It had its naysayers early on, but when Brightline kicked off service between Miami and Orlando in September 2022, the train delivered a major gift to Florida.
Brightline in Florida is the only privately owned, multicity railroad in the United States, although Brightline West is slated to link Las Vegas and Southern California by 2028. The Florida edition is still working toward its plan of extending the railway all the way to Tampa, a goal that has been hampered by the dithering of local authorities, who must give permission.
Brightline currently reports about 3 million rides a year, but further growth is stymied by the fact its service has to share rails with other trains, including freight. The system has also had to deal with dozens of accidental deaths at railway crossings, which in Florida are usually designed to be on a collision path with vehicular traffic and not engineered for safety. America's long tradition of not properly investing in transportation infrastructure has, for now, strangled Brightline's ability to grow faster.
Many of the deaths have been the result of car drivers not knowing how to interact with trains at level crossings. Florida, a flat peninsula linked by grueling toll roads and traditional highways, has never had fast rail service like this, so the new rail line has been something locals have had to adjust to—but for the same reason, Brightline is tapping into the hunger of a previously ignored market.
Frommer's Best of Florida
Frommer’s books aren’t written by committee, by AI, or by travel writers who simply pop in briefly to a destination and then consider the job done. We employ the best local experts to author our guides, in this case, Tampa-based journalist Beth Luberecki, Miami-based newspaper reporter Leslie Abrava...
Get the bookFrommer's Best of Florida
Frommer’s books aren’t written by committee, by AI, or by travel writers who simply pop in briefly to a destination and then consider the job done. We employ the best local experts to author our guides, in this case, Tampa-based journalist Beth Luberecki, Miami-based newspaper reporter Leslie Abrava...
For the very first time, it's possible to travel between South Florida (including Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Boca Raton, and West Palm Beach) and inland Central Florida without getting into a car.
Which means that for the very first time, people visiting Miami (about 27 million annual visitors) and Fort Lauderdale (where Port Everglades alone attracts more than 3 million cruise passengers a year) can now get themselves all the way to the theme parks of Orlando without the expense or stress of renting a car.
Brightline is also seeking federal funds to build a stop at Cocoa near Port Canaveral, which serves 8.6 million travelers a year and is currently the busiest cruise port in the country. The rail route was already laid with the potential station in mind, and the next application to finally construct it is due to be lodged with the Trump Administration in early 2026.
The ease of European-style rail travel has come to, of all places, the car-addicted swamps of Florida.
What it's like to take Brightline in Florida
While the current terminus at Brightline Orlando station is the largest and most elaborate station on the line, all the others are freshly constructed, amply outfitted, and have comfortable indoor waiting areas with seating and air conditioning.
As of January 2026, Brightline's train schedule offers about 10 northbound trains a day and another 10 southbound trains a day, with at least one train every two hours between 6:15am and 9:30pm no matter which way you're heading. In 2023, the frequency was 16 trains per day, but the company has reduced departures while making its trains longer.
Fares begin at $49 for Smart class, which is plenty comfortable for most people. Or pay from $92 for Premium class, which comes with its own waiting area, free snacks and drinks on board, one piece of free checked luggage, and a seat that's 21 inches wide instead of 19 inches wide, as in Smart class. Otherwise, the experience is the same.
From Miami, the ride takes about 3 and a half hours. (If you were to drive from Miami to Disney, you'd be behind the wheel for about 240 miles.) From Fort Lauderdale, the ride takes a little under 3 hours. Boca Raton is about 2:40, and from West Palm Beach the ride duration is usually about 2:15.
When you fly locally within Florida, particularly during the stormy months, even the shortest hops (Fort Lauderdale–Orlando would require about 1 hour and 15 minutes in the air) can be plagued with delays.
From major stations like Miami and Fort Lauderdale, Brightline is cultivating a network of shuttles (with reasonable fees) that can bring passengers to and from their trains and wherever they need to go in town, eliminating the need for a rental car on either side of the rail journey.
All stations are fully accessible, staffed with plenty of employees, and equipped with both escalators and elevators. And all stations are extremely yellow.
Tickets purchased via the Brightline app are via a QR code that is scanned at an entry gate following a quick airline-style baggage security check.
For standard tickets ("Smart" class), it's possible to drop your bags at the staffed check-in desk for a fee (checking a bag is complimentary for Premium tickets), and train porters will haul them from there. But as on most railways around the world, you can also carry airline-size baggage on board yourself for free, plopping your bags in the onboard luggage area and overhead racks.
We have mostly bought tickets in Smart class we have never needed to check our luggage; there's always been space for our stuff on board.
Take a closer look inside the Brightline train carriages in our photo review of the trains.
Escalators bring passengers to the upper-level waiting area, where they wait until called with a few minutes' warning before departure to ride back down and board the train.
The waiting area in Brightline's Fort Lauderdale station, as at all major Brightline stations, has a bar, a separate waiting area for passengers who paid extra for Premium tickets ("Smart" fares, the equivalent of economy class, has its own waiting area that's ample and just fine), and plenty of seating and phone charger points. There are also free water stations for filling up your own water bottle.
Additionally, small shops sell marked-up sundries ($2.50 candy bars, $34 charging cords, etc.).
Train's departures are announced with plenty of advance warning, so passengers don't have to race for the train platform. That's a marked contrast to the reckless, lane-changing free-for-all that is I-95, which you'll be avoiding with your train ticket.
The train platform is accessible by escalators, stairs and elevators.
Travelers with mobility issues or wheeled luggage take note: Boarding Brightline train carriages does not require steps. A metal catwalk extends to fill the gap between the train and the platform. This is what the carriage entry looks like.
