Miami airport to Port Everglades: 27 miles, two prices, one meter

Two clocks and a $79 taxi band on the MIA to Port Everglades run

Miami International Airport is 27 miles from Port Everglades, which prices a taxi from its terminals at $80 to $159. Miami-Dade County’s meter produces $93.00 for those 27 miles, $95.00 with the airport fee, and $122.90 in a van. Allow two to three hours, the port’s own FAQ says.

That 27 mile figure is the only mileage either county publishes for the pair, and no fare travels with it. The airport that receives the flight prices nothing to Fort Lauderdale. The seaport that receives the passenger prices the same ride two different ways, depending on which of its eight terminal pages a traveler happens to open.

Every figure below was read in September 2026 from the department that sets it, and every Broward County and Port Everglades figure was read again on October 7, 2026, against one fixed trip: two adults landing at MIA on sailing day, bags claimed, curb to a numbered Port Everglades cruise terminal.

What a cruise passenger needs	Miami-Dade County, airport end	Port Everglades, Broward County, port end
Distance between airport and port	Not published on the ground transportation or taxicab pages	27 miles south, on the cruise FAQ page
Driving time	Not published	30 – 45 minutes south via I-95, on the Getting Here page
Allowance before cruise check-in	Not published	Two to three hours, on the cruise FAQ page
Taxi meter formula	$2.95 for the first 1/6 mile, $0.85 per 1/6 to one mile, $0.55 per 1/6 after	Metered rate only, flat rates are NOT allowed, with no formula printed
Taxi fare for the whole run	Not published	$80-$159 or $80-$150, depending on the terminal page
Fee added on top at the airport	$2.00 airport origination fee, plus a $15 minimum on trips originated at MIA	n/a
Shared van	Not published	Van on Demand at $25 per person, parties of 3 or more
Mentions of the other end by name	Port Everglades appears zero times on either MIA page	Miami International Airport appears on the FAQ and Getting Here pages

One column carries a formula and no fare. The other carries a fare and no formula. Neither site multiplies the first by the distance to test the second, which is the whole of the work below.

Twenty seven miles of I-95 that end at a gated checkpoint, not at a curb

The 27 miles of I-95 end at a security gate, not at a terminal door. Three entrances lead into Port Everglades, each named on its Getting Here page: SE 17th St. at Eisenhower Blvd., State Road 84 just east of U.S. 1 at Spangler Blvd., and I-595 East at Eller Dr.

Every guest aged 18 and older shows a government-issued photo ID plus cruise documents at that checkpoint, vehicles are subject to search, and weapons are barred from port property under Florida State Statute 311.12(3b). A driver coming from Miami reaches I-595 East from I-95 north at Exit 24, from I-95 south at Exit 26, from I-75 at Exit 19 and from Florida’s Turnpike at Exit 54.

Behind the gate stand eight numbered cruise terminals, from Terminal 2 at 1801 SE 20th Street to Terminal 29 at 2200 SE 35th Street, three of them carrying Hollywood addresses inside the 33316 ZIP code the rest of the port uses. The destination a Miami taxi needs is never the port. It is one of those eight numbers, and the terminal, garage and gate layout Broward County publishes for each of them decides which entrance saves the most time.

Only Miami-Dade County publishes a taxi meter formula for this corridor

Miami-Dade County prints the full meter: $2.95 for the first 1/6 mile, $0.85 for each additional 1/6 mile up to one mile, $0.55 for each additional 1/6 mile after that, and a wait charge of $0.40 per minute, which the airport also states as $24.00 per hour.

Three further rules sit on top of that meter, and Miami International Airport prints all three on its taxicab page. A $2.00 airport origination fee applies. A minimum fare of $15 is established for trips originated at MIA. A 30 percent surcharge above the meter rate applies to larger vehicles, meaning sport utility vehicles and vans, and does not apply to wheelchair accessible vehicles serving wheelchair users. Tolls are separate, at the SunPass rate.

Broward County runs the other end and prints no equivalent. Its Consumer Protection Division describes itself as licensing and regulating chauffeurs, taxis and for-hire vehicles in Broward County, and publishes no meter rate on that page. The Broward County Aviation Department says only that taxi fares are regulated by law in Broward County. Eight Port Everglades terminal pages say only that fares are metered.

