Brightline, Tri-Rail or drive: getting to Miami from Fort Lauderdale and Palm Beach
Last reviewed: November 9, 2026. Sources for this page are listed in its fact sheet.
Short answer first. Brightline is the fast, priced like it trip: West Palm Beach to MiamiCentral in 1 hour 25 minutes, Fort Lauderdale in 40 minutes, at fixed South Florida fares of $20 off peak and $39 peak on the long leg. Tri-Rail is the cheap, slower trip: about 1 hour 50 minutes from West Palm Beach to Miami Airport station, zone fares, and a $5 weekend day pass that makes it the best value ride in South Florida. They arrive at different Miamis, too. Brightline puts you downtown at MiamiCentral. Tri-Rail puts you at the airport, with a link service into downtown that involves a transfer most visitors don't see coming. Pick by what your Miami day actually is.
Downtown Miami and MiamiCentral from across Biscayne Bay at sunset. Photo: Sami Abdullah, Pexels.
The two networks, station by station
Brightline runs six stations: MiamiCentral, Aventura, Fort Lauderdale, Boca Raton, West Palm Beach, and Orlando. On the shared corridor you've got five ways into Miami's orbit, and the trains are the private operator's SMART and PREMIUM tiers, Tri-Rail is the public commuter railroad. Its main line ends at Miami Airport Station, beside the airport's Intermodal Center, where the Metrorail Orange Line and the MIA Mover connect you onward. Downtown service runs as the Downtown Miami Link: most riders transfer at Metrorail Transfer Station to reach MiamiCentral, and only the express trains numbered X301 and X302 run through. If your hotel is downtown or in Brickell and you ride Tri-Rail, that transfer is part of your trip. Budget for it.
Journey times, from the operators' own pages
Brightline publishes point to point times of 1 hour 25 minutes from West Palm Beach to MiamiCentral and 40 minutes from Fort Lauderdale to MiamiCentral. Tri-Rail doesn't publish a headline duration, so these are worked from its published weekend timetable, checked November 9, 2026: West Palm Beach to Miami Airport in about 1 hour 50 minutes, Fort Lauderdale Airport station to Miami Airport in about 43 minutes, and Fort Lauderdale to MiamiCentral via the Link in about 57 minutes door to door on the timetable's own connections. Weekday timetables differ. The shape never does: Brightline wins on time, by about 25 minutes on the Palm Beach leg, and it wins bigger on where it drops you.
Fares: fixed prices against zone prices
Brightline moved South Florida to fixed pricing in its September 22, 2025 network release. Miami to West Palm Beach is $20 off peak and $39 at peak, Miami to Fort Lauderdale is $15 and $26, and West Palm Beach to Fort Lauderdale is $16 and $29. Peak means weekday mornings 6:30 to 9:30 and afternoons 3:30 to 6:30. One warning: the $12 SMART fare in Brightline's homepage footnotes is a promotional rate for groups of three or more on select trains, not the standard fare. Don't budget on it. Tri-Rail prices by zone, charges a flat $5 weekend day pass with unlimited rides that day, and raised one way fares and passes by 10 percent on October 1, 2026. On a weekend, the comparison isn't close on price. On a weekday rush hour run downtown, Brightline's $26 peak fare buys you the seat, the speed, and the downtown arrival in one payment.
First and last trains, and the event night trap
These are schedule snapshots, labeled with their dates, because both railroads retime trains. On Brightline's schedule effective November 3, 2025, the first southbound West Palm Beach departure is 5:50 a.m., arriving Miami 7:10 a.m., and the last leaves West Palm Beach at 11:09 p.m., arriving 12:29 a.m. Northbound, the first Miami departure is 5:45 a.m. and the last is 11:00 p.m. Tri-Rail's weekend timetable starts southbound at Mangonia Park at 5:20 a.m. and ends with an 8:20 p.m. departure reaching Miami Airport at 10:16 p.m.; northbound runs 4:52 a.m. to 8:52 p.m. from the airport, and the last Downtown Link connection southbound leaves Metrorail Transfer at 6:10 p.m. Read that again if you're planning a concert night: Tri-Rail's regular timetable has no late trains, and special event trains are announced event by event. Brightline is the late night railroad. Tri-Rail is the daylight one.
Parking and the last mile
Brightline station parking is prepaid daily parking on the operator's terms: $12 at Miami, Aventura, and Fort Lauderdale, $15 at Boca Raton and West Palm Beach. Tri-Rail parking is free at most stations, but five locations run a registration system, Miami Airport, Fort Lauderdale Airport at Dania Beach, Pompano Beach, Boynton Beach, and the Lake Worth auxiliary lot, where registered Tri-Rail riders get 12 hours a day at no charge and then pay $2 an hour or $12 a day. Arriving in Miami, MiamiCentral puts you on the Metromover loop for downtown and Brickell and a short walk from Bayfront Park. Miami Airport Station puts you at the Intermodal Center: Metrorail downtown, or the MIA Mover into the terminals if you're flying. The getting around Miami guide covers what happens after you step off either train, and the Palm Beach day trip page runs this corridor in reverse.
Staying over once you arrive?
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Sources and check dates
Stations, journey times, fixed fares, and parking rates are from Brightline (gobrightline.com, including its September 22, 2025 network release and terms of service). Tri-Rail times are worked from the published timetable, and the $5 weekend pass and October 1, 2026 fare increase are from Tri-Rail's own press pages, all checked November 9, 2026. Tri-Rail's detailed zone table could not be confirmed from the current tariff text in this check, so this page prints the fare structure and the day pass rather than zone by zone prices.