The bathrooms on each car are accessible as well. (You can see a photo of the Brightline lavatory design in our photo feature about the train's amenities.)
Everyone on Brightline reserves seating when they buy tickets, so we experienced no challenges for dominance during boarding to win the best spot.
Wi-Fi is free. For our trips, it has usually been flawlessly fast.
During the train ride, you can get up and walk around whenever you want. Overhead illuminated signage tells you if your car's bathroom is currently occupied; when it's your turn to use the lav, you'll find it private, clean, and well-maintained by crew that travels on board.
Compare that to the immersion in microbes that vehicle drivers must brave at Florida Turnpike's Fort Drum Service Plaza, a roadside purgatory that has been demoralizing Disney-bound family carpools from South Florida for more than half a century.
If you're seated in any seat, regardless of class, and need to power your laptop or phone, there are standard outlets (not a USB slot) located between the seats in front of you.
The trains have some four-seater tables for groups and families, and those tables have outlets built in as well.
Take that, airlines: There's another double power point in between the seats at hip level.
That's four places to plug in within arm's reach.
Once or twice a journey, crew members roll by with a trolley, airline-style, to sell drinks and snacks. If you have a Premium ticket, which costs more than a regular Smart fare, you can avail yourself of free drinks and snacks.
Most single-serve alcoholic beverages for a winter 2026 trip cost about $10, snack kits costs $10–$14, and bagged snacks cost $4. Here's a link to the onboard menu; prices and menu items are subject to change.
All that adds up to a calm and civilized experience, but in its opening months, Brightline made one major miscalculation in passenger comfort. Carriages were wrapped in advertising (see above), which obscured the view from the windows. If you wanted to look out the window of a Brightline train to see Florida go by, you had to peer through perforations in sponsored advertising to glimpse it.
On the journeys we took in 2025, though, the view was clear again.
Using the Brightline train station in Orlando
The Brightline Orlando station is actually part of the newly built Terminal C at Orlando International Airport (MCO). When you arrive by train, all you have to do once you depart the train station is walk to the right along an interior corridor to reach rental car desks and connections to airline gates.
Without going outdoors or using stairs, Brightline passengers can use all the many types of onward transportation the airport offers, including taxis, rental cars, affordable Mears shuttles to the theme parks, or even flights headed elsewhere.
Brightline arrivals and departures are even integrated into Orlando airport's airline schedule board (pictured below).
It's odd to think that it's now possible to be in Miami or Fort Lauderdale and take advantage of a cheap international flight out of Orlando, but Brightline makes that pretty easy.
If you're planning to vacation in South Florida, add MCO into your flight searches, too—all it takes to reach that airport now from South Florida is a ticket on Brightline, which starts at $49.
Brightline's Orlando station is significantly larger than the ones in South Florida, with a staffed shop and a bigger bar (named Mary Mary, as at all Brightline stations), too.
There have been some unfortunate deadly collisions between Brightline trains and passenger vehicles, although none of those accidents have been blamed on the train company. Florida drivers have a reputation for impatience; with that comes an unwise tendency to try to squeeze around safety gates at train crossings. As a consequence, cars keep getting hit by approaching trains. Frankly, it's that kind of driver behavior that makes taking a train preferable.
The Orlando airport's tram system, which connects airline terminals, now extends to the Brightline station. In this shot taken from a window at the Brightline Orlando station, you can see the airport tram scooting toward the main airport.
All you have to do is switch platforms (indoors, via escalators or elevators) to catch your quick free ride to the main airport.
Because the Brightline Orlando station feels so much like the airport, you might feel the urge to kick back with a cocktail at Mary Mary, the bar you'll find at every Brightline station. We must say that when the railway first began operating, the Bloody Mary was delicious (pictured above), but now, a few years later, the recipe seems to have changed and we wouldn't recommend them anymore.
Hey, you can do this when you don't have to drive.
We priced a ride with Lyft to a Walt Disney World resort hotel, the Animal Kingdom Lodge, as soon as we arrived at the Brightline Orlando station. Here's what the prices were around lunchtime on a Monday. (When we returned back to South Florida in the late morning 2 days later, the prices were about $8 lower.)
Rates to Universal Orlando are similar, but you can catch a more affordable mode of transportation elsewhere at Orlando airport.
The rideshare pickup area is located right outside the Brightline Orlando station. All you have to do in order to find your driver is take the escalator or elevator downstairs.
One warning: Orlando slaps a $7-per-ride fee on all rideshare trips departing from the airport—the highest fee of its sort in the U.S.
Lyft did not disclose that surcharge when we booked a ride, nor did it list it on the receipt afterward, and the airport does not warn about the fee on its website. The surcharge was completely concealed from consumers.
Nevertheless, taking the train was revolutionary. Even including the stop at the hotel to drop bags, we found it's possible to go from Brightline's Orlando train platform to the gates of the Magic Kingdom within 75 minutes.
Take a closer look inside the Brightline train carriages in our photo review of the trains.
Frommer's Disney World, Universal and Orlando
Preparing for an Orlando vacation can be a full-time job, and it costs a small fortune. Most other books on the market make the problem worse, burying vacationers in endless pages of pointless details unquestioningly cheering for the high-priced theme parks and resorts. But this lightweight, fact-pa...
Get the bookFrommer's Disney World, Universal and Orlando
Preparing for an Orlando vacation can be a full-time job, and it costs a small fortune. Most other books on the market make the problem worse, burying vacationers in endless pages of pointless details unquestioningly cheering for the high-priced theme parks and resorts. But this lightweight, fact-pa...