What's new
Fantasy Football - Footballguys Forums

This is a sample guest message. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

Who has been to the FL Keys? (1 Viewer)

Helaire-ious

Helaire-ious

Footballguy
Looks like that will be vacation this June or July for the other half and I.

Looking for ideas/suggestions on where to stay, things to do, places to go etc please :)

 
Be sure to check out The Garden of Eden. Just remember some things can't be unseen.

Make sure to check out the Dry Tortugas while your there well worth the trip.

 
If you like fishing Dream Catchers charters will definitely put you on the fish. I caught my first tarpon using them. Also the best conch sandwich can be had at B&Os fishwagon.

 
Dry Tortugas is a great suggestion. Not so sure about Key West. If you're into huge throngs of people bar hopping off cruise ships then I guess so.  More of a day trip place for me. I prefer to stay up in the Marathon area so I can do day trips down to Key West or north to Islamorada. And Marathon has good water access to the ocean or gulf in case of weather.

 
Touristy things for Key West - souther tip marker obviously, green parrot bar, duval street

On Duval Street - Irish Kevins is a spot I like.  But there are tons of bars.

If you would like to do some interesting people watching  Dante's is um interesting.  

I'm a big fan of the half shell bar :shrug:

We also enjoyed the Sunset Pier but that is 100% near the cruise ships, luckily there weren't any when we went  Its been a long time sorry Im not of more help, I can't remember all the bars we visited the week we were down :bag:

 
Last edited by a moderator:
I went during Hurricane Hugo, staying with a friend in Homestead.  Caribbean Club was our main hang, fun club. Was in the movie Key Largo I believe. We also enjoyed some Hurricanes at a Tiki Bar outside a hotel. We didn't venture farther south due to the Hurricane. This was in August.

 Went to a home party on the canals(?) The host's were very generous...tabled about a yard of marching power with the welcome of, do what you want...just be aware of what you are doing lol. They had cigarette boat's parked outside. Assuming they were also friends of the Cubans that were associates of my friends I was visiting.

'

 
Robbie’s in Islamorada is a pretty cool stop on your way to whatever Key you’re traveling too. Especially if hand feeding hundreds of tarpon is your thing. Spent a lot of summers as a kid in Marathon. My great grandfather was the chef at the Banana Bay resort. Marathon is an awesome central location to stay at imo. It’s about an hour drive to Key West and Key Largo. If you’re looking for the bar scene and more of a nightlife, Key West is your best bet. Wherever you decide to stay, it will be amazing. There’s no place like the Florida Keys!

 
Last edited by a moderator:
My favorite place in the US.  Lots of great suggestions so far.  Just remember that if you're looking for a beach to chill on you won't find it in Key West.  For Zach has a kind of a beach where you can get in the water and do some snorkeling, but Key West is meant to eat, drink, walk around and people watch.

The Tortugas are awesome and there is tons of great fishing if that's your bag.  If there was more than one road into the damn place I'd retire there instead of one of the gulf keys like Anna Maria Island.

Enjoy, you're gonna love it. 

 
Dry Tortugas-  unbeatable. Fly. The flight out is almost as great as the snorkel around the fort.

I also pickleballed with the locals at Higgs Beach. 6 courts, public, only place I've pb'd in FL where the beers were popping at 9:00am.

 
Ron Swanson said:
Dry Tortugas is a great suggestion. Not so sure about Key West. If you're into huge throngs of people bar hopping off cruise ships then I guess so.  More of a day trip place for me. I prefer to stay up in the Marathon area so I can do day trips down to Key West or north to Islamorada. And Marathon has good water access to the ocean or gulf in case of weather.
Click to expand...
We don't plan to stay in Key West. Where do you stay in Marathon or Islamoada?

 
Joe Mammy said:
Dry Tortugas-  unbeatable. Fly. The flight out is almost as great as the snorkel around the fort.

I also pickleballed with the locals at Higgs Beach. 6 courts, public, only place I've pb'd in FL where the beers were popping at 9:00am.
Click to expand...
We live in PA so of course we're flying. Flying into Ft Lauderdale as usual. I have friends in South, FL. Never gone to the Keys all the times I have been down there

 
James Daulton said:
My favorite place in the US.  Lots of great suggestions so far.  Just remember that if you're looking for a beach to chill on you won't find it in Key West.  For Zach has a kind of a beach where you can get in the water and do some snorkeling, but Key West is meant to eat, drink, walk around and people watch.

