Tyler and I wanted to take a trip in celebration of being together for 15 years as a couple, so we decided to head south to the Florida Keys… We were itching to venture someplace warm after a cold snowy winter, and it seemed like the perfect place to check out. We’ve been to Florida multiple times, but never the Keys, so we were really looking forward to it!
I created a little reference guide for us before we left just so we had an idea of what locations looked best to check out and which restaurants seemed to fit the vibe we like. I read blog posts and articles about other people’s trips and experiences, and made note of the advice they gave, and checked out different Instagram hashtags and feeds to find the beaches, restaurants, and places to check out that seemed to fit the experience we were going for.
Here’s a copy of my itinerary if you plan to take a trip soon and find this helpful! We didn’t follow it completely, but used it as a guide so we could time ourselves and make sure we were on a good pace to do all the things we wanted to do, including completely chill and do nothing on the beach. :)
KEY WEST ITINERARY
TRAVEL TIPS
Reserve your rental car when you book your hotel through Priceline! It makes it so much easier and you save on both! We reserved a “small SUV” and then asked for the Jeep upgrade when we got to the counter, mentioning it was our anniversary. The upgrade was complimentary! ;) I had a feeling this would happen, so I didn’t book the Jeep outright when I made the reservation online. It saved us over $400!
Unless you pay for auto check-in, set a reminder on your phone to check into your flight, 5-10 minutes before your check-in time so you can reserve your place in boarding line as early as possible if this is important to you. :)
Pack super lightly - you need less than you think! We packed necessities only, without any “free time” things like books, etc. because we’ve found that we really don’t end up using/needing it. Except Tyler had to bring his ukulele of course. :) But I just brought a single book with me for the plane.
Have a shared backpack of all the things you need throughout the trip like the itinerary, 1-2 credit cards, IDs, keys, and some cash. This way you can be hands-free when doing things, and can take turns carrying it.
Dress for the temperature of where you’re going so you don’t have to waste time changing at the airport or in your car once you’re there and just want to go explore! Simply take a hoodie with you for the plane if you get cold so you can just take it off and pack it away.
We get “hangry” so we like to make sure we bring lots of healthy protein bars, snack packs, and apples along for quick and easy pick-me-ups. Bringing our own ensures they’ll be healthy and sustainable for our bodies and energy, and also allows us to spend that money on something much more awesome than airport or gas station snacks.
Plan for a little extra time walking from point A to point B, especially when you’re returning from the Keys to fly home. Give yourself enough time to return the rental car, take the trolley train over to the main terminal, check in and go through TSA, etc. It takes a good bit of time to get in and out of there, that’s for sure.
So on our first day, we flew into Miami, which is a pretty large airport.
We had an early flight so we could get down into the Key Largo by lunchtime… The weather was clear and the flight was quick and easy. We arrived in Miami, picked up our JEEP from the rental car service, and began to make our way south…
About 30-40 minutes after leaving the airport, we started noticing that our scenery around us was changing and becoming marshy on both sides of the highway, followed by stunningly crystal blue water for miles and miles on either side of the road… We were listening to The Hip Abduction and Stick Figure with the top off the Jeep, soaking up the Florida sun as we entered into Key Largo just before stopping for lunch at Skipper’s Dockside for some of the best Calamari we’ve ever had, and a couple of cold beers from Islamorada Brewing Company, a few favorite of ours (more on this awesome beer later!).
Whenever I’m by sea water, it’s like I’m automatically in my peace zone… Even though the Keys have no real waves, just being near the open ocean with the clear blue sky and palm trees is just enough coastal perfection my soul was yearning for. What’s awesome about the vibe down here is that almost everyone is just so NICE! People are so willing to connect and talk, and everyone seemed to be content and happy doing their thing, in their own little world, hidden from all the muss and fuss from the mainland.
After lunch, we got back on the road, skipped a couple things on our itinerary (they were just ideas anyway, and we wanted to get out and just be by the water as quickly as possible…) and headed straight to our hotel. We stayed in a standard Fairfield so we could have a beach day, knowing that once we were in Key West, we’d have much more to do without the time to just lay in the sun and chill. Plus, Tyler and I have found that we really like to spend the first day or two just acclimating ourselves and settling in, getting a good lay of the land of wherever we’re visiting. So this was perfect.. We checked into the hotel, changed into our suits, grabbed our towels, my book, and his ukulele, and headed down the road a couple of miles to a liquor store for some ice cold beer, landing at Sombrero Beach, several hours before sunset.
It was perfect timing so we could get a slow introduction to the Florida sun… We are used to being outside in the sun but it’s much different this far south, so we were much more careful with our exposure and were sure to wear sunscreen! Especially knowing we still had the whole rest of our trip to go and we didn’t want to turn into lobsters on the first day.
Sombrero Beach is a really cute family beach with pavilions, bath houses, umbrellas and picnic tables, and a nice little beach to chill by for the day. I wouldn’t want to be here in peak-season of summer because there isn’t much room, but it was perfect for the time we were there (late April).
I could watch palm trees sway for hours, and that’s exactly what I did… We just took naps and relaxed in the sun, listened to some music and enjoyed watching all of the beautiful sunset hues color the sky.
