Fort Myers Beach, Florida can be either really cheap or really expensive, depending on the time of year you go. In the off-season, you can fly for less than $70 round trip (also on this note, Atlantic City and Trenton are great airports to fly out of because of their small size, small number of airlines that fly out of it, and few people to crowd the waiting areas. However, in the busy season, like Christmas, New Years, or Spring Break, it could cost you upwards of $800 to fly round trip. So how can you plan a cheap East Coast road trip to Fort Myers Beach during peak season? My dad decided he wanted to find out.
My dad planned a cheap road trip from New Jersey to Fort Myers Beach in February, a peak season where hotels cost at least $200/night and flights were unthinkable, and documented the entire thing so I could share this cheap East Coast road trip with you. Ready for an adventure?
Getting There
Rather than flying and renting a car, my dad decided to drive from New Jersey to Fort Myers Beach, about a 1200-mile drive. This may turn you off at first because when you’re going on a trip, you just want to get there, but hear me out.
By driving down the East Coast of the United States, you get to see small towns and interesting landmarks you wouldn’t otherwise get to see. For example, he was lucky enough to stop in Virginia and see the birth places of George Washington, James Madison, and Robert E. Lee. These are small colonial houses that you probably wouldn’t make a separate trip for, but they are a great stopover landmark for anyone interested in our pioneering forefathers.
In South Carolina, Charleston is a must-see along the way. In fact, it’s better to hit Charleston on the way back because you can stop and spend a night or two in this exciting, up-and-coming culinary mecca. Charleston’s charming streets and quaint neighborhoods give the city a friendly feel. You can take a ghost tour to explore haunted legends, a restaurant tour to see why chefs from all over the country are flocking to Charleston, or a plantation tour to travel back in time to colonial South Carolina. Charleston is worth a visit whether it’s en route to Florida or a separate trip all together.
Another landmark on the “historical stretch” is Assassin’s End in Maryland, where they caught John Wilkes Booth. There’s a sign on the very spot you can take a picture with for memory and blogging purposes.
In Brunswick, Georgia, a small but good, home-style restaurant called Old Times Country Buffet is a must. It’s offers good, authentic Southern soul food for a great deal. You won’t leave hungry and you’ll get to try true cooking of the South. By the time you get to Georgia, you could probably use a little comfort food!
Driving to Fort Myers Beach from New Jersey took 3 gas tank fill-ups, so with gas prices at about $1.50-$1.70 a gallon and tolls accounted for, it cost about $85 one way in a Honda Odyssey. That’s $170 round trip to drive, and you have a free car when you get there instead of renting a car or taking a taxi from the airport to your hotel.
Another advantage to driving instead of flying is if you bring a big enough car (like a minivan), you can store a bicycle in the back so you have authentic Florida beach transportation when you get there. Of course Fort Myers Beach has rental places, but remember: this post is about a cheap East Coast road trip to Fort Myers Beach so we’re looking for the least expensive trip to Fort Myers Beach you could make.
Accommodations
However you decide to get to Fort Myers Beach is only Step 1. Once you get there, you need to find the most inexpensive accommodations on the island. Especially during holidays or Spring Break, most hotels and motels will be fully booked; if they’re not, they’ll cost an arm and a leg and probably a first-born child. If you can find a cheap place to stay, go for it but make sure to check it out first (I mistakenly agreed to two nights at a dump one time and barely made it through one night, and I’m not a picky person when it comes to accommodations!)
An alternative option that many people might not think about is a campground. Since you’re driving down with a big car, you have plenty of room to store a folded tent. Some tents are made for luxury travel and even have multiple rooms. My dad’s tent was spacious enough for a double-size mattress and a picnic table inside. He also laid down foam rubber mats that connected like a puzzle to form a soft, comfortable floor. If you’re staying for an extended period of time, consider bringing a carpet remnant for a cozier feel. If your campsite has electricity, don’t forget to bring a small lamp so you have light at night. Believe it or not, it’s actually a really comfortable way to stay! There are even beachfront campsites, so you can camp right on the beach.