Even that one sentence comes out three ways across eight terminal pages. Terminals 2, 26 and 29 say “Metered rate only. Flat rates are NOT allowed.” Terminals 19, 21 and 25 say “Metered rate only. Flat rate not allowed.” Terminals 4 and 18 say “Metered rates only. Flat rates are NOT allowed.” Same rule, same port, three drafts.

What each issuer charges to move two adults from MIA to a numbered cruise terminal

Seven ways cover the 27 miles, and six of them carry a published number. The county that owns the airport supplies the formula behind the first two rows, and the port that owns the terminals supplies the printed price of the next three.

Mode, as its issuer names it	Published price	Issuer and page	Limit the issuer prints	Best for
Taxicab, Miami-Dade meter run over 27 miles	$93.00 metered, $95.00 with the airport fee	Miami-Dade County meter rates on the MIA taxicabs page, read September 2026	Wait time bills at $0.40 per minute on top	Two adults who want a number before they land
Taxicab, larger vehicle at the 30 percent surcharge	$120.90 metered, $122.90 with the airport fee	Miami-Dade County surcharge, published by Miami International Airport	Does not apply to wheelchair accessible service	Parties whose luggage will not fit a sedan
Taxi, as priced on the Terminal 2, 4, 18, 19 and 21 pages	$80-$159	Port Everglades alternative transportation pages	Total cost regardless of passengers or vehicle type	Budgeting a ceiling for the return leg
Taxi, as priced on the Terminal 25, 26 and 29 pages	$80-$150	Port Everglades alternative transportation pages	Same service, $9 lower ceiling	Passengers sailing from the Eller Drive cluster
Van on Demand	$25 per person	Port Everglades alternative transportation pages	Parties of 3 or more, not available on all sailing days	Groups of three or four on the return leg
Cruise line transfer	Not published by Miami-Dade County or by Port Everglades	Sold by the cruise line, not by either county	Reservation required before arrival	Passengers who bought it with the fare
Brightline Airport Connector Shuttle	$12 per Guest plus a $3 fuel surcharge	Brightline, airport connector shuttles page	Requires a same-day Brightline fare ticket	The airport to station leg only, never the port leg

The two rows a passenger flying in can actually use are both derived from the Miami-Dade meter rather than quoted by anyone. No page at either end publishes a fare from the MIA arrivals curb to Cruise Terminal 18.

Running the Miami-Dade meter over 27 miles produces $95.00, not $80 and not $159

The arithmetic takes two lines. A first mile costs $2.95 plus five increments of $0.85, which is $7.20. Every mile after that is six increments of $0.55, which is $3.30.

Twenty six more miles at $3.30 add $85.80, so the meter reads $93.00 at the 27 mile mark Port Everglades publishes. Add the $2.00 airport origination fee that Miami International Airport prints and the sedan total is $95.00, before tolls and before a minute of waiting. In a van or an SUV, the 30 percent surcharge lifts the meter to $120.90 and the total to $122.90.

The $15 minimum never enters this calculation. Miami-Dade’s own increments pass $15 between 3 1/3 miles, where the meter reads $14.90, and 3 1/2 miles, where it reads $15.45. A 27 mile run leaves that floor behind in the first few minutes of driving, which is why the unresolved question of whether the $2.00 airport fee sits inside or outside the $15 minimum is worth exactly $2.00 here and nothing more.

Set $95.00 against the port’s own band and the shape of the band changes. An $80 floor corresponds to 22.5 metered miles, four and a half miles short of the distance Port Everglades itself publishes. A $159 ceiling corresponds to 46.4 metered miles, or to the $95.00 sedan plus 160 minutes of wait charge, or to the $122.90 van plus about 90 minutes. Winner on this leg for two adults with no third passenger: the metered taxi, at a number the port never prints, with the port’s own ceiling reachable only through waiting.

One port, two ceilings, and a $72 estimate from the county next door

The identical service is priced at $80-$159 on the Port Everglades pages for Cruise Terminals 2, 4, 18, 19 and 21, and at $80-$150 on the pages for Cruise Terminals 25, 26 and 29. Both sets carry the same line about total cost regardless of headcount.

A $9 gap is not rounding. On the Miami-Dade meter it buys 2.7 miles of driving, or about 22 minutes of standing still, on a trip the port measures at 27 miles from every one of the eight buildings. Cruise Terminal 21 and Cruise Terminal 25 sit two doors apart on Eller Drive, at 2021 and 2025, and land on opposite sides of the split.

