Heading to Key West in June.

My wife and I, plus another couple. What activities should we do?
Dry Tortugas?
Booze Cruise?

It'll be 2.5 days there. 3 night.

I bumped a thread from a while ago since I will be there in June as well.
Hope this one gains traction as well.
Everglades will also be a part of Journey.
Only thing for sure for me so far is a key lime pie taste test of various places and Dry Tortugas NP hopefully by sea plane if my friends budget allows or I might be solo

Personally, I've been to KW twice, once on our first cruise and once where we drove there. We didn't explore it very much the first time because it was the first stop on our first cruise and didn't want to get left, hence the second trip. The second time, we were disappointed as there didn't seem much to do unless you are a heavy drinker. It'll probably be our last trip there. I do hope that y'all find something entertaining and possibly come back to this post with different feedback.

Interested to see what others say. While I've quoted this destination, I don't think I have ever booked it.

Ironically I just booked two 24 year olds, two 21 year olds and a 16 year old there this morning. Originally the grandparents were going. Seems like an odd place for that age group but it is what they wanted.

There are a lot of Keys threads. There are countless ways to visit with Keys.

I went with my wife for a baby moon a few years ago. I had always wanted to drive out across the keys.

I didn't hate it but I didn't love it. Here were my impressions.

1) The drive out felt like driving on South Padre Island. I always had this impression that it would be a lot more over water, but you on land most of the time. I had always wanted to do this and it didn't really meet my unrealistic expectation.

2) Key West isn't a beach destination, if you're looking for a sandy beach to lay on. There is a pay-to-access beach that is pretty well maintained, and if your group is really wanting beach time, it'll scratch that itch, but I assumed there would be nice beaches all over, and most of the shoreline is rocky.

Those were the negatives. But there were postives, too:

Overall, it lives up to the laid back vibe you probably expect. Once you get to the historic center, it's very walkable. Plenty of good food and drink.

Our trip was short, if you are there longer, I'd recommend that you plan out some excursion that might take you to some of the other keys. There are better beaches on some of them. If you are into fishing, there are great charter options on several of the keys.

There is a fun rum distillery that you can tour and get a locally made bottle of rum. I'd do that. The Hemmingway stuff is cool if it interests you.

Be ready to eat a lot of conch! Definitely do dry tortugas, and hit Everglades on the way there. There is (or at least used to be as I haven't been in several years) a sunset festival at Mallory square every day that was worth doing. Overall, the beaches in the keys are very rocky as someone else mentioned. Bahia hondo state park was the best beach we found during our trip. It's a solid hour or so away from key west. The drive is long and not really spectacular…most of the time is spent on land without water views instead of crazy long bridges. Duval st reminded me of bourbon, 6th, broadway, etc, so if bar hopping in a tropical area is your thing, that will be a big hit. The charter fishing is also excellent.

How many days will you be there? I think the best way for vacationers to do the keys is to split the trip up and spend 1/2 time in Islamorada and 1/2 time in Key West


Key West- Hemingway House tour, butterfly sanctuary, conch train tour, sunset cruise, snorkelling cruise are a good start.

Islamorada- feed the fish at Robbie"s, dolphin sanctuary and sea turtle rescue in Marathon (not far) are good places to visit, book a snorkelling or fishing tour. If you decide to spend a few days in Islamorada let me know and I can recommend some good places to eat.

Not to be a downer, but one more thing that was a bit jarring to me, and if you are driving the overseas highway, I think it's good to know. All the "good stuff" on Key West is in the historic west side of that key. When you cross the last bridge and arrive on Key West, you'll see what looks like the min beach part of Galveston or Port Isabel before you get to the lighthouse. Home Depot, Target, chain hotels… I was not prepared for that and my heart sunk when we got there. It's not far from there to Duvall Street and that part is drastically different.

We've done both flying into KW and driving from Miami.

We enjoyed the drive but the caveat is that we were with friends. We would identify bars on the way down and stop on several of the islands for drinks and/or food. We'd alternate who didn't have a beer at each stop. Not that we drank much anyway, but just to be safe. We hit ?4? places on the way down.

The water over the bridges is beautiful. It sucks if there's any wreck or construction on an island since its a 2-lane road.

On KW the smartest thing you can do (2 smartest) are 1 - stay closer to the west side. Doesn't have to be on Duval but get close. 2 - and most important - rent bicycles. It makes it super easy to quickly get from one place to the next AND make your own AC. It's also a blast just to ride through the neighborhoods looking at the homes. Don't rent a golf cart because you'll never find a spot to park it, or you'll park and pay once and walk the rest of the time. Get bikes or don't go.

We are repeat visitors of the Hemingway House, Butterfly Museum, Truman's Little Whitehouse. My shangri-la is cruising around on a bike w/a beer in hand. Grab a bite to eat, a roadie, cruise the hoods, repeat.

I also strongly recommend a place w/a nice pool and shade around it. Then you can make your own drinks and relax there during the heat of the day.

Also - there's plenty of fun to be had if you don't drink. The aforementioned watersports, museums, fun shops to window shop, plenty of fantastic places to eat, just cruising around and soaking in the laid back atmosphere, etc.

Our visit to KW was great, but we met a local couple who helped incredibly on what to see, where to go.
Duvall Street, the sunset, seafood at the docks, but the highlight was flying out to Fort Jefferson, we snorkeled, did the walking tour, it's a place like no other, fantastic history....and a testament to the US government even in the 1850's knowing how to waste $$$

If you are driving from south Florida, a stop at Alabama Jacks is a must.