In Key West there are the Conch Train and the Trolley Bus tours. We’ve done both more than once as we’ve gone with different people.

The trolley bus is a hop on hop off tour. You buy a ticket for the whole day then spend as much time as you like at different spots before jumping back on. You can buy tickets and join the tour at various locations. The drivers give a running commentary which is informative and usually amusing and it’s a good way to see the island.

The tour stops at all the well known tourist spots, Mallory Square, the Flagler Station, Ernest Hemingway’s House, the Southernmost Point where you just have to get off and join the queue of tourists waiting to have their photo taken at the buoy which marks the  most southerly point of the USA.

 It takes you past the beaches and the parks, along Duval Street past the bars where Hemingway used to drink including the famous Sloppy Joes. The guides tell you about the history of the island, the pirates and about the architecture and the hurricanes and also about the people who live there.

You can stop at La Concha Hotel. The tallest building in Key West which has a rooftop terrace where you can enjoy a Margerita and watch the sun set with views of the whole island. It’s much more relaxing than driving round and trying to find parking and you wouldn’t learn half as much.

If you really don’t want to wander about but just want to see the sights, then the Conch Train is the better option. This is a 90 minute guided tour which takes in all the same sights but there are only 2 or 3 stops. Ideal if you’re not feeling energetic or its just too hot, although be warned its very hot on the train!

During our holiday in 2007 we visited the Florida Keys. We booked in advance for a 3 night stay at the ragged edge resort on Islamorada.

We chose the keys as we wanted to be somewhere peaceful and quiet on the actual day of our wedding anniversary rather than the hustle and bustle of New York (which we had visited a few days earlier) and somewhere we had not visited before.

We drove from Miami to the keys and had been used to the 2 and 3 lane Highways and Interstates now we were on US 1 a single lane road behind a slow moving truck loaded with construction materials.

It was our own fault. We hadn’t taken much notice of the distances involved in driving too and through the keys.

We just assumed we would drive out of Miami, cross a few bridges and arrive at our destination shouldn’t take us long, wrong.

It’s like most things in America everything is on a big scale and the distances between the keys and therefore the bridges linking them are no exception.

 When we arrived at our destination a feeling of dejavu came over us both (not for the first time on this holiday). Before we got the Florida bug our annual family holidays were to a Greek island and that’s were we felt we were, on a Greek island. The buildings looked as though they belonged in Greek holiday resort.

Our accommodation, the ground floor of a 2-story villa, was no more than 30 feet from the Atlantic Ocean. The view was breath taking and instantly reminded us of a small Mediterranean village fishing port.

The tranquillity was a world removed from New York and the theme parks you associate with Florida. We spent a lot of our time talking to vacationers and taking walks around the island.

We visited Key West not a short drive but well worth the journey.

 We had intended to find a restaurant on the day of our anniversary but as we had spent the day relaxing and had one or two drinks by the time we decided to take ourselves off to a restaurant neither of us could be bothered to drive.

We decided to walk to the nearest bar and check out the menu.

The pub we came across had the un-reassuring name of Chilly Willies and appeared not to fall into the category of the type of venue Carol had intended to celebrate her wedding anniversary.

How wrong we were. The food was excellent, some of the best we had ever eaten and the service was second to none.

 If you want to see a totally different side to Florida and want nothing more to do than relax and chill out then I can thoroughly recommend the Florida Keys.

Brian Pearson

Now if you want to drink at Sloppy Joe’s and soak up the Hemingway experience, you have a choice. You can take a road trip down the east side of Florida via the Florida Turnpike. This is a 390 mile trip (one way) and will take the best part of seven hours if you don’t want a break. You will, however, have the opportunity of having a look at such places as Palm Beach and Miami. After Miami you take US 1 down the Keys starting with Key Largo, (a good place to break your journey overnight), and taking in Islamadora, Long Key, Marathon, and Seven Mile Bridge to name only a few, before you get to Key West,the home of Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville

If you do fancy the road trip through the Keys on US 1 (sometimes called “The Overseas Highway”), you should go during the week and avoid the very busy weekends. The road is only two lanes in places, and being stuck in a traffic jam is not the best way to see the Keys.

Some people love the long car ride down the Keys, and across all the bridges, but there are those who do find it all a bit “samey”, and tiring.  

There is, of course, an alternative which will allow you to combine a shorter road trip down the Gulf coast with a trip to Key West.

200 miles from Orlando, and a much shorter three and a quarter hours away, at Fort Myers Beach, just south of Sanibel Island, you can take the “Key West Express” – a high speed ferry which will get you there in a leisurely three hours. You can go just for the day, and spend from 11:30am to 5pm in Key West, or spend a night or two drinking in the atmosphere.

The ferry, with air conditioned interiors and outdoor sun decks, will cost around $145 return. You will have to leave your car in Fort Myers (car parking is free) but you can well do without a car in Key West anyway.

So, go on - Join the nightly sunset celebrations at Mallory Square, and choose which way you would like to get there.

Andy Brownlie

Being completely new to this we were unsure what the dress code should be but it sounded like quite a smart affair so we returned to the hotel and showered and changed ready for the evening. We embarked at 4.30, the day was beautiful, blue cloudless sky, sea like a millpond and the sun slowly setting behind us. We took a seat in the middle, quite near to the front and prepared to enjoy the experience, champagne in hand!

The men were enlisted to unfurl the sails, we set off and it was absolutely wonderful. The ship ploughed smoothly through the very light chop whilst we were in the lee of the island then suddenly we were out into the open sea and there was much more movement and as the bow of the ship dipped into the water it sent lots of spray onto the boat, this was all good fun until suddenly a huge wave came over the top, right over us. We were absolutely drenched from head to foot, my hair was soaked, my white trousers had become transparent. I couldn’t do anything but laugh, everyone else was laughing and cheering so I stood up and took a bow to a huge round of applause! I was congratulated for being such a good sport and although i did feel a bit a silly for not being appropriately dressed it was great fun. The only thing to do then was to carry on drinking champagne and not to worry about it.

When we got back into harbour did we go back and get changed? No - we had realised by then there is absolutely no need - in Key West anything goes!