I am so excited to be sharing with you one of my favorite places ever! I’ve been to a couple of places in Florida but Key West tops my list of favorite destinations by a land slide. I know most of you are thinking “but you live in Miami”. However, we need getaways too! Plus having such a magical island being only a 3 hour drive from my house is a win for sure. One of my favorite things about Key West is how authentic it feels. Everyone is on island time moving at a slow and relaxing pace. It’s touristy but feels so unbothered and not crowded like Miami. It has such a unique charm and the food is mouth watering good….then there’s PIE!! Honestly, if I could live there forever I wouldn’t leave the island. Here are a few things we were able to do in our 10 hours in Key West and my review for our short visit.
First of all, even though we live insanely close to the Florida Keys we went on a cruise in December and one of our destinations was KeyWest . I say that to say we did not enjoy the scenic drive of the overseas highway (which I hope to do soon) and that we had to see KeyWest in 10 hours. Trust me, it was 10 hours well spent and I could have cried when we left. We made the best of it by choosing the shore excursion that allowed us to see the whole island in that short period of time and allowed us to have time left over.
The Key West Tours with Old Town Trolley were awesome! Not only did they allow us to see the whole island in about an hours or so but they also provided a tour guide who was vibrant and shared super interesting facts and I LOVE FACTS! All we had to pay was approx $40 dollars and go along for the ride (the ticket is good for more than one use). The first time we road along for the whole island just to see what there was to do and get a history lesson. When that was over we hopped on again and got off at all the stops. Perhaps my favorite thing is the fact that such a small fee provided transportation to everywhere we wanted to go on the island.
The second time on the trolly was less for information and more for transportation. We hit up all the major stops like the shops that surrounded the pier. Each shop was unique and filled with one of a kind bright island themed pieces from jewelry to hand made crafts and bags. Other shops were more touristy but we were able to find dirt cheap key west memorabilia. Next we walked Duval street looking for food. The foodie in me wanted to try it all and indeed I will go back and try it all. We settled on a quaint walk up taco shop and had shrimp tacos well within our budget but great for the tongue pallet. We hopped on and hopped off at the Southernmost Point Buoy, The Southernmost House, Southernmost hotel, Customs House, Earnest Hemingway Home and US 1 mile marker. As you can tell most everything is Southernmost Point something and it has every right to be with being only 90 miles from Cuba.
At the close of our day I knew that I wasn’t going to leave Key West until I found the most tasty Keylime pie the island had to offer. Our amazing Old Town Trolley tour guide told us that they were all good but Kermit’s Key West Lime Shoppe was the absolute best I would ever taste. Not only was he right but it was literally the best thing my taste buds have ever tasted in food and pie form and since that day I have been trying to get back to Kermit. Not only did they have the Key Lime slices but they offered chocolate dipped Key Lime pie slices (On my bucket list) and lime flavored everything from sauces to seasonings and they tasted amazing as well…Oh kermit (In my Miss Piggy Voice).
We spent about 10 hours on this magical island and I did not want to leave. I left the island feeling like it was exactly where I was supposed to be and yearn to get back soon. My next trip will be way longer than 10 hours, I’ll check some water sports and foods off my bucket list, I’ll go off the beaten path beyond Duval street and most importantly I’ll collect all my island vibes. Thanks for a good time Key West! Until next time.
*Disclaimer; This post in not sponsored by any establishment mentioned above and all opinions are organically my own!
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