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Things To Do in Key West

Explore and Discover Key West on Foot

Get out your walkin' shoes, because one of the finest ways to explore Key West is to wander around on foot discovering things. Walk around Old Town, or up and down Duval Street, or along the Historic Seaport, which was designed for walking. There are also organized walking tours that focus on anything from gardens to spooky-oriented ghost tours, according to your liking.

Other ways of discovering Key West are by tourist trolley--definitely very efficient at getting you and lots of other weary tourists to all the major must-see spots in Key West, but definitely less cool. If you happen to visit when it's blazing hot outside, however, trolley train or the Conch Train will save you from wilting in the heat. Sometimes it's just too hot out to walk.

Key West Fountian

Must See These Things in Key West

Everyone comes to Key West for different reasons, although the sunny tropical weather seems to have a lot to do with it for most people. Nevertheless, there are some attractions in Key West that everyone would enjoy seeing, and which make Key West what it is....things such as the Southernmost Point, Duval Street, Hemingway House, and the Sunset Celebration at Mallory Square.

Mallory Square

Mallorq Square is the downtown waterfront gathering place of Key West. It's where the cruise ships dock, where bands set up to play for festivals and holidays, where vendors and performers come each afternoon and evening to entertain tourists, and the best spot in town for viewing the sunset. It's got a large, open plaza right on the water which of course makes it ideal for all those activities described above. It's right at the end of Duval Street, close to restaurants, so after the sun goes down, everybody floods into town for some scrumptious dinner at one of the many fine restaurants lining Duval Street and the side streets that branch off it.

Hemingway House

At least do a drive-by of Ernest Hemingway's former home. He's such an icon in Key West, and so much embodies the wild Key West spirit, and Key West has made such a big deal of him and his love of the town and its bars and the fact that he wrote For Whom the Bell Tolls here. Even a stroll past his gates or a drive through Whitehead Street, where the house is located, will give you a lasting sense of the grand charm of this old gem of a house. The high brick walls are even romantic and lovely, and there are spots where you can peek into the side garden, hopefully catching glimpse of a cat or two. You can peek through the front gate entrance as well, which is where they've set up a ticket booth. You can see the wide front porch and some of the old-school lush landscaping he enjoyed.

If you opt for the tour, you get a nicely crafted talk that winds you through the house where you'll see a wall in the dining room full of pictures of Hemingway's various wives. The tour works itself outside to the back yard where you'll hear the famous story of the unbelievably expensive swimming pool that put a large strain on his budget, not to mention his marriage. You'll meet the cats, for which Hemingway House is famous, even though it's said that it was in Cuba, not Key West, where Hemingway actaully owned so many cats. Oh well, they're here now, to stay!

Key West Garden

Duval Street

Come on, everyone has to try it at least once. How can you resist walking into Sloppy Joe's Bar, or feeling the ambiance of this busy, packed street crammed full of galleries, restaurants, boutiques and of course bars. Anyone who knows who Jimmy Buffet is, or even those who don't, will want to poke their head inside the pastel-colored cafe and adjoining gift shop just to see what all the fuss is about. The galleries make for wonderful window shopping, but too bad they're way down at the other end of Duval Street, further from the starting point of most people walking Duval, at the Mallory Square end. But keep on plugging through Duval to the end, because you'll find yourself in the vicinity of the Southernmost Point, which is another must-see of Key West.

The Southernmost Point

It's strange, but people love to visit and have their pictures taken next to a gigantic buoy painted red, installed on some oceanfront property on the south side of Key West. Perhaps the knowledge that you're as far south as you could possible be while still standing on U.S. soil (not counting Hawaii, of course). Perhaps it's because this red marker is so much a symbol of vacationing in Key West, people feel they have to visit. If you're going to have your picture taken, this is the spot. The large red object makes for good color swathes in your portrait, and it couldn't be any more picturesque, with the blue ocean water behind your back. Recently, someone has installed strange human-like sculptures around the marker, depicting tourists having their picture taken. This leaves less room for the real tourists who want to have their picture taken, so it's puzzling why the statues were put here, since they only seem to be in the way. Many people visit the Southernmost Point, and it's located on a little corner of land so there's not much room anyway.

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