Things to do in Key West, and the fact that decides each one

Key West is small, most of what people come to do is within walking distance of Duval Street, and nearly all of it has one fact that decides whether your day works. Here is the list, with that fact beside each, and a link to the page that has the rest.

In Old Town, on foot

• The Hemingway Home. Tickets are sold only at the gate, $19 for an adult, and cards cost 3% more. Open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day, with a guided tour every 15 minutes from 9:15. The cats are part of the admission.
• The Key West Lighthouse, across the street. 88 steps, $17 at the gate or $15.50 online, last admission 4:30 p.m.
• The Southernmost Point buoy is at a temporary spot, 1499 Duval Street, while the plaza at South and Whitehead is rebuilt. Map pins still send people to the old corner.
• The Butterfly and Nature Conservatory, 1316 Duval, two blocks from the buoy. $17.50, and one ticket lets you back in as often as you like until the 4:30 last admission.
• Mallory Square at sunset. Free, every night. Sunset moves from about 5:38 p.m. in early December to about 8:20 p.m. in early July; be there an hour before, and do not drive.
• The Conch Tour Train or the Old Town Trolley. The same company. The train is one 60-minute loop from 303 Front Street; the trolley has 13 stops you can hop off at.
• The Key West Cemetery. The city’s facility page gives the gates as 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., and the city publishes other versions too.
• The Eco-Discovery Center, 35 East Quay Road, on the way to Fort Zach. NOAA’s free sanctuary visitor center, and temporarily closed while NOAA works out the repairs its roof needs, with no reopening date. Open, it kept Wednesday to Saturday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

On the Atlantic side, away from Duval

• Fort East Martello and Robert the Doll. The museum at 3501 S. Roosevelt Blvd, near the airport, is where the famous doll lives: $17 at the gate or $15.50 online, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. It is a long way from Duval on foot, so pair it with Smathers or Higgs. The lighthouse page covers the society’s four museums and its Culture Pass, and the ghost tours page has the after-dark visit to Robert.
• The Key West Garden Club at Fort West Martello, on Higgs Beach. Free, donations welcome, 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., but closed Wednesdays and Thursdays in summer, from early July to 30 September this year.

On the water

• Snorkeling the reef. You cannot do it from the beach; the reef is offshore and needs a boat. The trip we list is $79 for about three hours.
• A sunset sail. The three worth choosing between run $79 to $117.18, and the difference is boat size, headcount and the bar.
• Dolphin watching. Wild dolphins, which NOAA asks everyone to watch from at least 50 yards. The dolphin-and-sunset sail runs mid-October to April only; dolphin-and-snorkel trips run year-round.
• Fishing. A party-boat seat from $69.95, with the license included; the protected reefs are closed to fishing.
• Jet skis and parasailing. Jet skis go out as guided tours, drivers 16 with a parent aboard, and a state boating test for anyone born in 1988 or later. Parasails do not fly in winds over 20 mph.

The day out: the Dry Tortugas

The Dry Tortugas is the one day in Key West worth planning the trip around: Fort Jefferson, almost 70 miles west, reached by ferry or seaplane. The ferry sells out weeks ahead, and it does not run on 22 or 23 October 2026 or on single maintenance days, the next on 24 November and 11 December. The Viator listing we link is non-refundable and cannot be changed, so book a date you are sure of. Camping out there is a different booking altogether, and there is no hotel in the park, so the night before is in Key West: the hotels near the Dry Tortugas ferry are a walk from its 7 a.m. check-in.

Beaches

Key West sits behind a reef and has little natural sand. Of what there is:

• Fort Zachary Taylor, the best of them. $2.50 on foot, $6 a car plus 50 cents a head; bring water shoes, and the fort itself shuts at 5 p.m.
• Smathers, the largest, about half a mile long. Free; parking is $5 an hour.
• Higgs, the family beach, run by the city. Free, open 6 a.m. to 11 p.m., with two playgrounds and a dog park.
• Bahia Honda, 37 miles up the highway. $8 a car plus 50 cents a person, and the gate closes when the park is full.

Up the Keys

• The Overseas Heritage Trail. Free, paved and built on Flagler’s railroad bridges, but not continuous, and closed for repairs between Mile Markers 71 and 71.5.
• Coming down from Miami for the day is about fifteen hours for six on the island.

The practical side

• Parking. The Old Town garage is $6 an hour or $48 a day, and its height bar is 7 feet 2 inches.
• Getting around without a car. The city bus is $2, and bikes rent by the day or the week.
• On a cruise stop, everything in Old Town is within about a 30-minute walk of the pier, and the Dry Tortugas does not fit.
• Cruise ship days, for everyone else: when the ships are in, do the water in the middle of the day and Old Town in the evening.
• Hurricane season runs 1 June to 30 November, and the page has the county’s evacuation record.
• Where to stay, and the city license to check before you pay for a rental.

In October 2026

Fantasy Fest runs 16 to 25 October, and it takes over Old Town. The Dry Tortugas ferry sails every day from 14 to 31 October except the 22nd and 23rd, and it is selling out: on 13 October the 14th to the 17th, the 26th and the 28th were gone, so book the day out now. And the Conch Tour Train’s one closure day is “the last Saturday in October (Fantasy Fest)”, which this year points at two different Saturdays; the trolley-or-train page explains. For the other eleven months, the best-time page goes month by month.

In December 2026

The city’s holiday parade comes down Duval on Saturday 5 December, the Lighted Boat Parade sails the Historic Seaport on Saturday 12 December, and New Year’s Eve ends with three drops at midnight: a conch shell at Sloppy Joe’s, a red high heel at the Bourbon St. Pub and a pirate wench at Schooner Wharf. No city bus runs on Christmas Day or New Year’s Day. The Christmas and New Year’s page has the dates, what is open on both holidays and how to get home that night.