Key West travel guide
Where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Things to do in Key West, planned over three days
Best time to visit Key West
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Peak season: dry, sunny, mid 70s days, clearest reef water and stone crab, but fullest and priciest.
Locals' favourite shoulder: warming water, tarpon migration April to June, crowds gone and prices down after Easter.
November: hurricane season winding down, warm water, lower rates before the December rush, and stone crab season open.
Worst month: peak hurricane risk, peak heat and humidity, quiet calendar and some seasonal closings.
What's on
- Fantasy Fest October
The island's big October festival week. Time a trip around it or avoid it knowingly.
- Goombay October
Bahama Village street fair of Caribbean food, music and crafts that opens Fantasy Fest week, the family-friendly part of it.
- Conch Republic Independence Celebration late April
Late April celebration of the Conch Republic.
- Songwriters Festival early May
Early May festival that lifts prices in an otherwise good shoulder window.
- Pride June
A week of parties, pool events and a Duval parade with the island's huge rainbow flag.
- Key Lime Festival early July
Early July festival celebrating key lime.
- Mermaid Festival early July
Early July festival held alongside the Key Lime Festival.
- Hemingway Days mid-to-late July
Look alike contest and marlin tournament in mid to late July.
- Lobsterfest early August
Early August lobster festival.
- Womenfest Labor Day
Held around Labor Day.
Worth the trip for
Best things to do in Key West
Sunset Celebration at Mallory Square
Nightly street performers and crowds gather for sunset over the Gulf, Key West's defining free ritual.
Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum
Hemingway's 1930s home, garden, pool and writing studio, best understood on the guided tour.
Fort Zachary Taylor Historic State Park
Key West's best beach day, with shade, shore snorkelling, a cafe and a Civil War fort to tour.
Key West Butterfly and Nature Conservatory
A glass conservatory where dozens of butterfly species fly free around birds, turtles and flamingos.
Harry S. Truman Little White House
Florida's only presidential museum, where the guided tour brings Truman's 11 working visits to life.
Key West Lighthouse and Keeper's Quarters
Climb 88 steps for the best elevated view over Old Town rooftops, harbour and both coasts.
Key West Food Tours Southernmost Food Tasting & Cultural Walking Tour
A small group Old Town tasting walk that teaches Key West food history and pays off all trip.
The Green Parrot
A corner bar in an 1890 building with free popcorn and some of Florida's best live music, still drawing locals.
Where to stay in Key West
Old Town, away from Lower Duval
first trip, all-round base
Historic conch houses and leafy lanes with everything in a 15 minute walk and quieter sleep.
Historic Seaport / Mallory Square end of Old Town
sunset-and-boats trips
On the harbour for sunset sails, the Dry Tortugas ferry and charters, with Duval two blocks away.
Casa Marina / Southernmost / Higgs Beach corridor
quieter, beach-adjacent base
Grand resorts on the south shore with sunrise over the Atlantic and a calmer residential feel.
Truman Annex
splurge-house / long-stay base
A gated former naval annex beside Old Town and Fort Zach with big homes and residential calm.
Bahama Village
character and value inside Old Town
Historic Bahamian and Cuban neighbourhood around Petronia Street with small guesthouses at softer prices.
New Town
budget-and-parking base
Chain hotels on North Roosevelt with free parking and groceries, a bus or drive from Old Town.
Think twice about
- Directly on Lower Duval
Bars until 4am, crowd noise through historic windows and the highest rates for the worst sleep. Sleep off Duval.
- Roosevelt Boulevard hotels sold as beachfront
North Roosevelt is a highway of chains with no beach, and Smathers Beach on South Roosevelt is often thick with sargassum in summer and shallow for swimming.
- Key West listings actually up the Keys
Properties from Big Coppitt to Big Pine market themselves to Key West searches. The nightly drive on dark US-1 is a real safety issue. Stock Island, ten minutes out, is the exception.
- Any base during Fantasy Fest week, unknowingly
Families and quiet trip travellers should not discover Fantasy Fest on arrival. Check dates before booking.
Best restaurants in Key West
Louie's Backyard
A Caribbean Victorian house and deck over the Atlantic serving Bahamian and Key West classics for decades.
Latitudes
Ride the launch to Sunset Key for refined Florida Caribbean cooking at a table on the sand at sunset.
Seven Fish
A small bistro serving only locally caught fish for over 20 years, with Thai curry yellowtail the signature.
Blue Heaven
Brunch under almond trees with roosters, lobster Benedict, banana pancakes and famous key lime pie.
Santiago's Bodega
Spanish leaning small plates built for sharing, with a happy hour that is one of Old Town's best values.
Hogfish Bar & Grill
A working waterfront shack famous for the Killer Hogfish Sandwich and whatever the boats brought in.
