Key West, Florida travel guide: attractions, activities and visitor information

Key West occupies a curious and compelling position at the end of the Florida Keys — a small island city closer to Havana than to Miami, with a history shaped by shipwrecks, rum, presidential retreats and one of America’s most famous literary residents. The atmosphere here is genuinely unlike anywhere else in the United States: Caribbean in pace and architecture, eccentric by long tradition, and rewarding in ways that go well beyond the Duval Street bar crawl that defines it for many visitors. The Hemingway Home, Harry Truman’s Little White House and the city’s maritime museums give Key West real historical substance; the mangrove kayaking, Dry Tortugas National Park and Fort Zachary Taylor add outdoor depth; and the rum distilleries tell a genuinely interesting story about American spirits history. These guides cover Key West’s key attractions and experiences with practical information on ticket prices, opening hours and what to expect on arrival.

Historic sites, museums and landmarks

Key West’s compact historic district contains an unusually dense collection of significant sites — presidential, literary, maritime and military — most of them within easy walking distance of each other. These guides cover what each attraction actually involves, how long to allow, and whether the entrance fee is justified.

• Hemingway Home and Museum Key West: ticket prices, opening hours and visitor guide — the Spanish Colonial house where Ernest Hemingway lived and wrote through the 1930s, now a museum whose resident population of six-toed cats has become as much of a draw as the literary heritage.
• Harry Truman’s Little White House, Key West: inside the presidential retreat — the naval station house where Truman spent 175 working days of his presidency, with a guided tour that covers both the Cold War decisions made here and the building’s wider history as a presidential escape for Eisenhower, Kennedy and others.
• Key West Lighthouse: can you go inside? Ticket prices, hours and visitor guide — an 1848 lighthouse in the heart of the historic district, climbable for views over the island’s rooftops, with a keeper’s quarters museum that tells the story of the families who lived and worked here.
• Key West Shipwreck Treasure Museum: ticket prices, hours and visitor guide — a theatrical retelling of Key West’s 19th-century wrecking industry, when the city was the wealthiest per capita in the United States thanks to the salvage of ships foundering on the reef.
• Mel Fisher Maritime Museum Key West: ticket prices, hours and visitor guide — the serious counterpart to the Shipwreck Museum, housing actual treasure recovered from the Atocha and Santa Margarita shipwrecks alongside significant archaeological collections from the Florida Keys and beyond.
• Key West Aquarium: what to expect and how to plan your visit — Key West’s oldest tourist attraction, opened in 1934, with touch tanks, shark feeding and an outdoor Atlantic Shores exhibit that makes it a compact but worthwhile stop, particularly for families.

Outdoor experiences and activities

Key West’s position at the meeting point of the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico — surrounded by coral reefs, mangrove islands and open water — gives it an outdoor offer that extends well beyond the island itself. Fort Zachary Taylor provides the best beach on the island; the mangrove kayaking tours reveal an ecosystem most visitors drive straight past; and Dry Tortugas, reachable only by ferry or seaplane, is one of the most remarkable national parks in the country. The rum distilleries, meanwhile, tell a story rooted firmly in the island’s geography and history.

• Fort Zachary Taylor Historic State Park: visitor guide to Key West’s best beach — a Civil War-era fort with the finest swimming beach on the island, less crowded than the public beaches and combining genuine military history with good snorkelling on the reef just offshore.
• Key West mangrove kayaking tours: guide to exploring the backcountry with prices — guided kayak tours through the mangrove islands north and east of Key West, covering what to expect, which operators are worth booking, and why the backcountry ecosystem is one of the most ecologically significant in Florida.
• Dry Tortugas National Park: what makes it worth the journey — a remote archipelago 70 miles west of Key West, accessible only by ferry or seaplane, dominated by the vast 19th-century Fort Jefferson and surrounded by some of the clearest water and best snorkelling in the Florida Keys.
• Rum tasting in Key West: how the US home of rum went legal — the story of Key West’s rum distilling heritage, from its Caribbean roots through Prohibition and back to legality, with a guide to what the current distillery tours and tastings involve.

Planning your Key West visit

Key West is at the end of US-1, roughly three and a half hours from Miami by car — the drive down the Overseas Highway, hopping between islands on a series of bridges over open water, is an experience in itself. The island is small and most attractions are walkable or easily reached by bicycle, which is the preferred local mode of transport. High season runs from December to April, when the weather is reliably warm and dry; summer is hot and humid with a real risk of hurricanes from June through November. The Dry Tortugas ferry books out weeks in advance during peak season and should be reserved as early as possible. If you’re planning a three-day visit and want a ready-made itinerary, the guide below covers the ground efficiently.

• How to spend three days in Key West: a practical itinerary — a day-by-day guide to making the most of 72 hours on the island, covering the Hemingway Home, Little White House, Dry Tortugas and the best of what lies in between.

How many days do you need in Key West?

Three days is the ideal minimum. One day disappears quickly on Duval Street and the headline sights; two days allows you to add the Hemingway Home, Little White House and a kayaking tour; three days opens up a full day at Dry Tortugas, which is the experience most visitors remember longest. A fourth day suits anyone who wants to snorkel Fort Zachary Taylor’s reef, visit both maritime museums and take the distillery tour without feeling rushed.

What is Key West best known for?

Key West is best known for its association with Ernest Hemingway, the nightly Sunset Celebration at Mallory Square, Duval Street’s bar scene, and its general reputation as America’s most laid-back and eccentric city. Among more historically minded visitors it is known for the Truman Little White House, the shipwreck and maritime museums that tell the story of the 19th-century wrecking industry, and Dry Tortugas National Park. The six-toed cats at the Hemingway Home have developed a following entirely their own.

Is Key West worth visiting?

Yes, though it suits some travellers more than others. Key West rewards visitors who engage with its history and its natural surroundings — the literary sites, the maritime museums, the backcountry kayaking, the Dry Tortugas — rather than those who come primarily for beaches, which are not the island’s strongest suit. The atmosphere is genuinely unique and the concentration of good attractions in a small, walkable area makes it easy to fill several days without a car. It is not a cheap destination, but most of the main attractions justify their prices.