The Ultimate Guide to Getting to Key West
In this episode of the Fun in Key West podcast, host Michele O’Connor provides an insider’s guide on how to reach Key West, whether by air, road, ferry, or even cruise ship.
Michele discusses the various travel options, including flying directly into Key West International Airport, driving down the scenic Overseas Highway, and taking the Key West Express ferry.
Along the way, she shares tips on finding the best travel deals, navigating high-season prices, and enjoying the unique experiences each mode of travel offers. Plus, listeners are introduced to the new Fun in Key West Book Club and are invited to stay connected through newsletters and travel tips. Michele records this engaging travel guide while multitasking during her dog Mr. Coffee’s grooming appointment, adding a personal touch of humor and relatability.
00:00 Welcome to Fun in Key West Podcast
01:26 Getting to Key West: Your Travel Options
02:19 First Timer Friday: Travel Tips
04:10 Flying to Key West: What You Need to Know
06:18 Driving to Key West: The Scenic Route
07:14 Ferry and Cruise Options
10:11 Key West Book Club and Final Thoughts
Hey there, island dreamers, locals, and anyone craving a slice of paradise. Welcome back or welcome for the first time to the Fun in Key West podcast, where the vibe is always laid back, the stories are salty, and the drinks are definitely frozen. I’m your host, Michele O’Connor, your unofficial tour guide to the Conch Republic.
Whether you’re planning your first trip, your fifth trip, or you’re just daydreaming about trading the cubicle for the ocean breeze, You are in the right place. Here’s the deal. This podcast is your insider’s guide to all things Key West. We’re talking where to eat. Hello, cog fritters and key lime pie.
Where to drink. Spoiler alert, there will be rum. Where to stay and all the quirky wonderful things that make Key West the one of a kind paradise we all love. Plus, I’ll keep you up to date on the latest happenings and Festivals, events, maybe even the occasional Hemingway lookalike sighting. And just to keep things spicy, we’ll be bringing on some amazing guests now and then.
Locals, business owners, and people who know the island like the back of their sandy hand. So grab your flip flops, pour yourself a cold one. And let’s escape to the island state of mind together, whether you’re tuning in from your hammock or your commute. You know, while wishing it was a hammock. We’ve got all the Key West goodness coming your way.
Thanks for being here. It’s going to be a lot of fun in Key West. Let’s dive in.
Hey there friends and welcome to the Fun in Key West podcast. Today’s topic, the ultimate guide to actually getting to Key West. Because let’s face it, paradise isn’t just going to show up at your front door. Whether you’re thinking about flying straight into the tiny but mighty airport, road tripping down the legendary overseas highway, snack stops included of course, hopping on a ferry for that mid ocean margarita vibe, or even cruising your way there.
I’ve got you all covered on the options available. Oh, and just a heads up. If this sounds a little chaotic, it’s because I recorded this while waiting for Mr. Coffee to finish his grooming appointment. What can I say? Multitasking is my middle name, and my co pilot dog has priorities too. Anyway, buckle up and join me as we turn travel plans into travel goals, because Key West is calling and we’ve got to answer.
Good morning, everybody. This is Michele with Fun in Key West and it is first timer Friday. So I just dropped Mr. Coffee off to have his, you know, get his grooming. He’s going to get his bath and his nails done. And I thought, you know what? I think I’ll check in with you guys here from the car. Um, no, I’m not driving.
As you can see, I’m not driving, but, um, I just thought I’d check in. And I got to thinking, you know, I’m sitting on a little outside of Orlando and everybody. It doesn’t matter where you are. How many of you have been thinking of how can I get to Key West? Well, um, first and foremost, you know, you have to have the vacation time yet, or, you know, have to have the ability to get there and all that.
But then I got to thinking about, there’s a lot of people who have just basic questions of how do you get to Key West? And I thought, you know what? While I’m waiting for Mr. Coffee to get his bath and his nails done, I thought I’d pop in and talk to you about, let’s cover how to get to Key West. So, um, it’s, you know, it’s a perfect time for first time visitors to, uh, get to Key West.
It’s an easy trip. It’s, there’s, you know, obviously because of where it’s located, there’s limited options of how to get there. But, you know, this is the perfect time to start thinking about your next trip or your first trip to Key West. As, uh, there’s, we’ve come through the holidays and now we’re into that whole, you know, what are we going to do?
And as we start to settle into our routines and we want to escape the snow because there is, I think, a snowstorm coming through the north. Um, everybody wants to get south and the further south you get, i. e. Key West, the less likely you’re going to see those little flurries out in, uh, the air. So, in case you didn’t know this.
Key West has an air has an airport. So it’s Key Western National Airport. It’s over, it’s undergoing, um, extensive renovations and they’re going to expand it, make it much larger. It’s, for those of us who have been in there and used it, it’s small, it’s quaint, it’s tight. So I’m looking forward to that, that full renovation.
But there are several. Locations that fly directly into Key West. So it’s a straight flight. There’s no layovers or anything like that So when you go on to your booking Engine, you know, be sure to head over to funding Key West comm click Go all the way down to the bottom and look at our resource page.
There are several booking engines that we like, and we recommend that you use, but you’re gonna look for the airport E. Y. E. So, uh, it gives you, um, a good location of whether or not there’s a direct flight. There’s lots of direct flights, you know, Miami, Lauderdale, Charlotte, uh, to explore and do all of, you know, if you’re gonna have a layover, you know, we had this issue before.
