How do you get to Key West from Miami?

The most common route is US Route 1, the Overseas Highway, which covers about 110 miles and crosses 42 bridges including the Seven Mile Bridge. The drive takes roughly 3.5 hours without stops. Key West International Airport (EYW) receives direct flights from Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Atlanta, Charlotte, Dallas, and a few seasonal routes from the Northeast. The Key West Express ferry runs from Fort Myers Beach on the Gulf coast, a journey of about 3.5 hours by sea.

Is Key West worth visiting for only one day?

A single day covers the core of Old Town on foot. You can walk from the Historic Seaport down Duval Street to the southern tip, visit one or two museums, catch sunset at Mallory Square, and eat dinner before heading back. That said, the island rewards a second or third day. The reef, the backcountry kayaking, and the slower rhythm of Bahama Village all need time to settle in.

When is hurricane season in Key West?

Hurricane season runs from June 1 through November 30, with September and October carrying the highest statistical risk. The island has well-practiced evacuation procedures and residents typically receive several days of warning. Travel insurance is worth considering for any trip booked between August and October. Storms that do arrive can shut down the Overseas Highway, the only road out.

Can you walk everywhere in Key West?

Old Town is about 1.5 miles from north to south and a mile across. Most visitors walk or bike between the major sites without difficulty. New Town, east of White Street, is more spread out and better served by bike or the city bus. A rental car is unnecessary for most trips unless you plan to drive back up the Keys to visit other islands like Marathon or Islamorada.

What is the best beach in Key West?

Fort Zachary Taylor State Park on the western tip has the clearest water and decent snorkeling, though the beach is rocky underfoot. Smathers Beach on the south side has a long sandy stretch popular with families and jet-ski renters. Higgs Beach near the Casa Marina neighborhood sits between the two in character, with calmer water and the African Cemetery memorial nearby. Rest Beach, next to Higgs, is the smallest and quietest of the public options.

How expensive is Key West compared to mainland Florida?

Noticeably more. Groceries, gas, and restaurant meals all cost more than the Florida average because nearly everything arrives by truck along a single highway. Hotel rates in high season (December through April) can reach double the summer prices. A sit-down dinner for two with drinks tends to run higher than comparable meals in Miami or Tampa. Budget travelers do better with guesthouses off Duval Street and lunch specials rather than dinner service.

Is Key West safe to visit alone?

The island scores 7.2/10 for solo-traveler safety (see /research/solo-safety/). The compact size, well-lit streets in Old Town, and walkability make it comfortable for solo visitors during the day and evening. Duval Street gets loud and crowded late at night, particularly during Fantasy Fest in October and Spring Break in March. Petty theft from unlocked bikes and scooters is the most common issue. The neighborhoods away from Duval are generally quiet after dark.

Do you need a car in Key West?

For a trip that stays on the island, no. Bikes and walking cover Old Town easily, and scooter or golf-cart rentals handle the longer stretch to New Town. If you plan to explore the Upper Keys or drive back toward Miami, a car is useful for the highway, but parking it in Old Town is difficult and often costly. Many visitors rent a car for the drive down, return it at the airport, and rely on two wheels for the rest of the trip.

Things to Do in Key West: A Complete Guide

Local 01:40

Weather 29° clear

Feels 35° · 80% · 9 km/h

Air 61 moderate

PM2.5 9.2 · PM10 18.7

Sun 07:12 → 19:33

Key West sits closer to Havana than to Miami, a flat coral island at Mile Marker Zero where US-1 finally runs out of road after threading 113 miles of open water and limestone keys. That geography shaped everything. In the 1800s the wrecking industry made it the richest city per capita in the United States, its fortune built on salvaging cargo from ships that foundered on the reef. When wrecking declined, Cuban cigarmakers arrived, then shrimpers, then the Navy, then writers: Hemingway typed in a second-floor study on Whitehead Street while six-toed cats roamed below, and Tennessee Williams worked for decades in a cottage off Duncan Street that most visitors walk past without noticing. The island is roughly two miles by four, small enough that the distinction between Old Town and New Town constitutes the entire mental map for most residents. Old Town holds the wooden conch houses with their wraparound porches and tin roofs, built from shipwreck timber and designed to channel Atlantic air through hallways before anyone had heard of air conditioning. Bahama Village, the historically Black Bahamian neighbourhood west of Duval, still runs at its own pace: roosters in the street, small restaurants serving cracked conch and peas and rice, porches where people sit. Duval Street itself is louder and stickier than the brochures suggest, fourteen blocks of bars and T-shirt shops that get genuinely rowdy after dark, but step one block in either direction and you find yourself on a quiet residential lane under poinciana trees. Every evening at Mallory Square the sunset draws jugglers and tourists holding frozen drinks, a ritual so ingrained it functions as municipal habit rather than spectacle. The real texture of Key West reveals itself mornings, when the heat is still manageable and the shrimp boats idle at the Bight.