Hotels in Key West

We drove down from Miami for a birthday long weekend in Key West. Give yourself about 4 hours if not more to get down there with the traffic and stops. We stayed at the Duval Gardens B&B which was very nice, great location on the quieter end of Duval Street. It's also right next door to a bike rental place, where, if you can handle family drama from the owners, you can rent bikes at about $40pp for the weekend. You definitely want to have a bike to tour around old town Key West, it's so much fun and everyone is doing it so it's quite safe. Mile Marker Zero, Hemingway's House, Mallory Square at sunset, Truman's Little White House, Fort Zachary Taylor State Park ($ and bring water shoes, beach is rocky), Southernmost Point, Shipwreck Museum - everywhere you turn there is something new to see while you ride around (maps available at every shop). Would recommend Louie's Backyard for a sunset drink as the view is amazing. Head down Duval Street in the evening to sit at one of the bars (Willy T's, Margaritaville, the Bull) to people watch (lots of stag/stagettes) and listen to live music. Would also recommend stopping in Bahia Honda State Park ($) on the way back to Miami. The beaches in Key West are small and Zachary Taylor quite rocky. Bahia Honda is long with soft sand and clear blue knee deep water - would be great for kids.

Key West is a great place to go if you want to kick back and either relax or have a stomping good time - it caters for every kind of traveler. Restaurants are expensive (as are most in Florida!) but there are plenty to choose from. Highlight for me was dinner at Latitudes. Everything, from the boat journey over to the fairytale setting of the open air tables, makes this a dining experience you should not miss while you are here. Strangely, this was one of the more reasonably priced meals of our trip, which made it even better! Don't expect to lounge on endless sandy beaches in Key West its self, there are better examples further up the Key's but if you find a nice spot, the water is pleasant and facilities near them generally good, if expensive. Beach chairs and umbrellas are cheaper then Miami Beach for instance, but expect to have to pay to be comfortable and if you are there for a few days, it soon eats into your budget.

Key West was our favourite place to visit on our 16 day tour of Florida. Such a chilled laid back happy go lucky place, great people, amazing food and bars, lots of amazing live music of all genres, cocktails to die for, especially the Key Lime daiquri's we picked up from a street counter and Pineapple caipirhana from the Sunset Pier bar, wowsa! One of the highlights though was lunch at Latitudes at Sunset Key...just perfect!! Key West we love you!!

The Cafe - a mostly vegetarian place is THE best place to eat in town, so go find it on day one. There were a few other good and less obvious places like Bien (for breakfast or lunch) which were good. Bagatelle also worth a mention for lunch (good coconut prawns). Outside of eating and drinking (and we are not shoppers and thats the only other thing to do in Key West) the tram hop on hop off tour was good. Very informative and covered lots of ground. Useful as then you can go back to places you liked on your own steam. Queues for the Hemmingway house meant we didnt go which was a shame. That area is worth exploring and is a lot more arty than Duval Street Ocean View end.

A day in the Bahia Honda National park (45-50 min drive), having a drink or two watching the sunset, strolling along the main street for dining or shopping were really nice. The sea around the island was not as good as I expected and was not suitable for swimming, especially for kids. If the weather is windy, I also would not recommend renting a boat. The gulf side is too shallow and dangerous if you don't know the area, the ocean side to wavy to get out. However, beaches on the island are good for relaxing.

Beautiful place with many things to do-beaches/historical buildings and houses/nature. Lots of places to choose for drinks and eats. To get real feel of the Key West, one should stay in old town or near by within talking distance. Otherwise rent something like a bike. We would recommend 2 or 3 nights. We found it a bit too rushed for just one night. This maybe due to the poor location of our hotel-far away.