We flew into Charlotte and we didn’t have but maybe 40 minutes in between our connections and we barely made it. And I didn’t book like one leg and then do with the other leg. Um, the airline was the auto. Um, what we ended up doing was we, we made it, but boy that was close. I would not recommend that.
That made my heart palpitate. I’ll tell you what. Look for off You know, season deals, especially if you go during spring break, it’s going to be high. Hotels are going to be high. It’s going to be high right now because of snowbirds traveling. Hotels are going to be high because of snowbirds being in Key West.
Um, but look at be flexible, you know, going down for a weekend is going to be way more expensive than if you go midweek. So just the way that works. So look for off season deals. You know, if you go over a three day weekend, you’re going to pay a premium price as we talk about. And I love, um, and I recommend everybody do this at least once.
You got to drive to get down to Key West so you could fly into Lauderdale. You could fly into Miami and then you can drive on down. Um, you know, you’re going to take the overseas highway. It’s about, uh, 113 ish miles, uh, from Miami down to Key West. Be sure to check out some of our other lives and All of the information that I have over on Finding Key West dot com about the drive and where you should stop and all those must these things, you know, because there’s things to see in Key Largo and Island Morada and you can stop and see the seven mile bridge and you can do all of that.
Um, if you’re renting a car, you know, think about this. You could fly into Miami and then drive down and fly out of Key West. Or you could fly into Key West and drive up and fly out of Miami. So, you know, be creative. Think about some of the other options that you could do. It’s, it’s a pretty cool Florida Keys road trip either direction.
You don’t have to go all the way down. If you happen to be on the Gulf Coast and you’re in the Fort Myers area or Marco Island, you know, there’s the Key West Express. It’s a ferry service from Fort Myers and Marco Island and you can take the ferry down. Um, Depending on time of year and time of and when they’re running, sometimes you can just do a day trip.
That’d be a really long day trip. You can go down, um, stay the night, come back. Uh, they have, you know, you can basically take your carry on so you wouldn’t need to worry about all your luggage. Uh, you know, you’re going to want to bring early, you know, show up early, make sure that you truly are able to enjoy the uh, experience on the, on the ferry.
I have not yet done it. So if you have done the Key West Express, I want you to put down in the comments, Hey, Michele, this is what I loved about the Key West Express. This is what gave me the, Ooh, I don’t, I don’t know if I would do it again. I’d love to hear all your feedback. So it’s, that’s a really cool, um, way to get to Key West.
It’s it, the party starts early and continues on then whenever you land there and, uh, and when you dock in Key West. Key West can be a stop along the way on maybe a cruise. So there was a lot of people I know who were first exposed to Key West because it was a port stop on a cruise that they took. And so you spend maybe anywhere from four to eight hours in town.
You can do excursions. You can do, you know, the whole Duval thing. Um, there’s lots of cool things that you can do if you’re just in town for a few hours. And so it’s really cool to, to use that as part of a, a cruise itinerary and if that’s a place that you want to go, maybe book your cruise if you love cruising.
Um, you come into Key West on your way and you plan a cruise because it’s coming to Key West. Keep in mind, um, the moratorium on key on cruise ships has been lifted, but not the really large cruise ships are allowed to come back into Key West anymore. Stay tuned. I’m going to do the whole thing about the cruise ships and everything.
It’s kind of a love hate relationship, honestly, that people have with the cruise ships in Key West. I, I love going down to Mallory Square and seeing them there. And I just think they’re just awe impressive and just so cool to look at. But I also get the, uh, impact to the environment that they have there coming in and out of Key West and the waters around Key West.
But, so it’s a love hate relationship, and we’ll talk about that in, later on in 25. Um, you know, there, you know, you can always do a, a chartered, Private charter down. There’s all kinds of things to do, but you know, you can take a seaplane to Key West. You can, uh, do a private charter. There’s all kinds of things like that.
You can head over to finding key west.com for all kinds of Key West travel tips. We’ve got ’em all. Um, there’s so much. The other thing I wanna remind you of is 2025. We launched a fun in Key West Book Club. I will put a link to the book club sign up there. We have officially started our first, um. book, which in January is, um, is already been announced and we have a private Facebook page where we can talk about it.
We’re going to have a virtual book, um, club meeting. So we are truly, truly excited about that. So I will put the link into the, uh, comments here for the Fun in Key West book club. If you miss it or want to know more about the Fun in Key West book club, please, please just put down in the comments. Hey, Michele, I want to know more.
I want to know more. If you want to be in the know of what’s happening with us, uh, Key West, everything that is the Florida Keys, be sure to head over to Fun in Key West. Sign up for our newsletter and you do that by grabbing our happy hour guide and um, that gets you our newsletter. And so we’re so excited about 2025.
I hope you’re feeling ready to book that flight, plan that drive, or claim the best seat on the ferry because paradise is waiting for you. Don’t forget, whether you’re a first timer or you’ve been there 10 times already, there’s always a new adventure and maybe a new drink or two waiting in the quays.
If you want even more tips and tricks for planning your trip, head over to FunInKeyWest. com. It’s your one stop shop for all things Key West minus the sunburns. Thank you so much for spending a slice of your day with me. You’re the real MVPs and I can’t wait to chat with you again soon. Until then, have an amazing day, travel safe, and remember, there’s no wrong way to get to Key West as long as you actually get there.
Cheers.