After sunset, we headed back to the hotel and walked across the street to The Island Fish Co. for dinner and a couple of drinks. We sat at the bar and got a salad and some shrimp, which were pretty good, nothing notable really, but not bad (just being honest in case you ever go and visit). The atmosphere was cool though... I love the laid back tiki bar vibe, with an authentic (non-touristy/commercialized) feel, and this one definitely had that. We were lucky it was right across the street and we could just walk. :)
The next morning, I woke up early to watch the sun come up outside of our hotel, which was nice and peaceful. I made a little lizard friend too. They are everywhere down there!
We got up and ready to head south for breakfast at the Sunset Grille & Raw Bar which is right before the Seven Mile Bridge, which leads from Marathon to Bahia Honda Key, where we were excited to spend a good part of our day at the beach.
We were seated outside right next to the pool, overlooking the bridge and pier. It was the perfect way to start our day. Tyler got an espresso and I sucked down a deliciously spicy Bloody Mary before our meals came out. He got smoked salmon bagel with all of the goods, and I ordered the Acai bowl and eggs benedict, all of which was delectable and so fresh, colorful, and fun…
We’d love to come back here for lunch one day and hang out at the pool bar and take a dip with some cocktails!
As we continued driving south, the scenery started to change and feel a much more secluded and “islandy”. Bahia Honda State Park was just what we were looking for when we anticipated a “Key West beach day”. The water is gorgeous, the beach sand is light and clean, and the palm trees are waving in the ocean breeze. There were a decent amount of people there but not enough to where we couldn’t find a good spot to set up with our beach blankets.
We got into the water right away… It was warm but refreshing, crystal clear, and shallow most all of the way out until the barriers signify the “edge” of where we can swim.
I’d brought along some beer we purchased from the hotel lobby, Islamorada’s Coconut Key Lime Ale called “No Wake Zone” and let me tell you - IT IS AMAZING. I don’t like flavored beer so much, but this was so light, refreshing, crisp, and easy, with such a light taste of the coconut and key lime. To me, when I think about a beer in KW, that’s what I want to taste… I loved it… I was struggling because I wanted to just chug the whole thing it was so good, but savor it at the same time, all while drinking it before the sun warmed it up too much!
As a note, alcohol isn’t allowed on the beach but ya know… Vacay.
BAHIA HONDA BEACH DAY TIPS
There’s little to no shade, so bringing along an umbrella, sunscreen, and hats, especially if you plan to stay for a while. It doesn’t take more than a few minutes for the sun to sizzle the skin and it just helps to make the time on the beach more enjoyable and relaxing when you know your skin is protected.
The dark spots you see in the pictures below of the water are sea grass floating around just under the water’s surface. Unless there is grass, you can see straight through to the bottom. You get used to the grasses tickling you, but it is a little weird at first.
The gift shop/store sells goggles, which we want to get next time which would make being in the water a little more adventurous feeling. Would be fun to do a little snorkeling even though there isn’t much under there, but we did find some nice little shells.
Their gift shop has concessions and a nice array of drinks, ice cream, and of course, key lime pie, so if you forget to bring snacks or drinks, they’ve got you covered.
It was still pretty early when we had gotten there, maybe around 10:30 or so, and I think we left around 2:30 or 3:00, so we spent a good amount of time there, swimming and relaxing… The entire time there felt so much longer than it really was, because it just seemed to put me in an island trance, which was awesome and just what I wished it would do. :)
Siiigh, take me back!
People just come down here to have FUN and that overall feeling makes its way into everything down there… You’ve got jet skiers, boaters, fisherman, vacationers, and a few locals… And basically those same groupings again on repeat lol. They say Islamorada (which we drive through before getting to Marathon) is “a drinking town with a fishing problem” haha… And that’s the vibe throughout the Keys… except it’s not bad, slothful day drinking, it’s rad, chill, relaxing day drinking, self-care, and mental relaxation, so really it’s all therapy, right?? Right. :)
So after leaving Bahia Honda, it was time to head to Key West to check into our hotel. So far, we’d paced our trip perfectly, and had “just enough time” out in the sun during both of our beach days without feeling overly dehydrated or sun-scorched.
We couldn’t wait to see what KW was actually like… I can’t wait to share Part 2, from when we arrived, how we spent the afternoon, and our next day there. I’ll say this - we fell in LOVE with it. You know when you just visit somewhere and you feel like it just gets you? That’s how we felt KW was for us. The vibe is just soooo good… I can’t wait to share more. Till then, I’m gonna go dream about the Florida sunshine, sipping on a No Wake Zone or two… or three…
…or 4. ;)
takeaway tips
Pace yourself coming down through the Keys if you want to make the most of it, especially on the beaches. The one thing about the beaches is that they’re not like our typical coastal beaches on the mainland with surf and waves, and the beaches are also smaller and shorter than we’re used to. So get there when the beaches open and stay until you’re done in the sun, or else you may get too burnt to enjoy the rest of your time. The sun really does take it out of you down there if you’re not used to it, and it’s easy to forget. Key West has a couple beaches that we didn’t get to visit - hope to next time we’re down though!
Slower/simpler vibe through the Keys where KW has that feel too, but it’s more congested of an area. We appreciated the Keys more on our trip back up after we’d been in KW for a few days and want to explore it a bit more more intentionally next time we come back down because it’s where it seems like you can really enjoy the water, boating, sea life (visiting the Sea Turtle Hospital), snorkeling, etc… Where KW is more bars, restaurants, shops, walking, etc…
Everything has a very fishing town/tiki vibe and not as much of a luxurious feel, where when you get into downtown Old Town Key West, you’ve got more of those options if that’s what you’re going for. We wanted to start down to earth and end bougie, which is why we planned our trip the way we did. :)