Meals
Eating out every day for 2-3 meals a day is where you’ll start to see your expenses adding up. But once again, if you’re driving down, you’re not limited to a small carry on. A day or so before you leave for your trip, freeze some food that you’d like to bring with you. Some things that freeze really well are chili, sausage, and peppers. Throw the frozen foods in a cooler along with some foods you plan to eat while driving the first day; the frozen foods act as ice packs and keep the other food cool until you eat it. Also, throw a stick of butter in the cooler. You never know when you’ll need butter to cook, plus it acts as a thermometer. As long as the stick of butter is still firm, the food inside is okay to eat!
Most likely, you’ll have packed more food than you can finish on your 19-hour drive. That’s great because it gives you more food to eat while you’re on your vacation without spending all your money on an expensive restaurant. You can continue to put ice in the cooler to keep everything cold, although my dad decided that a better idea to keep things cool was to bring a small dorm room-sized refrigerator. It won’t be hard to store in a big car and as long as your tent site has electricity, it will allow you to store your food safely and conveniently during your stay.
You probably will need to buy more food while you’re there, but there is a method to buying food. For your breakfasts, you can buy eggs (if you mix a little cream cheese in with scrambled eggs, you’re in for a treat), bread for toast, jelly, and fresh-squeezed orange juice, because you must have fresh Florida orange juice. Over the course of 4-5 days, this breakfast will cost you about $1 a day. Not too shabby!
It takes about 45 minutes for breakfast from start to cleanup, which brought my dad to another epiphany: if time is important to you, spend a little extra to go to a breakfast diner where you can get in and out quickly. Meet some locals, find out the hotspots, and kill a few birds with one stone. However, if doing the trip the most inexpensive way possible is top priority, go to a grocery store and buy those eggs yourself!
Lunch and dinner are going to be a combo deal. First of all, you’re on an island in Florida, so you should probably head to the local shrimp boats and buy some fresh shrimp right off the boats. The local grocery store has 20 wings for $10, so that’s another good investment. There’s a great little taco joint called Yo Taco which has $1 tacos on Tuesdays (except during Christmas week), so if you’re there on a Tuesday (or if you can plan to be), Yo Taco is a must! Stock up on food on day 1 to save time on the other days.
My dad brought a small grill and propane stove with him on the trip. He cooked and ate shrimp scampi, wings, chili, and sausage and peppers right there. Make sure you’re cooking enough for two meals so you can have leftovers for lunch.
Here’s the deal with leftovers for lunch on the beach. My dad found this brand new solar cooker at a farm fair earlier this year and tested it out a few times. The thing works wonders! He now brings it everywhere he goes.
It’s a vacuum with solar panels, so when it’s closed up and in the shade, it actually acts as a cooler and keeps everything cold. In the sun, you can put your cold leftovers inside. In about 30 minutes, it’s steaming and an irresistible smell is pouring out, attracting all beach-goers in a half-mile radius. He put shrimp scampi, shrimp cocktail (don’t forget cocktail sauce!) chili, sausage and peppers, and wings in the solar cooker and heated it up on the beach just using the sun. He had so much leftover food that he was giving it out to people who seemed interested in what he was doing!
Final Costs
I know you’ve been waiting to find out to do a cheap East Coast road trip to Fort Myers Beach. Now is the time to crunch the numbers. How cheap can we go?
$67/night for the tent site (this will change depending on the season)
$3/day on ice for the cooler (take this one out if you bring a mini fridge)
$1/day for breakfast
$0/day on lunch (it was leftovers every day)
$5/night on dinner ($8-9 for shrimp, $10 for wings, chili/sausage/peppers all brought – and he said this was way too much food for one person)
$85 one way to drive down ($170 round trip, including gas and tolls)
So in practice, you can take a four-day trip from New Jersey to Fort Myers Beach, Florida for $474. That includes food, accommodations, and travel. Not too bad for a trip to the beach in the busy season, everything included. Don’t forget your beach chair and suntan lotion!
How do you make your road trips cheap? Have you found flying to be cheaper? Share your tips with me in the comments below!
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P.S. You might also like Fun Things to Do at the Jersey Shore and Fort Myers Beach