Where to Stay in Florida: Hotel Tax by County, Resort Fees and the Eight Bases

FLORIDA · WHERE TO STAY · EIGHT BASES

Two rooms, the same nightly number on the screen, half a mile apart. One stands on Miami Beach, the other on the Surfside side of the line, and the second one lands three percentage points cheaper at checkout before anything else is counted. Florida’s tourist tax is set city by city as well as county by county, and tax is the one mandatory charge the new federal pricing rule still lets a hotel keep outside its advertised price.

Since May 12, 2025, a mandatory resort fee has to sit inside the number you see. What still sits outside is government tax: 6% state sales tax, plus a county tourist tax that runs from nothing at all in five inland counties to 7% on Miami Beach. So the order of operations changed. Pick the base for what it reaches, then read the local rate, then read the parking.

On this page

• The eight bases and what each one reachesEight bases, with the tax rate on each
• Florida hotel tax by countyRates from 2% to 7%, county by county
• Are resort fees included in the price now?The May 12, 2025 rule and its three exclusions
• Miami or Miami Beach for a first stayThree separate cities, and the free ride on each side
• Where to stay in the Florida KeysKey West on foot, or a middle key
• A base near the EvergladesGates an hour apart, and $21 campgrounds
• Cheapest months for a Florida hotelAugust to October, and the storm peak
• Spring break parking in Miami BeachGarage flat rates and a $548 tow

One rule runs under all of it: the tax follows the street address. A room booked through a platform falls under the same federal disclosure rule as one booked at the front desk, and the city and county where the building stands set the tax line at checkout. Two numbers move with the base you choose, and neither is the room rate: the local rate, and what it costs to leave a car anywhere near you.

Where to stay in Florida: Miami Beach, the Keys, the Gulf coast and the Panhandle

There is no single base for Florida, and the first fork is not a city. It is a coast. The Atlantic side gives you cities, an international airport 12 miles from South Beach, and the road down to the Keys. The Gulf side gives you calmer, warmer water, sunsets over the sea, and distances measured in hours rather than blocks. Everything else, including the tax, follows from that choice.

On the Atlantic side, Miami Beach buys a beach you walk to and a free trolley on five routes from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m., at the state’s highest tourist rate of 7%. Brickell and Downtown drop that to 6% and hand you the free Metromover instead. Surfside and Bal Harbour charge 4% inside the same county. Beach parking is its own line: the South Pointe Park lot starts at $2 an hour and goes flat at $20 on weekends and holidays, while Crandon Park on Key Biscayne asks $7 on weekdays and $10 at weekends.

The Gulf bases trade transit for sand. Siesta Key and Sarasota sit at 6%, with a beach morning and a museum afternoon a short drive apart. South Walton’s 30A towns are the strangest entry in the table: 5% inside ZIP codes 32459, 32550, 32454, 32461 and the county’s slice of 32413, then 2% across the rest of Walton. Two Panhandle addresses forty minutes apart can bill at rates three points apart.

The Keys and the interior answer to other rules. Monroe County charges 5% down the whole chain, from Key Largo to Key West, but the Overseas Highway is 113 miles long, so the tax tells you nothing about the difference between two bases in that one county. Inland, Orange County’s 6% covers Orlando, where the base is picked by which park gate you want at opening. Volusia and its Daytona coast also sit at 6%, and the drive between the two is a road trip, not a transfer.

Florida hotel tax by county: 5% in the Keys, 7% in Miami Beach

Every rate above comes from form DR-15TDT, the Department of Revenue’s own list, read on September 7, 2026. Miami-Dade is where the county stops being the unit: 6% across the county, 7% on Miami Beach, 4% in Surfside and Bal Harbour. Walton splits the same way, 5% in five listed ZIP codes and 2% everywhere else. Monroe, Orange, Sarasota and Volusia hold to a single figure countywide.

That tourist tax is filed and paid alongside the 6% state sales tax and any applicable discretionary county surtax. We could not read the surtax rate at the primary source, so every figure in the right-hand column is a floor and not a total. Expect the final line to land above it.

