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A Miami to Key West road trip is about 160 miles and 3.5 to 4 hours of driving if you never stop, and the right way to do it is three days: Key Largo and a reef trip on day one, Islamorada to Marathon and the Seven Mile Bridge on day two, Bahia Honda and Key West on day three. Book the Pennekamp boat and your Key West room before you leave; everything else can be decided at the wheel. The Overseas Highway is 113 miles of US-1 from mile marker 113 in Florida City to mile marker 0 at Whitehead and Fleming, with 42 bridges in between, per RedAwning’s chain guide.
I have driven this road since long before I could drive it myself, sitting in the back with a boat trailer rattling behind us. The mile markers are the only address you need; every restaurant, marina and park in the Keys gives its location as “MM” and a number. Learn to read them going down, since they count from 113 toward zero, and you will never be lost.
| Quick facts | Miami to Key West |
|---|---|
| Distance | about 160 miles from Miami; 113 miles of Overseas Highway (Guidealong; RedAwning) |
| Nonstop drive | 3.5 to 4 hours (Expert Vagabond; Securespace) |
| Realistic with stops | 6 hours in one day, or 3 days done properly (Guidealong) |
| Best months | December to April for weather; hurricane season runs June to November |
| Book ahead | Pennekamp snorkel boat; Key West lodging |
| Skip | driving it in one day and calling it a trip |
Miami to Key West Road Trip Itinerary
Leave Miami by 8 a.m., take US-1 south through Homestead and Florida City, and you are on the 18-mile stretch to Key Largo by 9:30. Two detours on the way down are worth it: Coral Castle in Homestead, and the Card Sound Road alternative to Key Largo, which passes Alabama Jack’s, a bayside bar that Roadtrippers users flag as the classic first stop. Card Sound is a toll road and adds about 20 minutes.
Key Largo runs from mile marker 113 to about 90, per RedAwning, and it is the dive capital of the Keys. Spend the afternoon on the water at John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park, the first undersea park in the United States. Our Pennekamp snorkeling guide covers the boat, the cost and what to book. Sleep in Key Largo or Islamorada.
Key Largo to Key West Road Trip Itinerary
Islamorada, mile markers 90 to 73, is the sportfishing hub, per RedAwning, and it has the road’s most photographed sunset drink at the Lorelei at mile marker 82. Lignumvitae Key State Park, at mile marker 77, is a boat-access island Roadtrippers includes on its route. From there it is about 23 miles to the Dolphin Research Center on Grassy Key and another 14 to Marathon.
Marathon, mile markers 65 to 47, is the midpoint, and Guidealong’s lunch advice is right: the Keys Fisheries fish house sits on the bay with conch fritters and a view. The Turtle Hospital in Marathon runs 90-minute tours on the hour from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., per Outside Suburbia. Then the drive’s main event: the Seven Mile Bridge, 6.79 miles of open water between mile markers 47 and 40, opened in 1982 beside Flagler’s original 1912 railway span, which is now a walking and biking pier out to Pigeon Key. Park at mile marker 47 to walk the old bridge, per Expert Vagabond.
Bahia Honda State Park
Bahia Honda State Park, just past the bridge at mile marker 37, has the beaches the rest of the Keys mostly lack: Calusa Beach and the mile-long Sandspur Beach, plus the broken Bahia Honda Rail Bridge from the 1935 Labor Day hurricane, per Expert Vagabond. Give it the morning. Big Pine Key, mile markers 33 to 29, is the Key deer refuge; the deer top out around 70 pounds, per RedAwning, and they walk into the road, so slow down. Then it is about 30 miles to Key West and mile marker 0.
Miami to Key West Road Trip Planner
Three things decide whether this drive is the good part of the vacation or the part everybody remembers badly. The Stretch, the fuel and the road closures. None of them show up on an itinerary, and all three are worth ten minutes before you turn the key.
18 Mile Stretch Florida Keys
Between Florida City and Key Largo, US-1 narrows to one lane each way with a concrete barrier down the middle and open wetland on both sides, per AARoads. Eighteen miles of that. Locals call it the Stretch, and the barrier arrived with a $148 million rebuild finished in 2009.
On a normal Tuesday it is a pleasant twenty minutes. The trouble is what happens when the day is not normal, because there is no second road and nowhere to turn around. One wreck stops traffic in both directions until it clears, and you sit in it.
That happens more often than you would guess. In March 2025 a brush fire in south Miami-Dade closed the Stretch and Card Sound Road together, which left no road into the Florida Keys at all, per CBS Miami. It was the third closure of the Stretch in one week.
So carry water, use the restroom in Florida City, and do not start the Stretch on a quarter tank. Coming home on a Sunday, leave early. The northbound line builds all afternoon, and people who drive this regularly aim to be back on the mainland by noon.
Gas Stations in the Florida Keys
Fill up in Homestead or Florida City. That is the last cluster of mainland-priced pumps before the road runs out into the wetland, and the next ones you can count on are in Key Largo, twenty-odd miles further south.
The saving is real rather than theoretical. Monroe County is the most expensive county in Florida to buy gas, averaging $4.56 a gallon against a state average of $4.28, per AAA figures reported by CBS Miami. Call it thirty cents a gallon. On a big tank that is lunch for two.
It also gets worse the further down the road you go. If you are driving all the way to mile marker 0, top up again in Islamorada, because stations thin out between Marathon and Big Pine Key. Key West itself is the priciest fuel on the whole drive, which is worth knowing on the morning you leave.
