Florida Keys

[micky]

HELLO ALL
I am on holiday in Florida for nearly 3 weeks May into June I intend spending the first week or so travelling down to the Keys and back spending a couple of days in Key West any advice on places to stay, what to see, things to do would be greatly appreciated although my route is not fixed I intend drive down the east coast and back up the west coast startting and finnishing in Orlando

 

[florida sun]

Micky

Welcome to the Disboards

Im sorry I dont know much about the keys, but I do hope you have a great time, your plans sound fantastic and I have always wanted to see the keys myself.

Happy Planning.


Sue

 

[Miffy2003]

Hi Micky & welcome to the Disboards

I can't really help with your question as I've never done the sort of tour you describe. However we do love the beaches on the East Coast, particularly the Siesta Key (Sarasota) and Clearwater areas

This recent thread on Key West may give you some ideas

 

[henrydog]

Hi

We did the same thing a couple of years ago, went down the east coast staying 2 nights on Miami beach, then along the keys stopping off at a few of them on route to Key West where we stayed for 3 nights.
We stayed at a small guest house called The Angelina, which was within walking distance of Mallory square & all the sights.
In the day time we drove to a couple of beaches & just wandered around the town, evenings spent sat outside a bar at the waters edge watching the sunsets.
We then returned via the everglades and up the west coast to clearwater.

 

[Hilary]

We haven't done a 'tour' like you propose, but have driven from Miami airport to Marathon Key for a few nights, then back up the west coast to Naples and then on to Orlando. We didn't go all the way down to Key West.

In Marathon, we stayed at the Banana Bay (there's another one of these in Key West) which was fine. We've also stayed in Cape Coral, Port Charlotte and Fort Myers Beach on the western coast.

If you want any more info on any of those, I'll be happy to help

 

[JohnnySharp2]

We went to the Keys a few years ago.

We were staying in Naples and drove across to Miami and then down through the Keys to finally end up at Key West.
The drive from Naples was eventful as we drove through the Everglades on the Tamiami trail, early in the morning and it was pitch black, and a bit scarey to say the least.
If you drive from Naples use Alligator alley instead.

It is a long drive to KW and would suggest Miami is a good starting point for a drive there, it should take you 3 hours or so from there.

KW is almost caribbean like, to be blunt not everybody's cup of tea, I guess you have to go there and experience it for yourself , for us it was a one-off trip and now we have a son cannot really see us going back.
To be honest we found the drive through to the keys the highlight of the trip.

 

[mnoble_uk]

It really depends on what you want to pay. We did a Florida tour a few years back and just got coupon books for wherever we went. The result was reasonable motels at very low prices. This wasn't peak season though, and as pointed out on another thread when you enter the US you are required to state where you are staying on the first night.

 

[Ju]

We're flying into Miami and then heading straight down to Key Largo and staying in a nice looking place - Ocean Pointe Suites (needed a bigger place as us 4 and my Mum), so end of next month I can let you know what it's like.

Then we're planning to spend the day just along the keys at Islamorada mainly for our DD to "wade" with the dolpins (as she's 6 yr old she can wade with my Mum and still interact with the dolpins), this is a The Theatre of the Sea and it looks great, AND costs a lot less than Discovery Cove!

I want to drive (well my DH drives!) along the 7 mile bridge which is supposed to be scarey but fantastic and wanted to go to Key West just to say that we've been as far south of North America as possible. But a friend told me on Fri NOT to go to Key West as she said it was like Southend!! (oops sorry don't mean to offend any Southenders!!! ) Although reading the replies to your post, I note that some people do like Key West, so we may well still go there, just to have a look around.

We're then heading up to The Evergaldes, as we'd like to have a ride on an airboat there. Then we're not sure if we're going to drive up to Orlando then or stay another day in Miami area - go on the beach etc.

Ju