The floors are blunt. In the Keys, 6% plus 5% puts at least 11% on top of whatever rate you were shown. On Miami Beach, 6% plus 7% puts at least 13%. Across seven nights, 13% is roughly nine tenths of an extra night paid in tax, and 11% about three quarters of one. Move half a mile north into Surfside and the same week carries 10%.

Florida resort fees: the FTC all-in pricing rule of May 12, 2025

Since May 12, 2025, the FTC’s Rule on Unfair or Deceptive Fees (16 C.F.R. Part 464) has made it an unfair and deceptive practice to advertise a price for short-term lodging without clearly, conspicuously and prominently disclosing the total price. The agency’s own example is a room at $199 a night carrying a mandatory $39 daily resort fee: the $39 belongs inside the number on display. Hotels, motels, inns, short-term rentals and vacation rentals are all covered, including stays sold through platforms.

Three exclusions are permitted, and only three: government charges, shipping charges, and optional extras the guest chooses to add. Taxes are government charges. They may stay out of the headline figure as long as they are disclosed before payment is requested and included in the final amount. That is why the checkout total still climbs above the advertised rate. Penalties run to $51,744 per violation.

For anyone comparing two offers, the headline numbers are now genuinely comparable, because both carry their mandatory fees. Add the local rate yourself afterwards. On Miami Beach the published resort fees diverge sharply by source and category, from about $25 on average to $35–$95 at individual properties, and that whole spread now sits inside the price on screen. The tax does not.

Miami or Miami Beach: which to stay in, and free transport on each side

Miami, Miami Beach and Coral Gables are three separate municipalities of Miami-Dade County, each with its own government and its own parking rules. South Beach is the southernmost neighborhood of Miami Beach, across the bay. Wynwood, Little Havana and Coconut Grove are mainland neighborhoods inside the City of Miami. Booking “Miami” while picturing sand costs a rental car and about half an hour of causeway traffic in each direction.

The free ride settles it for most first stays. On the barrier island, the trolley runs five routes from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m., seven days a week, at no charge. On the mainland, the Metromover covers Downtown and Brickell at no charge. Anything crossing between the two is a $2.25 Metrobus or Metrorail ride, with the day capped at $5.65. More on the mechanics in getting around Florida.

Where to stay in the Florida Keys: Key West or a middle key

The Overseas Highway runs 113 miles, its mile markers counting down from about 126 at Florida City to 0 in Key West. Four hours without stopping. Six to eight with. That arithmetic kills the day trip from Miami, and it kills the idea of sleeping in Key Largo and eating dinner at the other end of the chain.

Key West’s Old Town is the largest wooden historic district in North America, flat and compact, laid out for feet and bicycles. The parking tariff is the argument against bringing a car: street meters at $3.00 an hour, the Old Town garage at $6 an hour or $48 a day plus tax, the Mallory Square lot at $7 an hour or $48 a day with a ten-hour cap, the Key West Bight lot at $5 an hour or $40 a day. At $48 a day, a week in the garage adds $336 before a tank of gas.

Islamorada and Marathon carry the same 5% Monroe rate at half the drive from Miami. They win for water: reef and sandbar mornings start at the dock rather than after a two-hour transfer. Key West wins for the evening. Two nights in the Keys favor a middle key with one sunset run south. Four nights are worth splitting.

Where to stay near the Everglades: the three entrances and drive times

Each of the three Everglades entrances, plus the Flamingo Visitor Center deep inside the park, is at least an hour’s drive from the others. Sleeping near a gate is not the same as sleeping near the park. Homestead and Florida City serve the main entrance and the Anhinga Trail, while the Shark Valley loop sits on the Tamiami Trail west of Miami. Pick the gate that matches the morning you want, then book the town attached to it.

Inside the boundary, campgrounds charge $21.00 plus $2.00 per person, the cheapest bed in South Florida by a distance. The backcountry runs on a different calendar: wilderness camping permits are released 90 days ahead, so a February canoe route is decided in November. Sites, seasons and the reservation window are covered in the camping guide and the month-by-month calendar.