Florida Keys Road Closures
One road in, one road out. That sentence does more planning work than any itinerary.
The alternative is Card Sound Road, which leaves US-1 at Florida City and crosses the Card Sound Bridge into north Key Largo. It has been cashless since 2018, so there is no booth. Monroe County charges $2.13 with SunPass or $3.18 billed to your license plate for a two-axle car, as of October 2025. It adds about twenty minutes, and it puts you past Alabama Jack’s, which is reason enough on a Sunday.
Card Sound is the backup when the Stretch jams, and it is worth driving once before you need it in a hurry. But it is not a guarantee. The March 2025 fire took both roads out at the same time.
In hurricane season the thing to watch is the evacuation order, not the forecast. Visitors get told to leave first here: ahead of Irma in 2017 the mandatory visitor order took effect a day before residents were required to go, per the Miami New Times. When that order comes, the whole island chain funnels onto the road you just drove down. Leave on the announcement.
How much does it cost to drive from Miami to Key West?
The road itself costs almost nothing beyond fuel; the money goes to the two state parks and the boat. Roadtrippers estimates $31 in fuel for its 171-mile version of the route, per its trip page, which is a reasonable planning figure for a mid-size car.
| Line item | Two adults | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Fuel, Miami to Key West | about $31 | Roadtrippers route estimate |
| Pennekamp snorkel boat, two tickets | from $162 | GetYourGuide, July 2026 |
| Pennekamp vehicle entry | per-vehicle fee | Visit Florida |
| Bahia Honda vehicle entry | per-vehicle fee; check the park page | Florida State Parks |
| Turtle Hospital tour | set by the hospital; check before you go | Outside Suburbia |
| Total of the confirmed figures | $193 plus two park entries and lodging | arithmetic |
Key West Road Trip Stops
Night one in Key Largo or Islamorada, night two in Marathon or Big Pine, night three in Key West. The trap is booking Key West for all three nights and driving back and forth; the Seven Mile Bridge is a joy once and a chore three times. Key West lodging is the one thing to lock in early, especially for December through March.
Best Key West Road Trip
Skip trying to do it in a day. Guidealong’s six-hour estimate with stops is the minimum, and it leaves no time on the water. Skip the Seven Mile Bridge in the dark; the view is the reason you came. Skip the Key deer selfie; feeding or approaching them is illegal in the refuge and they will not wait for you to focus anyway.
What time of year is best to visit Key West?
December through April is the dry, comfortable stretch on the Overseas Highway. The busiest slice of it is December through February, when daytime highs sit in the 70s, evenings rarely drop below the 60s and rain is scarce, per Adventures by Lana. That is also when rooms book out first and cost the most. So decide your Key West night early.
March through May and November are the shoulder months. The weather is still good and the prices come down. March does bring spring-break crowds to Key West, however.
June through October is low season for a reason. Afternoon thunderstorms are routine and the humidity is heavy. The Atlantic hurricane season runs June 1 to November 30, with August and September as the peak. Rooms are cheapest in those months. If you go then, watch the forecast, because there is one road out of the Keys and everyone uses it at once.
Key West Parking Garage Rates
Old Town is the part of Key West you came for. It is also the part where a car turns into a liability. The city’s Old Town Park N Ride garage at 301 Grinnell Street is open 24 hours. It charges $6 an hour plus tax, with a daily maximum of $48 plus tax, per Tourism Key West. The garage has a 7-foot-2-inch height limit, so a roof box or a tall van will not fit.
On-street meters in Old Town and downtown run about $3 to $4 an hour. Enforcement is daily from 8 a.m. to midnight. Metered spots near Duval Street and Mallory Square fill early on a good day.
The practical answer is to park once. Leave the car at your hotel or in the garage the night you arrive, then walk or bike the rest. Old Town is roughly a mile end to end. Every parking dollar after the first day is money you did not need to spend.
Each stop on this drive has its own guide, and the Florida Keys trip planning page lists them in road order. Start with two days in Miami if you are flying in. After that, pick a base with Key Largo vs Islamorada, then stop at Bahia Honda on the way through. In Key West, see what to do on a short trip and whether the Dry Tortugas day trip is worth a day of the three.
Frequently asked questions about a Key West road trip
How long to drive from Miami to Key West?
About 3.5 to 4 hours nonstop for roughly 160 miles, per Expert Vagabond and Securespace, and about 6 hours with stops, per Guidealong.
Where does the Overseas Highway start and end?
At mile marker 113 in Florida City, ending at mile marker 0 in Key West, per RedAwning. It has 42 bridges.
How long is the Seven Mile Bridge in Florida?
6.79 miles, between mile markers 47 and 40, opened in 1982, per RedAwning and Outside Suburbia.
Do you need a car in Key West?
Not once you get there. A car is what carries you down the Overseas Highway, past Bahia Honda and out to mile marker 0. In Key West itself it mostly sits in a paid space, since Old Town is roughly a mile end to end and the Park N Ride garage runs $6 an hour plus tax, up to $48 a day, per Tourism Key West. Park it the night you arrive and walk from there.
When is Florida Keys hurricane season?
June 1 through November 30, with August and September as the peak. Those are also the cheapest months for a room. There is one road out of the Keys, so watch the forecast if you book then.
Are there tolls to Key West?
Only if you take Card Sound Road instead of US-1 into Key Largo. The Overseas Highway itself is free.
Updated September 20, 2026.
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