[wendyquat]

I may be the only person who has never been to Key West and we have decided to make the trip soon! I would like to hear of your Key West experiences, ie, good location to stay, restaurants not to miss and anything else to help me plan our trip. Thanks

[JB in TV]

Sorry I can't help, but I am anxious to hear what folks have to say as well. And how long a drive from the Villages?

[DougB]

About an 8 hour drive and unless you are interested in diving and fishing i wouldn't make the trip.

[jackz]

Alternative to the long drive is to drive to Ft Myers Beach where there is a Catamaran that goes to Key West and returns to Ft Myers.

You can make it a day trip or overnight and return the next day.

[DonH57]

We've had a great time in Key West. We stayed in a 3 bedroom condo about 6 blocks from Duval street. Ate in some great restaurants and I hit some of the bars. There are lot of art stores and shopping. There are also beaches and museums. We found the Conch train to be an informative and fun.

[billethkid]

We stayed on Islamorada which is one of the islands in the Keys chain....second or third one from Miami. Then we day tripped to the oints of interest all along the keys and there are many. We consciously chose to have Key West as a day trip and not a destination.

Google the keys and read up on all the islands. They each have a different specialty they are noted for.

btk

[mainlander]

Key West:
I found the "Best Western" downtown a good place to stay, reasonable rates, nice pool and a short walk to the night life, parades, restruants (Duval Street). Just park and walk, you will not need to drive. A fairly quiet neighbourhood, yet close to the scene. the Hemminway house is worth the tour if only for the narrative. Loads of walking amusements and sights, well worth the trip imo. Enjoy. I have been down a few times and will likely return again in the future.

[Schaumburger]

I would definitely visit the Little White House that was used by Pres. Harry Truman several times as a getaway while he was president. Up until at least Pres. Clinton's term in office, this house was still used occasionally by presidents to host special events.

If you stay close enough to Duval Street you won't even need to rent a car. I believe Halloween is a big deal in Key West, and prices for hotels go up quite a bit right before Halloween. When I went to Key West a few years ago, it was a couple of weeks before Halloween, and the person running the B&B I stayed at remarked how much hotel room rates go up at Halloween.

There are lots of B&B's in Key West. If you have issues with climbing stairs (which I don't), that may be something to consider. I would definitely go back to Key West again -- very enjoyable.

[Applepie]

We stayed at a B&B on
Duval Street which is the main street in KW where all the action is. Would visit Hemingway's House and the Southern White House. Beaches for swimming are not real good. Enjoyed people watching and eating Key Lime pie. Lots of interesting shops on
Duval Street. Loved seeing the old restored homes. My mother was born in Key West.

[stuckinparadise]

We've been to Key West several times and loved it. My husband and I are retired military so we stayed at the NAS base there, it's only a few blocks from Duval Street. My whole family loves Ernest Hemingway, so we visit the Hemingway house every time we go there. We also go on the catamaran (sp) outings to snorkel during the day and at night we do the champagne cruise. We used Sabago for those trips. Have fun and let us know how you liked it.

[Madelaine Amee]

We love Key West, we go once a year after the winter season is over. We have driven and taken the Ferry, but now we prefer to fly South West out of Orlando and have a cab take us to our hotel of choice. We stay right on Duval Street at La Concha, which is considered a historic hotel on Key West. It is decorated in the old period style. Hemingway and all his buddies used the hotel as their "watering hole" and there are photos of him everywhere.

If you go make sure to get to Mallory Square every night for the sunset and free entertainment, and also to watch the chickens roost in the trees on the square. Also, for us, it is a must to eat at La Trattoria, a superb Italian restaurant right on Duval.

We don't bother with a car, you can rent a golf cart, use the Conch train which runs out of Mallary Square, and there are also bicycle cabs like rickshaws which are fun.

We miss a real night life and Duval street comes "alive" at night. We stay for about three days and get our night life fix.

[DonH57]

I forgot to include Truman's Little White house tour. The best breakfast lplace we found was the Blue Heaven restaurant if you like eating outside.

[njbchbum]

love, love, love key west! each of the tourist spots mentioned make the trip worthwhile! we also enjoyed the key west lighthouse and grounds - but sunset at mallory square took the cake! you might also want to add half shell raw bar 231 margaret st [just off duval] 305-294-7496 to your restaurant list - fresh, fresh, fresh! we stayed at the southernmost hotel and i can't say enuf about the goodness of the stay there! would have loved to be there in our younger days when we were more likely to do 'the duval crawl'!

[OpusX1]

Key West is great. We go every year for a week. Fantasy Fest is the last full week of October, sometimes it hits Halloween but not always. Lodging is extremely high the week of FF.

Lots of great places to stay. Lots of B & B's We have stayed at Heron House on Simington and love it. Upper end hotels include The Westin, Hyatt, Casa Marina, Pier House and Southernmost on the beach.

So many great restaurants. We always go to 7 Fish on Oliva, Louie's Back Yard on Waddle for great ocean front dining, A&B Lobster on the bight harbor. We always try out at least 3 new places every trip. We never eat on Duval St.

Bars, lots of bars. Of course you have to stop at Sloppy Joes, Hogs Breath, Capt. Tony's , The Bull and Whistle, the 3rd floor is The Garden of Eden, a clothing optional bar. All these are on or just off Duval. Find Kelly's and The Smokin Tuna, fun places. Our first happy hour is at The Conch Republic on the bight for KW pinks peel & eats. if you like shrimp ask for royal reds hot with butter, just like lobster not on the menu. Alonzoes on the bight great HH with half price apps. Schooner Warf Bar in the afternoon with Michael McCloud playing. try to hit Louie' back yard the upper deck for a night cap. There are maybe 500 more bars that I have not mentioned .
Check out Bo's fish wagon for lunch, great grouper sandwich. Try hogfish at The Hogfish Bar&Grill on Stock Island. Right on the docks.
The little White House and Hemmingway's tours are well worth it. Also the trolley tours are very informative and have get off/on privileges.
Get out on the water. A day sail or at the very least a wine and sunset sail. Lots of options, we like Danger Charters. Last trip we took a biplane ride. That was really cool.

We always drive. Love the trip through the Keys. We go from TV to Marco Island, Naples or Miami for the night. Leave around 10 the next morning. Lots of places to stop for lunch but our favorite is Sparky's Landing in Key Colony Beach. We always have fish taco's, the best we have ever had and fish grantee along with a couple spicy Bloody Mary's. Almost always stop at the world wide sportsman in Islemorada just to look at stuff. Another good stop is the Sunset Bar & Grill at the N end of the 7 mile bridge. On the way back from the Keys we take the Card Sound cut road and have Lunch at Alabama Jacks, a great dive bar/grill on the water.
Find a lot of information at trip adviser. Key West Forum, Travel Discussion for Key West, FL

[OpusX1]

Almost forgot but it is fun to do a ghost tour. Lots of haunted places in KW.