Hotels near the Dry Tortugas ferry, for a 7 a.m. check-in

The Dry Tortugas ferry checks in at 7:00 a.m. at the Key West Ferry Terminal, 100 Grinnell Street, and leaves at 8:00 sharp. Standby means being on the benches before the sign-up sheet comes out at 6:30, and campers load their gear earlier still. Every version of that morning starts with a night in Key West, and the easiest ones start from a bed you can walk out of. The Key West Express from Fort Myers Beach docks at the same terminal, so the hotels below are the ones near that ferry too.

Is there a hotel in Dry Tortugas National Park?

No. The Park Service says there are no restaurants, hotels, fuel stations or supplies on the island. The only way to spend a night at Dry Tortugas is the primitive campground on Garden Key, beside Fort Jefferson: eight first-come sites and a group site, and the camping page has the ferry seats and what to carry. So the hotels near Dry Tortugas National Park are in Key West, almost 70 miles east, where the ferry and the seaplane leave; the ones below are a walk from the ferry.

The morning, by the clock

These are the operator’s own times.

Check-in is paperless: the lead traveler gives a last name and ID, and every adult needs a photo ID to board. The operator’s terms make tickets non-refundable for late arrivals and no-shows. That is the case for a bed within a walk of the door.

Hotels within a walk of the terminal

Four hotels on Booking.com, in order of distance:

The distances and times are the OpenStreetMap foot router’s (routing.openstreetmap.de), measured on 1 October 2026 from each hotel’s spot on OpenStreetMap to the terminal building, and rounded up.

Eden House is the closest of the four: a few steps along Fleming Street to Grinnell, then along Grinnell Street to the harbor. The other three are at the harbor end of Duval and on Front Street, a walk east through Old Town to the Historic Seaport. Each Booking.com listing states its own parking terms and fees; read them before you book.

The Marker Key West Harbor Resort, at 200 William Street, is closer than any of them: 0.3 mile and about 5 minutes by the same router. It is not carded here, because Booking.com lists it as a partner offer — a room supplied by another company, paid in advance, and by Booking.com’s own terms for partner offers, with no changes to the booking once it is made. A night tied to a boat needs the opposite.

Hotels near the Key West Express ferry

The Key West Express, the passenger ferry from Fort Myers Beach, uses the same building. The operator, the Yankee Freedom and the city all give the Key West terminal as 100 Grinnell Street, in the Key West Bight, so the four hotels above and their walking times are the same for both boats.

Its day runs the other way around. The boat from Fort Myers Beach leaves at 8 a.m. and arrives late in the morning, and the return boards from 5 p.m., aboard by 5:30, for a 6 p.m. departure. The operator cannot hold bags at either terminal or aboard, and suggests Paradise Porters or your hotel, so on the last day ask the hotel to keep yours until the afternoon; a hotel within a walk of the terminal makes that an easy errand. The operator has no parking at the Key West end. The ferry, its fares and the luggage rules are on the getting-to-Key-West page.

Make the room the flexible half

The ferry ticket is the part you cannot move. The Viator ticket on this page is non-refundable and cannot be changed from the start. The operator’s own terms close changes at 5 p.m. two days before a day trip (seven days for camping), allow them only if there is space, and make every sale final 60 days out. Three things can still take the boat away from your morning:

• Its days off. There is no ferry on Thursday 22 or Friday 23 October 2026: the operator’s booking calendar offers no sailing those days, and one on each of the other dates from 14 to 31 October. On 13 October the 14th to the 17th, the 26th and the 28th were already sold out, so a Fantasy Fest week (16 to 25 October) built around the ferry wants the ferry booked before the room. Single maintenance days follow — the next are Tuesday 24 November and Friday 11 December 2026 — and the Dry Tortugas page lists the rest.
• The sea. The operator is contractually obligated to the Park Service to run daily unless sea conditions would compromise safety, and rain alone does not cancel it. When the captain does call a sailing off, the operator offers a refund or a later date. A later date means a different night.
• The way back, for campers. The operator tells campers to “make sure your travel plans and lodging arrangements are flexible before and after your camping reservation dates.” A crossing called off while you are on Garden Key means another night out there, and a Key West hotel night missed. The camping page has the operator’s weather terms for campers.

So book the ferry first — it is the fixed point — and then a room you can cancel or move. Each Booking.com rate shows its own cancellation terms before you pay; pick one with free cancellation and set its deadline against your ferry date. And book the ferry for day one or two of the trip, so a canceled morning leaves you days to try again.

If you drive in

The Old Town Parking Garage is at 301 Grinnell Street, on the corner of Caroline, about 3 minutes’ walk from the terminal (0.2 mile by the same router). The city runs it, and posts:

• $6 an hour, $48 a day, plus tax. The ferry operator’s own pages say $40 a day. The city sets the rate, so budget its figure.
• Open 24 hours, with overnight parking, 300 spaces, first come, first served.
• A 7-foot-2-inch height limit. Vehicles over 20 feet go to the top level, and RVs, trailers and boats are not allowed.
• Credit cards, debit cards and coins at the pay station, no bills.

The Ferry Terminal lot at 100 Grinnell has 19 spaces, at $6 an hour with a 10-hour maximum. Check-in at 7:00 to back alongside at 5:30 is ten and a half hours, so the terminal’s own lot is shorter than the trip.

Campers can unload at the terminal first: drive past the garage to the end of Grinnell Street, stop in front of the Ferry Terminal, then move the car to the garage. The parking page has every city lot and rate.

From further out

The south shore is not a ferry-morning walk. Casa Marina, on Reynolds Street by Higgs Beach, is 1.4 miles from the terminal by the same router, about 29 minutes on foot. From there, New Town or Stock Island, take a taxi and tell the driver the Ferry Terminal, which is the operator’s own advice. Key West Rides, the on-demand city bus, starts at 6 a.m. and covers New Town and Stock Island too. If you are still choosing a part of the island, where to stay in Key West has the areas, and the city license check to run on any vacation rental.

Below are the four hotels on Booking.com, then Booking.com’s full Key West list, then the ferry itself.