Key West vacation destination review....

quad decade guy

Well-Known Member
We always wanted to go to Key West. Been to the Bahamas and Caymans and Mexico beach destinations. The Caribbean still shut down and couldn't pay me to go to Mexico right now.....Florida wide open(generally)....off we went.

Hotel: Fairfield Inn and Suites. I'd say a $90 a night around home for $300 in KW. 4 days $1200. Free hot breakfast and drink tickets at the hotel pool. Now, if you haven't been to Key West.....chickens.....lot's of free range chickens. Seems, 30-40 years ago all fighting roosters owned by apparently Cubans, were ordered released and protected. Why a big deal? They are everywhere and are not contained.....literally. Usually start crowing at about 1 a.m. and crap anywhere they want....and you can't touch em.

Traffic....lots of it. This is a very busy city....forget a layed back vibe in the streets. Very busy. Parking very pricey. Our hotel offered $24 per day. We flew in and Ubered to avoid parking fees. This town is tough to get around....inevitably your destination was on the opposite side of town. Now, the town is only 1x4 miles....you'll see. Keep in mind each Uber was about $15....you might need 3-4 a day. There was a hotel shuttle every hour but fills up and only goes downtown....you'll see and not all night. Scooters and bicycles everywhere....

Airfare: $800 for 2 roundtrip.

We lost Monday and Friday to travel. Tuesday snorkeling trip canceled due to storms but got done on Thursday. So ,Tuesday lost basically to weather for things like that....Wednesday we kayaked half day. So half days for recreation....rest, eat. So, we did 2 things in 4 days. The boat crews....shrugged. Our flight got delayed going home 5 hours for weather....get the vibe? With no place to hang out really...as it got delayed a couple hours here a couple there. Just the way it goes....all good.

Key West: Best comparison would be New Orleans as far as night life, restaurants streets....one continuous Bourban street....lots of tats and ponytails and ear rings. Hundreds of tourist crap shops. But then some pretty good food.
But not the hustlers like New Orleans. There is plenty of riff raff but they keep moving. On bicycles...not the constant weed smell like NO. Seems so expensive and the cops keep em moving. Seems all the Uber people sleep in their cars and live in Miami. Heard most blue collar folks have 5 roommates to get by. Not a lot of beach there. Not like mainland Florida.

Heard Key Largo was very laid back. Just a pretrip check looked like $1000 per day....for something nice.

Had a $100 lunch...couple drinks and nothing too special to eat. Drinks...$15 and $8 beers...$26 McDonald's for 2. Kinda like Hawaii price wise.

Clientele? Very cosmopolitan from Arkansas to Argentina.

Would I recommend? Pricey$$$$$

Nope. Wait for things to open up.
 

MECH-lift

Union Brother ✊🧔 RPCD
We always wanted to go to Key West. Been to the Bahamas and Caymans and Mexico beach destinations. The Caribbean still shut down and couldn't pay me to go to Mexico right now.....Florida wide open(generally)....off we went.

Hotel: Fairfield Inn and Suites. I'd say a $90 a night around home for $300 in KW. 4 days $1200. Free hot breakfast and drink tickets at the hotel pool. Now, if you haven't been to Key West.....chickens.....lot's of free range chickens. Seems, 30-40 years ago all fighting roosters owned by apparently Cubans, were ordered released and protected. Why a big deal? They are everywhere and are not contained.....literally. Usually start crowing at about 1 a.m. and crap anywhere they want....and you can't touch em.

Traffic....lots of it. This is a very busy city....forget a layed back vibe in the streets. Very busy. Parking very pricey. Our hotel offered $24 per day. We flew in and Ubered to avoid parking fees. This town is tough to get around....inevitably your destination was on the opposite side of town. Now, the town is only 1x4 miles....you'll see. Keep in mind each Uber was about $15....you might need 3-4 a day. There was a hotel shuttle every hour but fills up and only goes downtown....you'll see and not all night. Scooters and bicycles everywhere....

Airfare: $800 for 2 roundtrip.

