Travelers to Key West often fly into South Florida. You could pick out a car rental at Miami International Airport and take the beautiful drive lasting a little over three hours to reach Key West. Or you could fly into Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, and the drive in your rental car would be about 30 minutes longer.
Key West and a neighboring island also have airports you could choose. Major airlines including American Eagle, Delta and U.S. Airways schedule regular flights to both Key West International Airport and Marathon Airport. Many are routed through Miami International Airport, although some smaller airlines and private charters schedule direct flights from Florida cities and the Bahamas. International travelers must connect to an airline in Miami.
Key West International Airport is in the city on the northeast end of the island. A new 30,000 square foot terminal expanded the airport in 2009. It's only minutes away from hotels, attractions and the downtown area. Spaces for 300 vehicles are available beneath the new terminal on ground level – 150 spaces are for rental cars and 150 for public parking. Several Key West car rental companies are located inside the airport arrivals area, including Avis, Budget, Hertz and Thrifty. Others are located on Roosevelt Boulevard in the city. Using VroomVroomVroom to compare rates and to reserve a Key West car rental before your trip begins will guarantee you don't have problems.
Marathon Airport is about 50 miles northeast in the city of Marathon on “the middle Keys.” Like Key West International, Marathon features cheap car rentals from Avis, Budget, Hertz, Thrifty and others. The benefit of flying into Marathon is that as a mid-point, your drive to Key West – or to accommodations, sightseeing spots, fishing, diving and snorkeling fun throughout the Florida Keys – takes usually no more than an hour.
Key West is a small island city at the southern tip of Florida, part of the Florida Keys island chain. Famous writers such as novelist Ernest Hemingway and playwright Tennessee Williams called Key West home. The city is often called “the southernmost point in the United States,” although a few other U.S. islands – Ballast Key, American Samoa, Jarvis Island and the islands of Hawaii – are technically further south. Nonetheless, the most popular thing to do in Key West is to take a photograph with the famous concrete buoy at the corner of South Street and Whitehead Street. It proclaims “Southernmost Point Continental U.S.A.”
Pick up your rental car and drive down to the docks at Key West and do some dolphin watching! Take a tour with Wild About Dolphins, the most popular dolphin boat tour company in Key West. Learn about dolphins while they are still in their original habitat. Other companies allow you to charter a boat, do some snorkeling in the Florida Keys, or have a picnic on a deserted island!
Drive your car rental on over towards the turquoise waters of Key West and take a ride on a 65 ft. aluminum Catamaran glass bottom boat! Look through the window at the bottom of the boat and observe North America's only living coral reef. Summer is almost over so we hope to see you soon!
Hop in your car rental and drive over to the Southernmost Scavenger Hunt in Key West! Bring a group of friends and try one of the many different scavenger hunts available while enjoying the many sites of Key West in the process!
You'll be glad that you compared car rental rates when you can spend the money you've saved down at Tropic Cinema in Key West. It's South Florida's only nonprofit multiplex, with a wide variety of movies to see every day. In fact, Florida Monthly magazine named this its "Best Florida Cinema" four years in a row!
Key West, considered to be the largest and richest city in Florida, was discovered by the European adventurer, Ponce de Leon, in 1513. Key West has served as a gateway to the Caribbean and between the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico, and the city is 90 miles north of Cuba. Five things to do at Key West are:
1. Tour Key West! Begin your Key West adventure on the Conch Tour Train Key West and Old Town Trolley Key West. Tour historic Old Town and see Mallory Square, Duval Street, the Historic Seaport, and over 100 other places of interest.
2. Diving and Snorkeling! Vacationers have ample opportunity to enjoy marine wildlife and scenery on the Snorkel Safari Tour and the Key West Snorkel Sailing Adventure. Surround yourself with schools of fish in the shallow waters of the only living coral reef in the United States.
3. Museums! Visit the Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum and learn about the author's life during his 10-year residence in Key West. The Key West Pirate Soul Museum exhibits artifacts and actual pirate loot. Visitors can learn about the pirates' way of life . . . and death.
4. Coral Reefer! Embark on a tour with the Coral Reefer on the Wild Dolphin Adventures of Key West tour. Passengers can snorkel and swim in the same waters in which Atlantic Bottle-nosed dolphins do.
5. The Key West Glass Bottom Boat is an alternative for travelers who do not want to get wet but still want to marvel in the undersea world of tropical fish.
