People have been doing awesome things in Key West ever since there were pirates prowling the waters around the infamous island. From deep sea fishing to rambling down Duval Street until four in the morning, there is something for everyone. Use this handy guide whether you’re going to Key West for a day or a week.
Not enough for you here? That’s great! Then you’re the perfect person to check out our guide to the Ultimate Key West.
Cheat Sheet
Snorkel Tours
There are some awesome reefs around Key West, be sure to snorkel one of them. You can do an all day adventure or just do a morning or afternoon tour. Better yet, take one of the dolphin watching and snorkel combos and be the envy of your friends back home.
Scuba Diving
Key West waters are littered with sunken ships. They’ve been sunken both by accident and on purpose. Maybe you’ll find that sunken pirate booty and become famous! Or you can dive the USS Vanderberg and fin-walk the decks of a famous warship.
Want to scuba dive and don’t have a PADI Certification? No problem, there are plenty of PADI authorized shops that can teach you or you can do a Discover Scuba Course and start on the path to your dream of living underwater.
Deep Sea Fishing
One of the more awesome things to do in Key West is getting on a charter fishing boat and heading out to sea to land a big one, fish that is. Just imagine how excited your wife will be when you bring home that Sailfish and mount him in the living room! Grouper, Mahi Mahi, Snapper, you can even exact revenge for Amity Island and catch a shark.
Dry Tortugas National Park
Do yourself a favor and take a day and get over to Dry Tortugas. It’s about 70 miles from Key West and is only accessible by boat or seaplane. Surrounded by crystal clear waters is the historic Fort Jefferson, built in the 1800’s. Spectacular snorkeling abounds in the majestic blue waters encompassing the island. If you want to spend more than a day there pack your tent and stay at the campgrounds.
Want to keep track of what you did on your vacation? How about having a convenient place to jot down all your vacation thoughts? Maybe keep track of everywhere that you’ve been in one book? Check out our stylish journals to record all of your thoughts.
Each page has a black and white image of the cover on it. Available in hardcover or paperback.
Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum
Not only could Ernest Hemingway write, he was also an avid outdoorsman, and he loved to drink. He devoted his time in Key West to all three. He wrote 70 percent of his published works while he lived in this house. When he wasn’t writing you could find him on a boat deep sea fishing. As for the drinking, one trip to Key West will tell you everything that you need to know about that.
Take one of the guided tours through this wonderfully maintained house and step back in time to the 1930’s. Learn about how Ernest spent his days writing, playing and drinking. You can head on over to Sloppy Joe’s after and maybe after drinking there you’ll become a prolific writer too.
Fort Zachary Taylor Historical State Park
Put Fort Zachary on your list of awesome things to do in Key West. It’s a Civil War era fort that was used continuously until 1947. At one time it was three stories but through retrofits over the years, today it’s down to one story. That still gives you enough to see how soldiers lived and worked in the late 1800’s. The fort is filled with Civil War canons and if you time it right you can visit when they do a living history weekend where they have re-enactors portraying what it was like to be a soldier in 1861.
Your admission into Fort Zachary also allows you access to the beach, hiking, and biking trails so load up the car with the beach gear and you can make a full day there. The snorkeling and fishing are great off the beach and the sunsets are fantastic!
If you’re only going to be in Key West for three days, here’s the perfect guide for that!
Key West Historic Seaport
While Duval Street gets all the hype, there’s another area of town that is a great place to hang out. Filled with restaurants and bars that line up along the waterfront is the Key West Historic Seaport.
Here you can enjoy your dinner and watch the fishing boats come in after a day on the water and separate their catch. Or, enjoy a cocktail as the sun sets in the only way that it knows how to in Key West, spectacular!
Most places have live entertainment that carries on through the night and it’s close enough to Mallory Square that you can pop on over there and catch the shenanigans going on there.
Key West Paddleboard/Kayak Tours
What a great way to spend some time in Key West. Kayaking or paddleboarding among the many mangroves that are surrounding the Keys. Never been paddleboarding before? Don’t worry, they’ll teach you how!
Slicing through the shallow water on your stand up paddleboard at a nice leisurely pace, you can spot marine life below you. You think “how can this get any better?”. Well, it does, because as you’re cruising along you’ll also be getting a lesson on mangrove formation and the sea life that inhabits them from your guide.
Definitely take a morning or an afternoon to fit this in, you might even like it so much you’ll move up to paddleboard yoga!
Key West Hop-On Hop-Off Trolley Tour
Tired of walking? Spent too much time on Duval Street last night but you still want to go sightseeing? Then hop on board the Hop-on Hop- Off Trolley Tour!
You can buy one or two day unlimited passes that allow you to ride the trolley and get on and off as you please (just wait until the trolley comes to a full stop!). Get off at the stops that you want to see and while you’re on the trolley sit back and listen as the expert guides give you the history of the island and it’s attractions.
Don’t worry about being stranded at a stop for too long, usually another trolley arrives about every 20 minutes and the trolleys run from 9:00 am to 4:30 pm.
