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The Overseas Highway is 159 miles from Miami to Key West by the Monroe County visitor office’s count, and the whole of it is US 1. Driven straight through it is a long morning. Driven with the right three or four stops it is one of the best days of the trip, and the stops are where the fees, the opening days and this year’s closures are.
How the road works
The Turnpike from Miami ends at US 1 in Florida City. Its tolls are all-electronic from there to the Miami-Dade and Broward line: SunPass, a compatible transponder or toll-by-plate. Card Sound Road, the other way into Key Largo, is cashless too. US 1 through the Keys has no toll.
The mile markers are the addresses. They start at 127 just south of Florida City and count down to 0 in Key West. Most Overseas Highway street numbers follow them, so 84900 Overseas Highway is at Mile Marker 84.9; in the middle of Marathon they do not, and 1090 Overseas Highway is at Mile Marker 47.5. The visitor office divides the road like this:
| Stretch | Mile markers | Miles from Miami |
|---|---|---|
| Key Largo | 108–90 | 58 |
| Islamorada | 90–63 | 76 |
| Marathon | 63–40 | 111 |
| Lower Keys | 40–4 | 135 |
| Key West | 4–0 | 159 |
It crosses 42 bridges by the visitor office’s count, one of them seven miles long, and the office warns that as the only road in and out, it congests at peak travel times. The Miami Tour Company, which drives it every day, puts downtown Miami to Key West at about three and a half hours without stopping.
The stops, from north to south
Addresses and fees are from each place’s own page as of September 2026.
| Stop | Where | Entry | Open |
|---|---|---|---|
| John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park | 102601 Overseas Hwy, Key Largo | $8 a car plus 50¢ a person | 8 a.m. to sunset daily |
| Windley Key Fossil Reef | 84900 Overseas Hwy, MM 84.9 | $2.50 a person | 8 a.m.–5 p.m., Thursday to Monday |
| Long Key State Park | 67400 Overseas Hwy | $6 a car plus 50¢ a person | 8 a.m. to sunset |
| Curry Hammock State Park | 56200 Overseas Hwy, Marathon | $6 for two in a car, rising 50¢ a person | 8 a.m. to sunset daily |
| The Turtle Hospital | 2396 Overseas Hwy, Marathon | $38 adult, $19 age 4–12 | Programs every half hour, 9 a.m.–4 p.m. |
| Pigeon Key | Visitor center, 1090 Overseas Hwy, MM 47.5 | Tour $30 adult | Daily except major holidays |
| Bahia Honda State Park | 36850 Overseas Hwy, Big Pine Key | $8 a car plus 50¢ a person | 8 a.m. to sundown daily |
Key Largo: the first undersea park
John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park calls itself the country’s first undersea park, 70 nautical square miles of it. The reef is seen by glass-bottom boat, snorkel or dive trip from the park. Since 22 July 2026, one of the two boat ramps and the sewage pump-out are closed and trailer parking is much reduced for construction, the state says, so bring a boat only after checking.
Islamorada: a quarry made of coral
Windley Key Fossil Reef Geological State Park is a quarry of Key Largo limestone, fossilized coral, that was sold to the railroad and cut to build Flagler’s Overseas Railroad. You walk along eight-foot quarry walls showing cross-sections of the ancient reef. It is closed Tuesday and Wednesday, and ranger-led tours run at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., Friday to Sunday. Entry is $2.50.
A little south, at Mile Marker 84.5, Theater of the Sea runs dolphin and sea lion shows and swims with captive animals; if a dolphin swim is on your list, the dolphin page explains the difference from Key West’s wild-dolphin trips.
Long Key and Curry Hammock: the quiet ones
Long Key State Park was the site of Flagler’s Long Key Fishing Camp, a luxury resort on his railroad for celebrities, famous anglers and presidents, destroyed by the 1935 Labor Day hurricane and never reopened. Now it is a place to swim, paddle and watch birds. Since 12 July 2026, its primitive camping and the Golden Orb trail are closed for construction.
Curry Hammock State Park, at Marathon, is, in the state’s words, the largest undeveloped parcel of land between Key Largo and Big Pine Key, and it sees record numbers of migrating peregrine falcons every fall.
Marathon: turtles and the old bridge
The Turtle Hospital is a working veterinary hospital for sea turtles, and you can only visit on one of its guided programs, which run about 70 to 90 minutes, every half hour from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. It is $38 for an adult, paid at check-in. Two things to know: it recommends reserving, because space is limited, and it says it does not honor reservations made through third-party websites or travel agencies, so a reservation made anywhere but the hospital will not hold.
Pigeon Key sits under the Old Seven Mile Bridge, an island with a century of Flagler-railroad history that has been a National Historic Landmark since 1990. The old bridge is open to walkers, runners and cyclists; getting onto the island itself needs a ticket, and the hour-long historical tour is $30 for an adult, leaving by train from the visitor center at Mile Marker 47.5. Park at the end of the bridge on Knight’s Key, at Mile Marker 48, or at the visitor center.
Then the Seven Mile Bridge itself, the long one, running beside the old railroad bridge with the Atlantic on one side and the Gulf on the other.
Bahia Honda: the beach, if you get in
Bahia Honda is the classic Keys beach, and the one stop on this road that can turn you away. The state says the park may close when its day-use areas reach capacity, and arriving visitors are asked to come back later; its own advice is to arrive early on weekends and holidays. Entry is $8 a car for two to eight people, plus 50 cents a person. Shade is limited.
Big Pine Key: the Key deer
The National Key Deer Refuge protects the smallest subspecies of North American white-tailed deer, found only in the lower Keys. About 75% of them live on Big Pine and No Name Keys, and the refuge says they are easiest to see early in the morning or toward sunset. Two rules: do not feed them, and drive carefully from Big Pine Key to Lower Sugarloaf, where cars hit deer, especially at night. Blue Hole, an old limestone quarry now full of fresh water, is three miles north of US 1 on Key Deer Boulevard, with a short paved path to a viewing platform; alligators live there year-round.
Lower Sugarloaf: the original road
Just before Key West, the refuge’s “End of the Road” trail follows the remains of old State Road 4A, “the original roadway to Key West,” 3.5 miles each way, for hikers and cyclists. The Heritage Trail page has it and the other rides along the corridor, including the closure at Mile Marker 71.
Three ways to drive it
- Straight through: about three and a half hours from downtown Miami, with a stop to stretch at Pigeon Key’s end of the Seven Mile Bridge.
- A day with two stops: Windley Key’s quarry on the way down, if it is Thursday to Monday, and Bahia Honda early enough to get in.
- Two days: sleep in Marathon, walk the old bridge in the morning, take the first Turtle Hospital program, and reach Key West by the afternoon.
Once you are there, park the car once. The Old Town garage is $6 an hour or $48 a day, with a 7-foot-2 height bar; the parking page has the rest. And if you are only coming for the day, the Miami day-trip page compares the drive with the bus tour.
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