Coral Gables or Coconut Grove (Havana, Ponce de Leon: rental car, rental, mover)

[laurad.]

Hi, I'm Laura from Itlay, I'm going to bring my child to attend a summer campus next summer in the Riviera School in Coral Gables.
I need some suggestions about my stay. I don't know if it's a better choise the Biltmore Hotel or the Ritz Carlton in Coconut Grove. I will stay 2 weeks, so I'd like to relax myself, but in the same time to do some vacation, so does someone know if to reach the shopping area of Coconut Grove from the Biltmore I need a taxi or there is some public transportation? Because my first choise was the Biltmore because there is a nice fitness center and I think it's more quiet, but I don't want to be in the centre of nowhere and to use a taxi everytime I need to do some shopping, or to eat somewhere. Can someone help me?
Thanks, bye from Italy!
Laura

[doggiebus]

Both hotels you will need to use a taxi to get to "good" shopping. If you stay at the Biltmore it is best to rent a car. Coconut Grove does have shops, the high end ones though you will need to take a taxi to Merrick Place in Coral Gables which is the closest high end mall. What is nice about the Ritz is you can walk to the restaurants in Coconut Grove and you can get a room at the Ritz that has a view of the water. The Biltmore you will need to take a taxi/drive pretty much to get to the shops or restaurants and you can get a nice view of the golf course and the lush trees. Both are nice hotels.


How is your son getting to the summer program at Riviera? If you have to drive him there every morning it may be best to rent a car anyways. Summer is our low season so you should be able to find very good deals on rental cars.

[laurad.]

Thanks for your advice! The school will provide a bus service to pick up and deliver the children, so I don't need to rent a car. During the day I can stay in the hotel, there is a nice fitness centre in the Biltmore, a swimming pool, I can read books and relax myself. When my daughter comes back I'm pretty sure she will stay all the afternoon in the swimming pool! So for the restaurants we need to take taxis every day, while in the Ritz it's walking distance... I read that the Biltmore provides a courtesy car to coral Gables, so maybe we can skip the taxi and go there for dinner... are there nice restaurants?
Grazie!
Laura

[doggiebus]

Coral Gables has a lot of nice restaurants. Ortanique has Caribbean type food. There are plenty of great steakhouses in Coral Gables Christys, Flemings, Ruth Chris Steakhouse and Houstons. Cafe Abbracci for Italian (you probably want to try something different since you come from Italy). If you are looking for a bar type restaurant The Yardhouse is pretty neat, I think you can take the kids there. The Gables Diner, Pizza Kitchen, Benihana are great place to take the kids. Havanna Harry's not sure if the shuttle will get you close to this restaurant. There are more restaurants to pick from in Coral Gables than there is in Coconut Grove fyi.

[hurricaneMan1992]

If the hotel shuttle takes you to miracle mile, there is a free trolley that runs every 15 minutes that you can take up and down Ponce de Leon, to Little Havana (Versailles), Merrick Park mall, and the metrorail. Almost all Coral Gables businesses are in walking distance of the trolley line.

From Coconut Grove there is a circulator bus that goes to the metrorail and another route that goes to Brickell, and you can take the free metromover all around the downtown area.

[ConeyIsBabe]

If it were my choice, I would pick the Biltmore. I used to be a member of the fitness center when I lived in Coral Gables and hanging out at the pool was enjoyable also. There was a nice "coffee shop" by the golf course, and two other fine restaurants at the Biltmore. YES, that would be my choice