this being the very first place I visited in Florida. I would visit the West Coast though it is great to explore.
E. Cosgrove
18-11-2004, 21:14
Sawgrass Mills is the one shaped like an alligator isn't it?
We did the trip several years ago and took about 7 days, didn't particularly think Fort Lauderdale was anything special ( my youngest was nine at the time and we lost him on the beach at FL so not particularly happy memories) and the mall was OK but nothing that you can't get in Orlando. Spent a lot of time around Fort Myers Beach and visited Sanibel and Captiva, both well worth the trip.
Cruella DeVilla
31-07-2007, 17:57
Anyone been here recently?
Fort Lauderdale to Naples is quite a trip. Fort Lauderdale is nice, more canals than Venice apparently.
Cruella DeVilla
31-07-2007, 19:45
Sorry Clare I actually meant Sawgrass Mills (as per the title) as original question was from 2003, I saw someone reading this in the active topics earlier which is what prompted me to ask, thinking of shopping as always. :D
Was that really when I posted that?, oh dear ...
Cruella DeVilla
02-08-2007, 14:02
Fraid so MTP so did you actually go?