El Siboney
A family Cuban dining room where residents eat roast pork, garlic chicken and huge portions cheaply.
Sandy's Café
A walk up window inside a laundromat serving one of the island's best pressed Cuban sandwiches.
Best coffee in Key West
Cuban Coffee Queen
A tiny stand for strong Cuban coffee, Cuban toast and sandwiches at the Seaport and beyond.
Outdoor things to do in Key West
Dry Tortugas National Park
A vast brick fort on turquoise water with white sand swimming and healthy reef snorkelling.
Reef Snorkelling with Fury or Sebago, Key West
A half day catamaran trip to the living barrier reef, with gear, instruction and two reef stops.
Sunset Sail, Key West
Choose a lively big catamaran or a quieter schooner for the better version of a Key West sunset.
Lazy Dog Adventures
A guided paddle through mangrove tunnels and seagrass flats spotting sharks, rays and birdlife.
Key West Fishing Charter, Charter Boat Row
Flats fishing for tarpon and permit or offshore trips for mahi and sailfish, priced as a private boat.
Bahia Honda State Park
The natural white sand beach people imagine, about 35 miles up the Keys, just past the Seven Mile Bridge.
Key West Golf Club
The island's only 18 holes, a Rees Jones layout through mangroves famous for the Mangrove Hole.
Sandbar Charter, Key West Backcountry
A captained boat day to waist deep white sandbars for swimming, floating and a cooler.
Best hotels in Key West
Little Palm Island Resort & Spa
An adults only private island of thatched bungalows reached by boat, bookended with a Key West stay.
Sunset Key Cottages
Cottages on a private island with beach and pool, plus a 24 hour launch back to the Seaport.
Casa Marina Key West, Curio Collection by Hilton
Flagler's 1920 grand hotel with Key West's largest private beach and two oceanfront pools.
Pier House Resort & Spa
Harbourfront hotel where Duval meets the Gulf, with a small beach, spa and storied Chart Room bar.
Ocean Key Resort
Seaport hotel whose Sunset Pier may be the best sunset seat of any hotel in town.
Marquesa Hotel
Four conch houses around courtyard pools in quiet Old Town, the boutique connoisseur's choice.
Winslow's Bungalows
Historic bungalows around three pools, quiet but walkable to Duval, with breakfast included.
Southernmost Beach Resort
Three pools at Duval's Atlantic end with a beach cafe, the most complete family beach package in Old Town.
Is Key West expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | $200 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | $350 a person |
| Splurge | $650 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Key West Food Tours Southernmost Food Tasting & Cultural Walking Tour: a few days ahead
- Dry Tortugas National Park: months ahead
- Reef Snorkelling with Fury or Sebago, Key West: a few days ahead
- Sunset Sail, Key West: a few days ahead
- Key West Fishing Charter, Charter Boat Row: weeks ahead
- Sandbar Charter, Key West Backcountry: weeks ahead
- USNS General Hoyt S. Vandenberg Wreck Dive, Key West: a few days ahead
- Marquesa Hotel: weeks ahead
- Dry Tortugas ferry and seaplane sell out weeks to months ahead. Book hotels for late December to April and festival weekends early.
- Book Latitudes, Louie's Backyard deck, Seven Fish and Cafe Marquesa days to weeks ahead, and small boats and charters a week plus.
Is Key West safe?
- Sun, heat and alcohol plus bikes are the realistic risks. Walk home or take the Loop, never ride drunk.
- Heed water flags and crew briefings, lock bikes every time, and obey the Key deer speed limit on Big Pine Key at dawn and dusk.
Key West travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- Duval restaurants with barkers, photo menus and 2 for 1 boards. Eat a block off Duval, in Bahama Village, on Truman or on Stock Island.
- The Southernmost Buoy at midday means a long photo queue. Go before 9am. Avoid timeshare pitches sold as free sunset cruises.
- Key West beaches are narrow and rocky over coral. Bring water shoes and take a boat for the best swimming, or drive to Bahia Honda.
Getting around Key West: public transport and more
- You do not need a car. Walk or bike Old Town, use the free Duval Loop bus, and rent a cruiser bike for about 15 to 25 dollars a day.
- Fly into Key West International, drive US-1 from Miami in about 3.5 to 4 hours, or take the ferry from Fort Myers Beach or Marco Island.
Who Key West suits
| Solo travellers | Great |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Great |
| Couples | Great |
| Bachelor parties | Great |
| Families | Good |
| Bachelorette parties | Great |
Make Key West your trip
Swearby drafts the days from places people swear by. Swap any stop, then invite the crew by text, even friends without the app. Vote on dates, track costs as you go, and everyone gets one number at the end.
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