Mile 0 · Key West, Florida
Sunset sails, reef days and a fort 70 miles out to sea
Pastel conch houses, roosters in the road and boats heading out at golden hour. We'll help you pick the sail, get a Dry Tortugas ferry seat in time and find a bed near the dock, with real, dated prices.
We'll help you pick the sail, get a Dry Tortugas ferry seat in time and find a bed near the dock.
Book the best of Key West
Sails, tours & charters
Golden hour on the water is the main event, and the reef, the fish and the fort fill the days.
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Departs Key West
Conch Tour Train or Old Town Trolley, and what neither says
The same company runs both. The Conch Tour Train is one 60-minute loop with no hop-off; the Old Town Trolley is 90 minutes, with 13 stops and a day of reboarding.
2 trips · from $45.10 Checked -
Departure varies
Key West fishing charters A $77.87 seat or the whole boat
A party-boat seat is $77.87, a private offshore boat $1,200 to $1,600. No license needed aboard, and the reefs off Key West where nobody may fish at all.
4 trips · from $77.87 Checked -
Departs Miami
Key West day trip from Miami 15 hours for 6 on the island
Bus tours from $54 round trip pick up from 6 a.m. and give you about six hours in Key West. Driving, flying, the $6.65 public bus, and what fits.
3 trips · from $54 Checked -
Departure varies
Key West jet ski and parasail rules Ages, tests, weather
Jet skis go out as guided tours, drivers from 16 with a parent aboard (14 at Fury), the boating test takes minutes, and Florida law grounds a parasail over 20 mph.
4 trips · from $64.45 Checked -
Departs Key West
Dolphin tours in Key West Watching, not swimming, by season
Key West's dolphins are wild: you watch from a boat, 50 yards off, as NOAA asks. Which trips run all year, which only mid-October to April, and where the swims are.
1 trip · from $117.17 Checked -
Departs Key West
Key West ghost tours Which one takes you to Robert the Doll
Robert the Doll is at Fort East Martello, 3 miles from Duval by the airport. The one tour that goes inside after dark, the trolley ghost tour, and the day visit.
from $39.85 Checked
Every trip, with its price → grouped by what you want from the day.
First time in Key West?
Get here
One road, one airport, one boat: 159 miles from Miami on the only road in, or about 3.5 hours by ferry from Fort Myers Beach.
Pick where to stay
Old Town puts you in walking distance of almost everything; here's how to check a rental is licensed.
Book the Dry Tortugas first
One ferry, 175 people a day, and it sells out weeks ahead. Book it before the rest of the trip, for day one or two.
Sunset on the water
The three sails worth choosing between, from $79, and what each one includes.
Beaches
Key West's beaches are small. These are the good ones, plus the big one 37 miles up the road.
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Fort Zachary Taylor Beach $6 a car plus 50 cents a head, and bring water shoes
The best beach in Key West, which is a smaller claim than it sounds. Rocky underfoot, real shade, and the only one worth planning a day around.
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Higgs Beach Free, open 6 a.m. to 11 p.m., and the one for children
Free, open 6 a.m. to 11 p.m., with restrooms, showers, a restaurant, two playgrounds and a dog park. The family beach, run by the city since May 2026.
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Smathers Beach Free sand, $5-an-hour parking
The biggest beach in Key West at half a mile, and the one where parking costs more than the beach. $5 an hour on South Roosevelt against $8 a day at Fort Zach.
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Bahia Honda State Park 37 miles up US 1, and a gate that shuts when it is full
The beach Key West does not have, 37 miles up the highway. $8 a car plus 50 cents a head, open 8 to sunset — and the gate closes when the day-use areas fill.
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Compare all 4 beaches → by parking, snorkeling, crowds and whether you can walk in.
Plan the trip
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Where to stay in Key West, and the license to check before you pay
Old Town, the Seaport, the south shore or New Town: what each area trades, where Booking.com lists it, and the license to check before you pay a rental.
Places to stay Checked -
Best time to visit Key West in 2026–27, month by month
Dry and 76°F in January, wettest in September. Fantasy Fest 22–31 Oct 2027, the Tortugas ferry's dark days, mid-October-to-April dolphin sails, the calmest water.
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Getting to Key West — drive, fly, or take the boat
The Key West Express from Fort Myers Beach takes about 3.5 hours, $194 round trip or from $170 booked 8 days ahead. Or fly, or drive 159 miles from Miami.
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Key West without a car, and the routes that are gone
You do not need a car on the island. City buses are $2, on-demand Key West Rides replaced the North and South Lines, and the Duval Loop is suspended.
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Parking in Key West, and the garage height limit nobody mentions
Old Town parking is $6 an hour almost everywhere, $7 at Mallory Square. The garage bar is 7 feet 2 inches — the detail that strands rental SUVs with roof boxes.
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Things to do in Key West, and the fact that decides each one
Every Key West sight with the fact that trips people up — Hemingway tickets at the gate only, Eco-Discovery closed for repairs, a Tortugas ferry that sells out.
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All 24 planning guides → from the Dry Tortugas to the cemetery.
- Every page dated, none checked before
- No operator pays to be listed or ranked
- How we make money
Get a heads-up when Key West changes
Every page here carries the date we last checked it. This is that same checking, sent to you instead of waited for — a ferry price moving, a boat changing hands, a beach closed for works.
Leave an address and we'll write when something in Key West actually changes. That is the whole list — no schedule, no filler, and some months nothing at all.
Or skip the form entirely — everything we send is also posted on the changelog, free and dated.
Photo credits
- A schooner in the light before sunset: Yinan Chen, Public domain
- Staghorn coral on Looe Key reef: Lauren Toth, USGS. Sound Waves Newsletter, Public domain
- The beach on Garden Key: Ken Lund from Reno, Nevada, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0
- The Key West Bight Ferry Terminal: Bohao Zhao, CC BY 3.0
- The Conch Tour Train: Cullen328, CC BY-SA 3.0
- The charter fishing docks: Sharon Hahn Darlin, CC BY 2.0
- Driving the Seven Mile Bridge: David Broad, CC BY 3.0
- Parasailing off a Florida beach: Yinan Chen, Public domain
- Fort East Martello: Ebyabe, CC BY-SA 3.0
- The beach at Fort Zachary Taylor: Julian Lupyan, CC0
- The pier at Higgs Beach: Pietro Valocchi, CC BY 3.0
- Smathers Beach before sunrise: Juliancolton, Public domain
- Bahia Honda Key from the air: Schwerdf, CC BY 4.0
- A conch house porch: Cayobo, CC BY 2.0
- Front and Duval Street: Julian Lupyan, CC0
- The Overseas Highway: Pom' from France, European Union, CC BY-SA 2.0
- The rainbow crosswalk on Duval Street: Ken Lund, CC BY-SA 2.0
- A street corner in Old Town: Sharon Hahn Darlin, CC BY 2.0
- Sailboats off Sunset Key: Julian Lupyan, CC0
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