Cheapest months for Florida hotels: August to October, and the storm peak

South Florida rates run lowest from August to October and highest from February to April. The weather runs the opposite way: December through April is the dry, warm half of the year, so the cheap months are the hot, wet ones. That inversion is the whole booking problem in a line, and it is the reason a beachfront rate in September reads like a misprint. The seasonal breakdown takes it month by month.

The Atlantic hurricane season runs June 1 to November 30, peaks on September 10, and concentrates most of its activity between mid-August and mid-October. A September room is cheap because of that window rather than in spite of it. At that point the price stops being the question and the cancellation clause becomes it: how late you can cancel free, whether a named storm triggers a refund, and whether the airline’s policy matches the hotel’s.

For one week with no school calendar attached, November and April are the pair worth chasing, the same verdict our seasonal guide reaches. The dry season has either just started or not quite ended, and the February-to-April peak is not in force either way. If the week has to fall in summer, book refundable and watch the tropics from mid-August on.

Spring break in Miami Beach: parking rates, towing and 2026 restrictions

For spring break 2026, Miami Beach put its four Art Deco District garages on flat rates of $40 to $100, raised the non-resident towing rate inside the district to $548, and ran a traffic plan from 6 p.m. each Thursday through Sunday. No blanket curfew was set in advance, though the police chief can determine that one is required. The city renews and adjusts this package every year, so read those figures as the shape of the measure rather than next March’s tariff, and check the city’s own notice before booking a March room on the beach.

The last word

Pick the side of the street before you pick the hotel. Seven percent against four, half a mile apart, moves more money than most upgrades sold at the desk. And if airfare is pushing you around, remember the second airport: Fort Lauderdale sits about 25 miles from South Beach, 35 to 50 minutes on I-95, against 12 miles and 20 to 45 minutes from MIA. The address decides the tax for the whole stay. The airport only decides the first hour of it.

Sources & data for this guide

• Tourist development tax rates by county, including Miami Beach 7%, Surfside and Bal Harbour 4%, Monroe 5%, Walton 5% and 2% · Florida Department of Revenue, form DR-15TDT · checked Sep 7, 2026
• Stacking with the 6% state sales tax · same source · the discretionary county surtax could not be read at the primary source, so our 11% and 13% figures are floors · noted Sept 7, 2026
• Rule on Unfair or Deceptive Fees, 16 C.F.R. Part 464, effective May 12, 2025, the $199 plus $39 example, the three exclusions, penalties up to $51,744 per violation · Federal Trade Commission · checked Sep 7, 2026
• Miami Beach resort fee amounts · published figures diverge sharply by source and category, from about $25 on average to $35–$95 by property · checked Sep 7, 2026
• Free Metromover, Miami Beach trolley hours and routes, $2.25 fare with a $5.65 daily cap · Miami-Dade Transit and City of Miami Beach · checked Sep 7, 2026
• Key West parking rates and Old Town walkability · City of Key West · checked Sep 7, 2026
• Overseas Highway distance and mile markers · Florida Keys tourism council · checked Sep 7, 2026
• Everglades entrance drive times, campground fees and 90-day wilderness permits · National Park Service · checked Sept 6 and 7, 2026
• Hurricane season dates and the Sept 10 peak · NOAA · checked Sep 7, 2026
• Spring break 2026 garage flat rates, $548 non-resident tow, Thursday-to-Sunday traffic plan · City of Miami Beach · checked Sep 7, 2026 · the plan is renewed and adjusted each year
• No hotel names and no room rates appear on this page: our sources carry none, and a quoted room rate is stale before it is read.
• Statewide amplitude: county rates run 0.0% to 6.0%, five counties levy none (Calhoun, Lafayette, Liberty, Sumter, Union), and Miami Beach’s 7% is the only such figure in the schedule · Florida Department of Revenue, form DR-15TDT, full table · checked Sep 7, 2026