Thinking of spring break in the keys. Two adults and a middle schooler.
Want to snorkel, paddle board - up for other ideas and locations.
Also if you know anything about swimming with manatees - might fly into Tampa to do that on the way. DD is pushing that idea. Want to stay somewhere pretty nice but not crazy fancy say $500/ night but can flex for something special (since we have three years of not taking a real vacation and all).
I have stayed at the Marriott in Key Largo a few times. It is pretty nice. Snorkel trips leave right from the hotel, bay side beach, nice pool.
I have gone in the “winter” and ratesaren’tcrazy, not sure about spring break rates.
I prefer there to Key West because Miami. Biscayne NP and the Everglades are still very accessible.
If you’ve never been before fly into Ft. Lauderdale, not Miami, rent a convertible, and do the drive to Key West. Maybe stay a day in Largo, Islamorada or Marathon on the way, but KW is where you want to be. I’d suggest a b & B vs. hotel in KW as they are abundant and much cooler, but if your family prefers hotels make sure you pick one near the end of Duval/Mallory square so you will be in walking distance of most of the places you will want to go.
If you’ve never been before fly into Ft. Lauderdale, not Miami, rent a convertible, and do the drive to Key West. Maybe stay a day in Largo, Islamorada or Marathon on the way, but KW is where you want to be. I’d suggest a b & B vs. hotel in KW as they are abundant and much cooler, but if your family prefers hotels make sure you pick one near the end of Duval/Mallory square so you will be in walking distance of most of the places you will want to go.
This x 100. Flying into Tampa to swim with Manatees means you still need to drive an hour+ to Crystal River area and at that time of year, it’s not guaranteed you’re going to find them in the crystal clear waters you see on TV.
Much cooler things to do in the Keys. If you do Key West (and I highly recommend it) check out Sebago
https://keywestsebago.com/?utm_source=gmb%20listing&utm_medium=organic
Their all day sailing and sunset cruises are fantastic. Top notch operation. There’s other companies, but we have had great luck with Sebago.
Get a B&B close to the docks. We enjoyed both the Garden House and Key West Harbor Inn. The larger hotels are more on the north and east side of the island, which necessitates and cab or shuttle to the good stuff, which is on the south side. Both these B&Bs put you right outside the action. You can walk anywhere and do anything worth doing from them.
If you want something very, very cool take the Yankee Freedom to Dry Tortugas. It’s better if you can swing it to camp there, but that’s a logistics nightmare with flying in. 100% worth the $$$ and way cooler than swimming in Crystal River.
If you decide to do this trip, I can give you tons of restaurant recommendations. We would go every other year when we lived in Tampa. It’s one of the few things I miss about FL.
Thanks!
We used to dive a fair deal pre-kid - so would go to Key Largo and dive the wrecks. But it’s been the life span of a middle schooler since we’ve been!
So love the suggestions!
What time of year is best for the manatees?
If you’ve never been before fly into Ft. Lauderdale, not Miami, rent a convertible, and do the drive to Key West. Maybe stay a day in Largo, Islamorada or Marathon on the way, but KW is where you want to be. I’d suggest a b & B vs. hotel in KW as they are abundant and much cooler, but if your family prefers hotels make sure you pick one near the end of Duval/Mallory square so you will be in walking distance of most of the places you will want to go.
I second the motion
We’ve done both key west and key largo recently. I’d go back to Key Largo again in a minute. No desire to go back to Key West.
Stay at the Playa Largo (Marriott). Get yourself and spouse a Gulf View Room and the kid a “cheap room”. The beach is great.
Key Largo - Lots to do, lots of really good food and fairly priced. All within 20 minutes of the resort.
Key West - seems its meant for 20-30 or 60+ people. Very little to do other than eat and drink in what seems like “little New Orleans”.
When in KW:
Pepe’s for brunch. Steak Omelette and bloody Mary.