We lost Monday and Friday to travel. Tuesday snorkeling trip canceled due to storms but got done on Thursday. So ,Tuesday lost basically to weather for things like that....Wednesday we kayaked half day. So half days for recreation....rest, eat. So, we did 2 things in 4 days. The boat crews....shrugged. Our flight got delayed going home 5 hours for weather....get the vibe? With no place to hang out really...as it got delayed a couple hours here a couple there. Just the way it goes....all good.

Key West: Best comparison would be New Orleans as far as night life, restaurants streets....one continuous Bourban street....lots of tats and ponytails and ear rings. Hundreds of tourist crap shops. But then some pretty good food.
But not the hustlers like New Orleans. There is plenty of riff raff but they keep moving. On bicycles...not the constant weed smell like NO. Seems so expensive and the cops keep em moving. Seems all the Uber people sleep in their cars and live in Miami. Heard most blue collar folks have 5 roommates to get by. Not a lot of beach there. Not like mainland Florida.

Heard Key Largo was very laid back. Just a pretrip check looked like $1000 per day....for something nice.

Had a $100 lunch...couple drinks and nothing too special to eat. Drinks...$15 and $8 beers...$26 McDonald's for 2. Kinda like Hawaii price wise.

Clientele? Very cosmopolitan from Arkansas to Argentina.

Would I recommend? Pricey$$$$$

Nope. Wait for things to open up.
Tampa/st Pete area nice too union brother
✊🧔
 

rod

Retired 22 years
Did Key West years ago. The bars on Duval Street were great (we avoided the gay bars). The City ran trams around the island when we were there. I think it was 3 bucks for a ride just about anywhere. The best things for me were the bars- the snorkling trip on a catamaran with all the beer you could drink and Mel Fishers Treasure Museum ( millions of dollars worth of recovered gold from the sunken Spanish treasure ship Attocia). We also rented scooters -- they were THE WAY to get around. I would never take a car there. Four of us guys flew a friends small twin engine plane there. Had a blast.
 

quad decade guy

Well-Known Member
Did Key West years ago. The bars on Duval Street were great (we avoided the gay bars). The City ran trams around the island when we were there. I think it was 3 bucks for a ride just about anywhere. The best things for me were the bars- the snorkling trip on a catamaran with all the beer you could drink and Mel Fishers Treasure Museum ( millions of dollars worth of recovered gold from the sunken Spanish treasure ship Attocia). We also rented scooters -- they were THE WAY to get around. I would never take a car there. Four of us guys flew a friends small twin engine plane there. Had a blast.
Ok. Fair enough......years ago. I've heard of legendary stories.....

A few guys sure. Absolutely.

We catamaraned and snorkeled.....I wasn't ready after snorkeling to drink as much beer as I could on the way back....

We are late 50's and the wife is still recovering(although got around nicely, proud of her)....and not heavy drinkers. We are weekend lite drinkers.....not all day. We have a Harley. I do the driving.....not about to try to teach her how to ride a scooter....she has no interest anyway. And it rained every day.......not fun on a bike. We spent a half day barhopping....shrug.

Thing is....about $700 a day, all in. More some days. Jet skis pricey etc. Fishing mucho $$$$$.

Btw, the whole gay stuff....still there....fresh off of pride year or whatever.....looked out of place like everywhere else in normal America.

Saw a lot of the militant black thing in Miami International...not so much in KW.

Lot's of Indonesian folks and by the appearance Indian(India)....lot of Muslim head scarfs......interesting seeing fully clothed, head covered women on the beach/water....weird.
 

rod

Retired 22 years
Ok. Fair enough......years ago. I've heard of legendary stories.....

A few guys sure. Absolutely.

We catamaraned and snorkeled.....I wasn't ready after snorkeling to drink as much beer as I could on the way back....

We are late 50's and the wife is still recovering(although got around nicely, proud of her)....and not heavy drinkers. We are weekend lite drinkers.....not all day. We have a Harley. I do the driving.....not about to try to teach her how to ride a scooter....she has no interest anyway. And it rained every day.......not fun on a bike. We spent a half day barhopping....shrug.

Thing is....about $700 a day, all in. More some days. Jet skis pricey etc. Fishing mucho $$$$$.

Btw, the whole gay stuff....still there....fresh off of pride year or whatever.....looked out of place like everywhere else in normal America.

