Road tripping from Key Largo to Key West

Driving from Key Largo to Key West 

The Florida Keys are a popular vacation destination. They are series of islands connected by state highway 1. We travelled down the keys in January 2021 because they are the launch point to get to Dry Tortugas National Park. We decided to make a day trip of the drive and make stops along the way.

Information about driving from Key Largo to Key West 

-From Key Largo to Key West it is roughly 93 miles and will take roughly 2 hours if you drive it straight through

-  The road takes you on multiple keys and over the ocean, the longest stretch being 7 miles of ocean. 

-The road is a state highway- not an interstate. It is a one lane highway most of the way so be prepared to get stuck behind slow people and all the joys that come with driving on a one lane highway. 

- Everything gets more expensive the closer you get to Key West- we purposely filled our tank with gas before setting off on this trip to avoid having to pay Key West gas prices. 

- A good break point is Islamorada- we found there was a lot of fun things to do in this town so we purposely planned to take a break and have lunch in this town.  

Things to stop and explore on the way to Key West

Rain Barrell Village

This was a unique shopping area- most of it outdoors in Islamorada. They had mostly boutiques with local crafts. We enjoyed wandering around and looking everything. It is easy to spot this from the road because it has giant sculpture of a crayfish in the front of the village. 

History of Diving Museum 

This is a small museum located in Islamorada dedicated to the history of scuba diving. We found it to be very informative and interesting to learn about how scuba diving grew to what it is today. It is $15 a person to enter the museum and they are open from 10-5 every day. 

Florida Keys Brewing Company 

This is a small micro brewery in Islamorada. Every time we go somewhere we like to try the local beer. This is more fun because craft breweries are becoming very popular. This place had really nice outdoor seating. We enjoyed our beers in the Florida Shade. 

Things to do in Key West 

Visit the Southernmost point 

This is just a sign (see picture below) at the southern most point in the continental US. It is not the southernmost point in the entire US- that is in Hawaii and I was just there recently. There is almost always a line of people waiting to have their picture taken in front of it so be prepared to wait if you want a picture. I think we waited in line for 5-10 minutes to get this picture taken.  

Visit the Truman Little White House

This is President Truman's summer home and has also hosted a few other presidents. You can tour the home and learn about Truman and the other presidents that have stayed here. It is a little expensive at $25 a person- but in Key West everything is expensive. 

Visit Ernest Hemingway's House

This is the former home of author Ernest Hemingway in the 1930s. You can tour his home and learn about his life- there are a lot of cats that now live in the house so be careful if you are allergic. It is $17 a person to get a 30 minute tour and they currently only take cash for admission. 

Climb the Key West Lighthouse 

This is an iconic lighthouse in key west erected by the US Navy in 1848. You can walk up the 88 steps to the top and get views of Key West. It is $17 a person to walk up to the top.

Eat Key Lime Pie and sample some rum at the "First legal  Rum Distillery in Key West" 

Downtown Key West has a famous key lime pie shop- you can by whole pies, slices or pies on a stick- they are absolutely delicious! We also sampled some key lime rum a the "First legal rum distillery in key west" 

Overall thoughts on Key West

Overall Key West is not my most favorite vacation destination. I find it to be too crowded and fairly overpriced. We primarily were travelling there as a means to get to Dry Tortugas National Park. Also if you are looking for a beach vacation- Key West is not your key- there are very few beaches there and the ones that do exist are not that great. If I were planning on visiting Key West again I think I would purposely try to stay in an air bnb or something similar on a different key. We passed many keys that had very nice looking beach vacation rentals and I think I would try to stay there instead and drive into key west to go out to eat and go shopping. Honestly I felt a little let down by Key West because I've met so many people who absolutely love it and I just don't see why.