El Siboney. Authentic Cuban for lunch
Louie’s Backyard for afternoon cocktails/snacks and beach gazing
Sunset pier for, umm sunset
Latitudes for fancy dinner
Blue Heaven for breakfast the next morning.
When in KW:
Pepe’s for brunch. Steak Omelette and bloody Mary.
El Siboney. Authentic Cuban for lunch
Louie’s Backyard for afternoon cocktails/snacks and beach gazing
Sunset pier for, umm sunset
Latitudes for fancy dinner
Blue Heaven for breakfast the next morning.
Is the tiny bar still there? (I haven’t been in 10 years or so)
There was also a live music place I enjoyed, big cavernous bar
We’ve done both key west and key largo recently. I’d go back to Key Largo again in a minute. No desire to go back to Key West.
Stay at the Playa Largo (Marriott). Get yourself and spouse a Gulf View Room and the kid a “cheap room”. The beach is great.
Key Largo - Lots to do, lots of really good food and fairly priced. All within 20 minutes of the resort.
Key West - seems its meant for 20-30 or 60+ people. Very little to do other than eat and drink in what seems like “little New Orleans”.
Same here, love Key Largo. We Vrbo’d a condo at MM 96 last time we were there(Buttonwood Bay), but you have a bunch of good options in the area. Hit the beach, the turtle rescue in Marathon, Islamorada Brewing Co., Meat Eatery and Pennekamp State Park for as much recreation as you are into.
The best time to see them is the worst time to be in the water. Lol. January- February is when they are most concentrated in the springs. But they’re also very protected then, too. Fish and Wildlife ropes off many of the springs to keep people from bugging them. March can be okay, but you need to be out on the water really early- like 7am. If it’s a warm year, then March and April will be really spotty in terms of your odds of seeing them, as they move out of the springs into the coastal waters. We’ve been there a few times and seen a ton of em, and we’ve been a few times and not spotted a single one.
Second or third all the things TriGuy and Chriskal said. My only suggestion is get the car as a 1-way and fly out home out of Key West if you make it all the way down there. It’s a LONG drive and it’s the same on the way back as it was on the way down. Our trip was a bit complicated by a huge deluge that made the drive 5 hours rather than whatever it was supposed to be.
Also, There’s a pub called No Named Bar or Pub on Deer Key, I think. The kid will like it because the walls are covered in dollar bills, several inches thick. It’s a cool thing to see
And Bahia Honda is supposedly one of the nicest state park beaches in the US. And the Dry Tortugas day trip!
Did this a few years ago but left the kids behind. Lot’s of key lime pie sampling. And I swore I saw a shark while on a SUP and made a mental note make sure I don’t fall off. Polydactyl cats roaming the Hemingway house was interesting.
Agree w/the convertible rental and doing the drive. For some reason the drive back always has more traffic and will take longer than expected.
We went in July. Don’t do that.
Second or third all the things TriGuy and Chriskal said. My only suggestion is get the car as a 1-way and fly out home out of Key West if you make it all the way down there. It’s a LONG drive and it’s the same on the way back as it was on the way down. Our trip was a bit complicated by a huge deluge that made the drive 5 hours rather than whatever it was supposed to be.
Also, There’s a pub called No Named Bar or Pub on Deer Key, I think. The kid will like it because the walls are covered in dollar bills, several inches thick. It’s a cool thing to see
And Bahia Honda is supposedly one of the nicest state park beaches in the US. And the Dry Tortugas day trip!
That’s a really good point. The drive back to Miami kind of stinks, especially if you are trying to catch a flight. Drive down/fly out is an excellent idea. If that isn’t workable I wouldn’t book a departure earlier than about 3:00 to avoid having to get up super early and rush around.
I really screwed that up one trip. We had something like a 10:00 am departure which meant my wife insisted on leaving before 6:00. Which under the best of circumstances isn’t how I want to end a vacation, but I made it worse on myself by basically closing down Duvall with some college friends that were living down there at the time. It was a very rough trip home.