The Tortugas are awesome and there is tons of great fishing if that's your bag.  If there was more than one road into the damn place I'd retire there instead of one of the gulf keys like Anna Maria Island.

Enjoy, you're gonna love it. 
Click to expand...
Where do you normally stay?

 
JShare87 said:
Robbie’s in Islamorada is a pretty cool stop on your way to whatever Key you’re traveling too. Especially if hand feeding hundreds of tarpon is your thing. Spent a lot of summers as a kid in Marathon. My great grandfather was the chef at the Banana Bay resort. Marathon is an awesome central location to stay at imo. It’s about an hour drive to Key West and Key Largo. If you’re looking for the bar scene and more of a nightlife, Key West is your best bet. Wherever you decide to stay, it will be amazing. There’s no place like the Florida Keys!
Click to expand...
We are not bar flies, but I do like to drink & eat :D

 
belljr said:
Touristy things for Key West - souther tip marker obviously, green parrot bar, duval street

On Duval Street - Irish Kevins is a spot I like.  But there are tons of bars.

If you would like to do some interesting people watching  Dante's is um interesting.  

I'm a big fan of the half shell bar :shrug:

We also enjoyed the Sunset Pier but that is 100% near the cruise ships, luckily there weren't any when we went  Its been a long time sorry Im not of more help, I can't remember all the bars we visited the week we were down :bag:
Click to expand...
Thank you. Care to expand on some of those? :D

 
Helaire-ious said:
We live in PA so of course we're flying. Flying into Ft Lauderdale as usual. I have friends in South, FL. Never gone to the Keys all the times I have been down there
Click to expand...
He means to fly from Key West to the Dry Tortugas National Park. 

You can either take a 2 hr boat ride (each way) or you can take a sea plane. We took the boat and really had a great time but the sea plane option looked pretty awesome.

 
The Dreaded Marco said:
He means to fly from Key West to the Dry Tortugas National Park. 

You can either take a 2 hr boat ride (each way) or you can take a sea plane. We took the boat and really had a great time but the sea plane option looked pretty awesome.
Click to expand...
Sea plane looked cool, but the boat had a bar iirc.

 
Helaire-ious said:
Thank you. Care to expand on some of those? :D
Click to expand...
Southern marker is the southern most point in US.  It's just a land mark but you can take a pic. That is also not too far from The Hemingway way house if you are so inclined.

Duval street is the main drag where most of the bar hopping takes place. 

Dante's is a bar/pool bar that had everyone imaginable there (when we were there)

Half shell is a small bar with good food imo 

Sunset Pier is just that .... A place to get food and drinks with a band to watch the sunset. If there is a cruise ship it will be mobbed.

We ate dinner one night at Conch Republic Seafood Company.... Really good imo

 
Random said:
Sea plane looked cool, but the boat had a bar iirc.
Click to expand...
The bennies of the flight is everyone gets a headset and the pilot plays rock music but interrupts it to point out shipwrecks, large sea turtles, sharks etc. You fly really low and slow but you beat the boat by hours to give you more uncrowded beach time or time to explore the fort from the inside. We snorkeled all the way around the fort and saw alot of sea life.

And you can bring a cooler on the plane with as much beer as you want. Rough seas can make for a longer and unpleasant boat ride but I'm sure it's great on flat days.

 
We rented a house there with a group of college buddies back in September.  One of the non-drinking highlights was a jet ski tour around the island.  Spent about 40 mins heading out and around the island on a tour.  Then had about 20 mins or so to do stupid stuff on the jet skis.  Then another ~40 mins to head back to the starting point. 

Don't do what I did and really push the limits of the jet ski and try some stupid tricks.  I sprained my ankle so bad in the footwell when I threw myself off that I thought it was broken when I was in the water.  I was limping around for a month or so while also going to physical therapy.  Four months later finally back to functionality and going to the gym again but its still giving me some pain / problems.  So a fun activity as long as you're not stupid like me.

We spent a good chunk of one day at the pool at Dante's and had alot of fun but I have no idea how we all didn't catch covid or something else from that water.

You have to at least stop in and check out the Garden of Eden, plus I liked the open air bar with live music on the ground floor anyway, The Bull & Whistle Bar.  Was less crowded and more laid back than some other places.  Alot of the live music sounded alot more like karaoke while we were there but I did like Gerd Rube who was at Bull & Whistle a couple times while we were there.

