Water Taxi Miami: Free Boats, Fares and Alternatives

Step 1: Find out if Miami has a water taxi

Miami has a free water taxi that crosses Biscayne Bay between Miami Beach and downtown, but it is a weekday commuter boat. The City of Miami Beach runs it from Maurice Gibb Memorial Park at 18th Street and Purdy Avenue to the Venetian Marina and Yacht Club at 1635 N Bayshore Drive. The crossing takes about 20 minutes.

Boats run Monday to Friday from 7:00 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. They leave every 60 minutes until 4:30 p.m. and every 30 minutes after that. There is no weekend service, and the boats do not run on observed federal holidays. Each boat is about 40 feet long and carries up to 55 people.

The free boat is useful if you stay in Mid Beach or Miami Beach and work or sightsee on the mainland during the week. It is a poor fit for a Saturday trip. It also does not stop at Bayside Marketplace, the main tourist dock downtown.

Once you land on the mainland, the free Metromover takes you around downtown. It has 21 stations, from School Board in the Omni area to Financial District in Brickell. The county's schedule feed names the stops. In the Omni area they include School Board, Adrienne Arsht Center, Museum Park and Freedom Tower. Downtown they include College/Bayside for Bayside Marketplace, Bayfront Park, Government Center and Knight Center. In Brickell they include Riverwalk, Brickell City Centre and Brickell. A route map is not published as text on the county page, so check the GO Miami-Dade Transit app on the day.

Key Takeaway The free Miami Beach water taxi leaves every 60 minutes before 4:30 p.m. on weekdays only, so check the day before you plan around it.

Step 2: Compare the water taxis you can ride

Three different boats are called a water taxi in Miami searches, and only one is a free commuter ride. The other two are paid.

The sightseeing boat is a tour that happens to hop between two docks. The Bayside sightseeing water taxi is sold on GetYourGuide from €11 per person and takes 75 minutes. The page lists a 40-minute cruise each way with a bilingual captain, and the operator is Water Taxi Miami. It is rated 3.7 from 54 reviews and has free cancellation. It does not suit wheelchair users or people with motion sickness. Treat that rating with care. A score under 4 from only 54 reviews is a mixed record, so expect a basic ride. The price on GetYourGuide was from €11 when we checked on 23 October 2026.

The famous Water Taxi is in Fort Lauderdale, not Miami. Its own FAQ says boats run seven days a week, starting at 10 a.m. and ending at 10 p.m. They arrive every 30 to 45 minutes on the Fort Lauderdale and Pompano routes, and the furthest south it goes is Hollywood. The Fort Lauderdale water taxi all-day pass is from €34 per person on GetYourGuide, rated 4.5 from 122 reviews, and it is run by Fort Lauderdale Water Taxi. That is a solid score from a fair number of reviews. You get unlimited rides for one day, live commentary and the operator's live boat tracker. Food and drinks are not included. We checked the price on 23 October 2026.

The Fort Lauderdale boat does not come to Miami. Skip it unless you plan a day there.

Pro Tip If you only want to ride the bay once, the Bayside boat from €11 is the cheapest paid option, and the Miami Beach boat is free if you travel on a weekday.

Step 3: Use the free Metromover and trolleys

The free Metromover is the easiest free ride downtown, and the free trolleys cover South Beach. Miami-Dade County says Metromover is a free raised people mover with 21 stations on three loops: Omni, Inner and Brickell. Trains start at 5:30 a.m. and stop at 10 p.m. They come every 90 seconds at rush hour and every 3 minutes at other times. From October 24, the Financial District station is closed for about five weeks, and the Brickell Loop starts and ends at Brickell station.

The Miami Beach trolley is also free. It starts at 8 a.m. and stops at 11 p.m. every day, about every 20 minutes on each route. The routes are the South Beach Loop, Middle Beach Loop, Collins Express and North Beach Loop. The City of Miami runs its own free trolleys on the mainland, and they do not cross to the beach.

The City of Miami runs free trolley routes on the mainland too. The county's schedule feed lists them as Allapattah, Biscayne, Brickell, Coconut Grove, Coral Way, Flagami, Health District, Liberty City, Little Haiti, Little Havana, Overtown, Stadium and Wynwood. Hours on each route are not published on the pages we could read.

Metrorail and Metrobus cost money. The county fare page sets a single ride at $2.25 on both. The reduced fare is $1.10. Transfers are free from bus to bus, bus to rail and rail to bus. The Inter-County Express buses, routes 301 and 302, cost $2.65. Pay with a contactless card, the EASY Card (which costs $2) or the county app. Cash does not work at the Metrorail gates.

Metrorail links up with the rest of the network at a few stations. At Government Center and Brickell you can switch to the free Metromover. At Historic Overtown/Lyric Theatre you can switch to Brightline. At the Tri-Rail and Miami International Airport stations you can switch to Tri-Rail. Buses stop at many stations, and the switch is free. Which trolley stops sit next to which station is not published on the county pages. For the full picture without a car, see our page on Uber Miami and the other ways to get around.

Does the day pass pay off? In the 2026 Miami Travel Cost Study, the numbers are these: on Miami-Dade Transit a 1-Day Pass costs $5.65 against $2.25 a ride, so it pays off from about 3 rides in a day. A contactless card also stops charging at $5.65 a day on Metrobus and Metrorail. The county has approved a rise to $2.75 a ride from January 2027.

Step 4: Choose a taxi or a ride app when you are in a hurry

A taxi or ride app makes sense when you carry bags, travel late, or need to cross town in a straight line. Taxis are metered. Miami International Airport lists $2.95 for the first 1/6 mile and $0.85 for each 1/6 mile up to one mile, then $0.55 for each 1/6 mile. A trip that starts at the airport adds a $2.00 fee and has a $15 minimum. Taxis wait outside baggage claim on the ground level.

Uber and Lyft pick up on the arrivals and departures levels, and the app shows the door. Ride-hail prices change by the minute, and no operator publishes a fixed price from the airport to South Beach. So we cannot say that a taxi is cheaper than Uber, or the reverse. Open the app, read the price, and compare it with the taxi meter formula.

From the airport to downtown, the Metrorail Orange Line takes about 15 minutes to Government Center for $2.25. After 8 p.m. a shuttle runs to Earlington Heights, where you change to the Green Line. A taxi is the better choice then.

Step 5: Book a bay cruise if you want the view

If you want to be on Biscayne Bay and not just cross it, a narrated cruise gives you more than a water taxi does. Best Things to Do in Miami's count of GetYourGuide listings in October 2026 found 84 of 285 listings on the water. The cruises run longer than a commuter boat and pass the same skyline.

The Original Millionaire's Row cruise is from €31 per person, lasts 1.5 hours and is rated 4.4 from 1,142 reviews. It leaves from 401 Biscayne Blvd, is run by Island Queen Cruises, and has free cancellation. The page lists food, drinks and tips as not included. A group can be up to 70 people, and a live guide speaks English and Spanish. You pass homes of stars such as Gloria Estefan and Shaquille O'Neal, and the guide tells the stories. The price was from €31 when we checked on 23 October 2026. With 4.4 from 1,142 reviews, it has the strongest record of the three picks.

Is the cruise worth it? Only if the view is the point. For a ride across the bay, do it yourself on the free weekday boat or the Metromover. For a guided look at Biscayne Bay, the cruise wins, because no free boat gives you a guide. For more choices, see our guide to airboat tours of the Everglades National Park and other boat trips from Miami.

A cruise is the wrong choice if you need to get somewhere, because it returns you to the dock where you started.

A good ride is the one that gets you there without a plan B.