Accommodations

The Florida Keys offers an relaxing, nature oriented getaway with a variety of condos, vacation homes, hotels, and resorts. Choose an accommodation near any of the Florida Keys's local attractions that offers comfort while making the most of the beautiful beaches and attractions at affordably priced rates.

View our Florida Keys Vacation Rentals or Florida Keys Resorts

Activities

One of the Key's oldest attractions, Theater of the Seas is a marine park that has been entertaining visitors for nearly 50 years. Featuring dolphin and sea lion shows, guided marine life tours, "bottomless" boat rides and swimming with and learning about dolphins in special seminars. The Florida Keys Monument, located at mile marker 82, is a memorial to over 500 people who died during the 1935 hurricane that struck the area with over 200mph winds. The Heritage House Museum in Key West is a Caribbean Colonial House dating from the 1830's, featuring original furnishings, rare antiques and unusual marine artifacts. Ernest Hemingway, the Nobel Prize winning author, lived in Key West for 10 years and his home has been converted to a museum dedicated to his life and works.

Events

The Hemingway Days Festival in Mid July celebrates the legendary author’s work and lifestyle. The Festival features literary readings, a short story competition, a museum exhibit, a fishing tournament and the Sloppy Joe’s Look-Alike Contest. Arguably the best known of Key Wests events is the Annual Fantasy Fest in mid October. Gnomes, Toads and White Rabbit Tea Parties is the theme for the outlandish celebration, with costume competitions, promenades and street fairs, and a grand parade featuring marching groups and lavish floats. Also in Key West is Pirates in Paradise held in late November. Historic Key West and Fort Taylor are transformed into a pirate’s stronghold with pirate entertainers, Tall ships, sea battles, arts and crafts, pirate sails, and a living history encampment that celebrates Key West’s maritime history. Key Largo hosts the annual Humphrey Bogart Festival in November, at the site of the original African Queen, which is on display year round.

Water Sports

The Gulf waters off the Florida keys are filled with colorful reefs and abundant marine life. The warm Gulf Stream waters are inviting for snorkeling and scuba diving to explore these natural treasures. You can also find powerboat and sailboat rentals, as well as jetski rentals.

Golfing

Take advantage of South Florida's year-round gorgeous weather, tempered by gentle sea breezes. The golf courses are set with a backdrop of white-sand beach and emerald green waters on beautifully tended courses offering some of the best greens in the country.

History

Shortly after the United States purchased the Florida territory in 1821, the U.S. Navy established the first base in Key West to combat piracy in the Florida Straights and the Gulf of Mexico. At the same time, farmers from the Bahamas settled on Key West, former British Loyalists who had left after the Revolutionary war. Fishermen from Connecticut and more settlers from the Bahamas settled on Marathon shortly afterwards. Because of its strategic placement, Key west was the largest city in Florida by the 1880's, although most of the rest of the Florida Keys were mostly empty, with only one or two families on any of the other islands.

In 1982, the Reagan administration's set up roadblocks to search and question everyone leaving the Keys in an effort to crack down on drug smuggling. The independent island citizens were outraged at the violation of their rights and the long delays. Letters to the governor failed to help, so they banded together in a public protest. At noon on April 23, secession ceremonies were held in Mallory Square, Key West. The new Conch Republic flag, adorned with a conch shell, was raised over the island and the rebels tossed a loaf of stale Cuban bread into the air, as their symbolic shot declaring war against the United States. They handed out passports to everyone and promptly surrendered, making them eligible for foreign aid. Roadblocks to check for illegal aliens and drugs are no longer set up in the Florida Keys.