Saw a lot of the militant black thing in Miami International...not so much in KW.

Lot's of Indonesian folks and by the appearance Indian(India)....lot of Muslim head scarfs......interesting seeing fully clothed, head covered women on the beach/water....weird.
Life was different back when I went. I was probably in my mid 40's and was still partying like a rock star. By the way we could have flown commercially there from Mn. cheaper than flying my friends plane. At that time it still cost us $500.00 EACH for fuel and airport fees but using the small plane just added to the adventure. We even rode those 35-40 mph scooters up 2 keys to the Military base where the Navy flies all their jets out of (Key West Naval Air Station) and got a great private tour of that including getting to watch all the action from the control tower. (This was pre-911). My wife got her motorcycle endorsement probably 15 years ago but the biggest thing she has driven is a 250cc Honda. She prefers to climb onboard with me on my Harley and I have a hard time sneaking out of the house for a solo bike ride.
 
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quad decade guy

Well-Known Member
Life was different back when I went. I was probably in my mid 40's and was still partying like a rock star. By the way we could have flown commercially there from Mn. cheaper than flying my friends plane. At that time it still cost us $500.00 EACH for fuel and airport fees but using the small plane just added to the adventure. We even rode those 35-40 mph scooters up 2 keys to the Military base where the Navy flies all their jets out of (Key West Naval Air Station) and got a great private tour of that including getting to watch all the action from the control tower. (This was pre-911). My wife got her motorcycle endorsement probably 15 years ago but the biggest thing she has driven is a 250cc Honda. She prefers to climb onboard with me on my Harley and I have a hard time sneaking out of the house for a solo bike ride.
Sounds great.

Yeah my wife loves to ride on our Road king. I hate the way the backrest looks(just kills that perfect look....but hey).

We have a dilemma on the weekends....top down vette or the Harley....it's tough I know....

BTW, did it give you any pause going over open water(small plane) and all? Did ya'll brief it......"ok if...."?
 

rod

Retired 22 years
Sounds great.

Yeah my wife loves to ride on our Road king. I hate the way the backrest looks(just kills that perfect look....but hey).

We have a dilemma on the weekends....top down vette or the Harley....it's tough I know....

BTW, did it give you any pause going over open water(small plane) and all? Did ya'll brief it......"ok if...."?
To be honest I think my heart skipped a coupe beats the first time I noticed land wasn't in site. When we got close to Key West we were in a cloud bank and my pilot friend said "hang on---there is suppose to be an Island below us" and then nosed us down. I thought we were never going to pop out of the clouds. The Navy Base also warned us NOT TO LAND ON THEIR AIR STRIP :-). On the way home we flew VFR rules up the whole Gulf side coast of Florida. That was neat.
 

quad decade guy

Well-Known Member
This should be a new section… very informative
God bless and glad you had a good time @quad decade guy

I’m curious what airline you flew was it SW?
Thanks for the kind words...very rare here for me.

Well, we had credits with SW because New Orleans had a trop storm.......so we flew down to Miami via SW because they don't go to KW. American from there to KW. 5 hour layovers each way at Miami Int. SUCKED....$17 mojitos at the airport.....add in 2 hours preboard stuff....7 hours......luckily I'm on vacation for 3 weeks...

BTW, we had some factory sealed KW products(bath stuff) confiscated by TSA. $60.....they demanded them to be checked baggage but we were not allowed any checked bags by American.....only carry on. They could have cared less..
 

quad decade guy

Well-Known Member
Walk or use a bicycle. No way you are driving anywhere.

Late fall, early winter is the time to visit.
Interesting.....KW is FULL of cars....FULL. Busy.
Interesting as our hotel was on the opposite end of the island.....way too far to walk....and I can walk all day. Not everyone can bike and walk like that.....Uber was quite convenient tho pricey.
 

Wally

BrownCafe Innovator & King of Puns
Interesting.....KW is FULL of cars....FULL. Busy.
Interesting as our hotel was on the opposite end of the island.....way too far to walk....and I can walk all day. Not everyone can bike and walk like that.....Uber was quite convenient tho pricey.
Full of cars but try to park, lol.
 
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