Broward County Aviation Department publishes the third number, and it undercuts both floors. Its ground transportation rate table, updated July 23, 2026, prices a taxi from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport to Miami Intl Airport at $72, with a luxury sedan at $90. FLL sits 1.8 miles from Port Everglades by the port’s own count, so two arms of one county price essentially the same corridor at $72 and at up to $159, a spread wider than the cheaper fare itself.

Clocks split the same way. Broward County Aviation tells FLL passengers heading to PortMiami that travel time is about 45 minutes without traffic and that they should allow at least 90 minutes, especially during morning and evening rush hour. Across the county line, Port Everglades calls the mirrored run 30 – 45 minutes and then asks for two to three hours. Three allowances, one stretch of I-95, and 90 minutes between the tightest and the loosest.

Van on Demand flips the taxi verdict once a third passenger boards

Van on Demand costs $25 per person to Miami International Airport, and Port Everglades sells it only to parties of 3 or more. Three passengers therefore pay $75, which lands below the $80 floor of the port’s own taxi range and $20.00 below the metered sedan.

Four passengers pay $100, above the $95.00 the Miami-Dade meter produces for a sedan and below the $122.90 it produces for the larger vehicle such a party would need. The verdict reverses on the short leg, where the same van charges $11 a head against an $18 to $21 metered cab from FLL and loses to the taxi at every party size.

Two limits govern it. Not available on all sailing days, Port Everglades writes, and the pickup point is a gray and blue booth staffed by a dispatcher in a blue VoD shirt, which is a port-side arrangement: no Miami-Dade County page sells it. A traveler flying in cannot use Van on Demand to reach the ship. The $25 belongs to the return leg, printed on a page passengers read before boarding.

The rail chain from MIA ends at 300 NW 2nd Street with the last miles unpriced

Two rail operators cover most of the corridor and neither reaches a cruise terminal. Brightline runs Airport Connector Shuttles at $12 per Guest plus a $3 fuel surcharge with a same-day fare ticket, on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Brightline publishes MIA shuttle stops at North Terminal Concourse D Door 6 Bus Zone 1, Central Terminal Concourse E Door 11 Bus Zone 2 and South Terminal Concourse H Door 22 Bus Zone 4, temporarily moved to Level 2 Departures during airport construction. Those shuttles feed MiamiCentral at 600 NW 1st Avenue, and the train reaches Brightline Fort Lauderdale Station, which Brightline addresses as 300 NW 2nd St on its airport connector page and as 101 NW 2nd Avenue on the station’s own page, verified September 2026. There the published chain stops. The Brightline cruise page pairs Fort Lauderdale Station with Port Everglades using a two-headed arrow and no mode, distance, fare or journey time.

Hours disagree across the same service. Brightline lists the connector as Mon-Sun 8:00 AM-7:00 PM at both stations, picking up at the airport twice per hour at roughly 30 minute intervals; Broward County Aviation says that shuttle operates Monday through Sunday from 7AM to 8PM. The two windows are exact mirrors of each other and cannot both be right.

Tri-Rail covers the corridor on its own track and stops one transfer short as well. Miami International Airport names the commuter railroad and tells passengers to take the MIA Mover to the station in its own terminal, and there the airport’s account stops: it prints no fare, no headway and no journey time for the corridor, and neither county publishes the railroad’s fares on the pages this guide uses. From FLL the chain breaks: there are no free shuttles to the port, Broward County Aviation states. Accessible by car, taxi, bus, train and ship is how Port Everglades describes itself, yet the word train appears exactly once on its Getting Here page, which names no station, no line and no rail fare, and neither does the cruise FAQ.

