Key West day trip from Miami: 15 hours for 6 on the island

Key West from Miami in a day is possible, and a lot of people do it. The honest arithmetic is about fifteen hours for about six on the island, and the six are the middle of the day. That rules some things out and makes others easy, so here are the four ways to make the trip and what fits once you are there.

The four ways, side by side

The bus tour is the simplest of the four: nobody has to drive seven hours in a day, and the operator does the pick-ups.

The bus tour, as the operator runs it

The Miami Tour Company, which sells the trip as keywestbustour.com, publishes the day in some detail:

• $74 for an adult, $64 for a child aged 4 to 12, and under-4s free. A front seat is $29 more.
• Hotel pick-ups start at 6 a.m. from Miami Beach, downtown, the airport and Florida City. If you are driving in, the downtown meeting point is the Holiday Inn at 340 Biscayne Blvd at 7:15 a.m., with parking in the Bayside Marketplace garage across the street.
• A stop in Tavernier around 9:30 a.m., then on down the Overseas Highway.
• About six hours of free time in Key West.
• Back in Miami around 9:45 p.m.
• A 56-seat or double-decker coach, with a restroom aboard.

Snorkeling, parasailing and museum tickets are not included; some are sold on the bus, and the parasail and jet ski rules are here. The same company sells an overnight version from $109, with the return on a later day, which is the fix for most of the drawbacks on this page.

The $49 coach, linked below

Travel to Key West runs the same shape of day from $49 on Viator, rated 4.3 from 1,756 reviews:

• Hotel pick-ups between 6:10 and 7:30 a.m., depending on where you are staying. Be outside on the street a few minutes early.
• A breakfast stop on the way down, at your own expense.
• About six hours in Key West, with snorkeling, parasailing, a glass-bottom boat or the trolley offered once you are there.
• An air-conditioned coach with a restroom and Wi-Fi, and free cancellation up to 24 hours before.

The one thing neither operator publishes is the time the bus leaves Key West. Ask when you book, because it decides whether you see the sunset. Here is the sunset, from the U.S. Naval Observatory’s tables for Key West:

A bus that is back in Miami at 9:45 p.m., after a drive the operator itself puts at about three and a half hours, has left Key West well before the summer sunset. Mallory Square at sunset is the evening Key West is known for, and it is the part a day trip gives up.

There is no train, and the ferry is on the other coast

Two things people search for that do not exist:

• No train. The Monroe County visitor office says Amtrak and Brightline “take you as far south as Miami.” The railroad to Key West was Flagler’s, and its bridges are a bike trail now.
• No ferry from Miami. The Key West Express, the only scheduled passenger ferry, sails from Fort Myers Beach, at 8 a.m., and the operator says to plan on about 3.5 hours between ports. The visitor office also lists Marco Island; the operator’s own site lists Fort Myers Beach only. The ferry and its fares are here.

The public bus, which works if you start early

It exists, it is cheap, and it takes two buses:

1. Miami-Dade Route 301, the Dade-Monroe Express, from Florida City to Marathon. $2.65. The first bus leaves Florida City at 5:00 a.m. and reaches Marathon at 7:10 a.m.
2. Key West’s Lower Keys Shuttle, from Marathon to Key West. $4. The shuttle that leaves Marathon at 7:28 a.m. reaches Whitehead and Eaton, in Old Town, at 9:23 a.m.

Coming back, the shuttle that leaves Whitehead and Eaton at 4:08 p.m. reaches Marathon’s Sombrero Road stop at 5:43 p.m., the city’s marked transfer point to the 301, and the 5:50 p.m. 301 is in Florida City at 8:00 p.m. The 6:15 p.m. shuttle connects to the 9:00 p.m. 301, in Florida City at 11:10 p.m.

That is about seven hours in Key West for $13.30 in fares, if you can get to Florida City for a 5 a.m. bus. Miss a connection and you wait for the next one, so give it slack at both ends. The shuttle stops at Bahia Honda on the way, which is a whole other day out.

Driving it yourself

Key West is 159 miles from Miami, by the Monroe County visitor office’s count. The bus operator puts it at 163 miles from downtown and about three and a half hours. The Turnpike takes you to Florida City, where it ends at US 1, and from there it is the Overseas Highway, 42 bridges and largely two lanes. The visitor office’s own advice is that “at peak travel times traffic can become congested”.

Two practical points:

• Tolls are electronic only on the Turnpike and on Card Sound Road: SunPass, a compatible transponder or toll-by-plate. There are no cash booths.
• Park once. The city’s Old Town garage at 301 Grinnell Street is $6 an hour or $48 a day plus tax, and it takes cards and coins, not bills. The rest of the parking picture is here.

Seven hours of driving for six in town is a hard day for whoever is at the wheel. If you are driving anyway, it is a better trip as an overnight, and the drive itself is worth stopping on.

Flying

Key West International Airport lists American Airlines as the carrier flying non-stop to Miami. The airport is on South Roosevelt Boulevard, directly across from Smathers Beach, and the city’s taxi rules set a per-person airport fare to Old Town, covered on the getting-around page. Price the flights against the $74 bus before you decide.

What fits in six hours

Old Town is small enough to do on foot, and most of what a first visit wants is in it. Each of these has one fact that decides it:

• The Hemingway Home, 907 Whitehead Street. Open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day. Tickets are sold only at the gate, $19 for an adult, and cards cost 3% more, so bring cash. The guided tour takes 20 to 30 minutes and starts every 15.
• The Key West Lighthouse, across the street at 938 Whitehead. 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 is rebuilt. Map pins still send people to the old corner.
• The Butterfly and Nature Conservatory, 1316 Duval, two blocks from the buoy. 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., last admission 4:30, $17.50, and your ticket lets you back in as many times as you like until 4:30.
• Fort Zachary Taylor, the best beach on the island. $2.50 on foot, a daily fort tour at 11 a.m., and the fort closes at 5 p.m.
• A reef snorkel trip takes about three hours. It fits if its departure lines up with your bus; check the time before you book it.

A good six-hour shape: the Hemingway Home and the lighthouse first, since they face each other; south down Duval to the buoy and the butterflies; then Fort Zach for the water, or back to Duval for lunch.

What does not fit: the Dry Tortugas, which leaves at 8 a.m. and is back at 5:30 p.m. (the ferry page), and the sunset. The ferry needs a night on the island first, ideally within a walk of the terminal.

Pick the day around the cruise ships

Key West’s cruise ships are in port through the working day, and their passengers fill Old Town between Mallory Square and Duval through the middle of it, the same hours you have. The port publishes two calendars, and our cruise-days page shows how to read them. If your dates are flexible, choose a day with no ship in.

Which one

One day, no car, first visit: the bus tour. It is the least effort for the money, and six hours covers the Old Town essentials.

On a tight budget and up early: the public bus, for $13.30 round trip and a 5 a.m. start.

Driving anyway, or able to stay a night: stay the night. You get the sunset, a morning before the ships arrive, and the Dry Tortugas if you book it.

Below is the $49 coach day, then Viator’s full Key West catalog. Check the departure point on any listing before you book it.