Definitely seemed like an older (like us) crowd & bachelorette parties while we were there so not as many young drunk punks to have to deal with on the streets that some other popular places down there.  

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Ron Swanson said:
Dry Tortugas is a great suggestion. Not so sure about Key West. If you're into huge throngs of people bar hopping off cruise ships then I guess so.  More of a day trip place for me. I prefer to stay up in the Marathon area so I can do day trips down to Key West or north to Islamorada. And Marathon has good water access to the ocean or gulf in case of weather.
Click to expand...
Saw the thread title and immediately thought, "if you're in Key West, you've gone too far".....no need to go beyond Marathon or Big Pine.  Key West is a place to visit and leave IMO....and I got married there :lol:  

 
Funny that this thread popped up as the wife and I have just decided to fly to the keys in early March.   We've never been so looking for recommendations on where to stay.   I'll have a car so can drive anywhere depending on what we want to do during the day but definitely want to stay within walking or Uber distance to nightlife.

 
Godsbrother said:
Funny that this thread popped up as the wife and I have just decided to fly to the keys in early March.   We've never been so looking for recommendations on where to stay.   I'll have a car so can drive anywhere depending on what we want to do during the day but definitely want to stay within walking or Uber distance to nightlife.
Click to expand...
If you are going in March stay away from Key West. Spring Break will be going on you would be better off staying on another key. Marathon would be the best location wise.  You could hit both lower and upper keys from there.

 
Godsbrother said:
Funny that this thread popped up as the wife and I have just decided to fly to the keys in early March.   We've never been so looking for recommendations on where to stay.   I'll have a car so can drive anywhere depending on what we want to do during the day but definitely want to stay within walking or Uber distance to nightlife.
Click to expand...
Are you flying into KW? Depending on how many days you will be there the best mode of transpo is a bicycle. When we go all the way down we drive with our beach cruisers on the back, park and then ride the bikes exclusively to sight see, barhop, restaurants, pickleball etc. 

Also, I just saw where they just reopened the old 7 mile bridge to foot traffic and bikes. This is also a great bike ride to nowhere.

 
I have only been once, 20 years ago.  

Remember liking Irish Kevin's, Hog's breath bars.  

Mangoes and Louie's are the only only restaurants I recall... both very good at the time

 
Joe Mammy said:
Are you flying into KW? Depending on how many days you will be there the best mode of transpo is a bicycle. When we go all the way down we drive with our beach cruisers on the back, park and then ride the bikes exclusively to sight see, barhop, restaurants, pickleball etc. 

Also, I just saw where they just reopened the old 7 mile bridge to foot traffic and bikes. This is also a great bike ride to nowhere.
Click to expand...
Will be flying into Miami and driving from there.

 
Personally not a big fan of Key West. Have only been once but just kinda felt like one giant tourist trap. 

 
[icon] said:
Personally not a big fan of Key West. Have only been once but just kinda felt like one giant tourist trap. 
Click to expand...
Huh, I think it's the complete opposite.  Sure you've got Mallary Square which is very touristy, but Duval street is long and there are tons of great bars and restaurants on it and off it.  lus you've got all the water sports (hehe), the history, and access to all the other Keys.

Love love love Key West. 

 
James Daulton said:
Huh, I think it's the complete opposite.  Sure you've got Mallary Square which is very touristy, but Duval street is long and there are tons of great bars and restaurants on it and off it.  lus you've got all the water sports (hehe), the history, and access to all the other Keys.

Love love love Key West. 
Click to expand...
I don't mind the other keys.. and it may have just been my experience that day... but Duval reminded me of a Bourbon Street with worse food. 

 
Each time I've been we have stayed at the Truman Annex. Great place to stay.

The Shipyard at the Truman Annex specifically is where I stayed.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Bump..

Going to Marathon FL for Spring Break, April 1-10..  Staying at The Tides at Vaca Cut..  We've never been to the Keys.. Planning on a day trip to Key West.  Beyond that, no plans. Any info/tips besides what has already been posted would be great!

 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

El Floppo
Naples and Sardinia?
2
Replies
74
Views
1K
DA RAIDERS
DA RAIDERS
B
Question for European Travelers
Replies
45
Views
1K
Beef Ravioli Part 2
B
MTskibum
Northern new mexico - any summer ideas?
Replies
7
Views
665
Don Quixote
Don Quixote

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 1 (members: 0, guests: 1)
Back
Top