Eight details on the Miami and Broward pages that change a 27 mile transfer

• The five step breakdown of the transfer allowance belongs to Fort Lauderdale, not to Miami, in the Port Everglades cruise FAQ. Luggage claim, boarding transportation, the security checkpoint, curbside baggage check and terminal paperwork sit under the FLL answer, while Miami International Airport gets a bare two to three hours with no itemization at all.
• Cruise Terminal 18, the largest at 259,370 square feet with 90 check-in counters, is the only one of the eight whose taxi block carries no walking directions. The other seven tell a passenger which way to cross.
• The Transfer to PortMiami block at Miami International Airport is written both ways, “to reach PortMiami and vice-versa”, and lists four options. Neither Port Everglades nor Broward County is among them: the words Fort Lauderdale, Broward and Everglades appear zero times on the MIA ground transportation page.
• Miami-Dade County charges no extra for luggage, for additional passengers, for a service animal, for child seats or for a wheelchair. A 27 mile fare for two adults is the same fare four adults pay in the same vehicle.
• Wait time is the single lever that moves a metered fare here, at $0.40 per minute or $24.00 an hour. Roughly eight minutes of standing still costs what one more mile of driving costs.
• The Broward County Aviation ground transportation rate table, updated July 23, 2026, lists Port Everglades at $18-$21 with a luxury sedan at $45, the same range the port itself prints, while the same department’s cruise passenger page still says $12 (estimated).
• Driving to Fort Lauderdale instead of flying into Miami caps at $25.00 a day with sales tax included since October 1, 2026, so a week in the Heron and Palm garages runs $175.00 for seven nights, more than one metered sedan at $95.00 and less than a metered sedan each way at $190.00.
• Travelers landing at MIA for a Miami sailing face a different set of pages entirely, since the county publishes 7.1 miles and a $15 taxi floor for its own port and no fare beyond it.

Where a Miami to Fort Lauderdale cruise transfer goes wrong before the gate

Reading the 30 – 45 minutes on the Port Everglades Getting Here page as the day’s plan is the first mistake. That figure measures driving on I-95. The port’s own FAQ asks for two to three hours from Miami International Airport, which is two and a half hours more than the 30 minute low end of the driving estimate.

Budgeting to the $80 floor is the second. Miami-Dade’s meter cannot produce $80 over 27 miles: it reaches $93.00 before the airport’s $2.00 fee, and $80 corresponds to 22.5 miles.

Assuming Van on Demand works in the arriving direction is the third. The booth Port Everglades describes stands on port property and serves parties of 3 or more, and no Miami-Dade County page offers the service at the airport end.

Sending an adult through the entrance without a government-issued photo ID is the fourth, and it stops the car rather than costing money. Every guest 18 and older is checked at all three entrances and the vehicle may be searched.

Arriving before the cruise line’s assigned check-in time is the fifth. No terminal opening hour and no baggage cutoff appear anywhere on the Port Everglades cruise pages; the instruction is to follow the line’s assigned time and not to arrive ahead of it.

Trusting a single terminal page for the taxi ceiling is the sixth. A passenger reading the Cruise Terminal 29 page sees $80-$150 and a passenger reading the Cruise Terminal 21 page sees $80-$159, for the same ride to the same airport on the same day.

How the Miami-Dade, Broward and Port Everglades figures were checked

The figures in this guide were verified in September 2026 against the sources named in each section. Everything credited to Broward County or Port Everglades was read again, twice and with identical text, on October 7, 2026, after the county’s fiscal year opened on October 1: the taxi bands, the Van on Demand fares and the airport rate table were unchanged, and the only figure that moved is the port’s parking maximum, from $20.00 to $25.00 a day, which is the one used above. Tariff items at Port Everglades carry October 1 effective dates, shuttle fares and cruise line transfer prices change by season, and ship schedules change weekly; check the issuer’s page before you travel. No provider paid for placement here, and none can pay to appear. Where a booking link earns Lot and Gate a commission it is marked as sponsored and flagged in this line, and as of September 2026 no affiliate link is live anywhere on this site.

Questions about flying into Miami for a Port Everglades sailing

The answers below come from Miami-Dade County and Miami International Airport pages, Broward County Aviation Department pages stamped July 2026, and the Port Everglades cruise pages, all read in September 2026, with the Broward County pages read again on October 7, 2026.

The airport prices every trip on this corridor except the one to the ship

Miami International Airport publishes a meter down to the sixth of a mile, a $2.00 origination fee, a $15 floor and a 30 percent surcharge, then applies none of it to a destination 27 miles up I-95. Port Everglades applies a price and never publishes the rule behind it, at two different ceilings on eight pages that describe one service.

Between them sits a number both had the parts to print, $95.00, and neither of them multiplied one page by the other.

Related guides

• Terminals, gates and garages at Port Everglades
• The 1.8 mile run from FLL to the port
• Seven nights in the Heron and Palm garages
• MIA to a PortMiami cruise terminal