Key West, Florida
Key West is a city and an island of the same name near the southernmost tip of the Florida Keys in Monroe County, Florida, United States. Key West is a seaport destination for many passenger cruise ships. The Key West International Airport provides airline service. Hotels and guest houses are available for lodging. Many restaurants offer a choice of indoor or outdoor dining.
View of Key West from space. Check out more photos of all our featured destinations in our photo gallery.
Spring Break
Gay Spring Break is an annual event held in Key West, Florida over a six-week period each spring. It draws between five and ten thousand spring break revelers every year. In terms of scope and number of events, Gay Spring Break has emerged as the world's largest gay event. Typical events during Gay Spring Break include dance parties, beach parties, boat parties, drag shows and events that are men-only and women-only. Many attendees of Gay Spring Break spend time snorkling on the barrier reef surrounding the Florida Keys.
Hotels and Restaurants
Look for our full directory of hotels and restaurants, coming soon.
Clubs and Bars
Look for our full directory of clubs, coming soon.
Attractions and Events
In 1979 the Key West Tourist Development Association, Inc. started Fantasy Fest to attract tourists at the traditionally slow time at Halloween, which is at the end of the hurricane season. Fantasy Fest regularly attracts approximately 80,000 people to the island, and has become a huge success.
Many visitors rent a bicycle and explore the history and architecture of Old Town Key West. Walking tours, including a tour of the unusual Key West Cemetery, are available. The Sunset Celebration at Mallory Square is a daily spectacle for visitors and residents. Boat excursions and tours provide a great way to view Key West from the water. The Duval Street bar and restaurant district includes many different entertainment options, all within walking distance of each other. The Tennessee Williams Theatre is a performing arts center, a civic center, and a community center.
The Key West Botanical Forest and Garden is an excellent, frost-free arboretum and botanical garden containing a number of "champion tree" specimens.
Nancy Forrester's Secret Garden is a one acre (4,000 m²) garden resembling a lush, predominantly green, rainforest. It is an exhibit of wild nature’s artistry in a woodland garden.
The Key West Butterfly & Nature Conservatory features a 5,000 square foot (460 m²) glass-domed tropical butterfly habitat.
The Mel Fisher Maritime Museum showcases gold, silver, and treasure recovered from shipwrecks around the world.
The Key West Lighthouse and Keeper's Quarters Museum preserves the history of the Key West Lighthouse built in 1847.
Nobel Prize-winning author Ernest Hemingway's former home is now open to the public as a museum, populated by as many as sixty descendants of his famous polydactyl cats.
PrideFest is seven days of events, presented by the Gay and Lesbian Community Center of Key West the first week in June. The schedule includes the Pride Follies talent extravaganza; contests to select a Mr., Ms. and Miss PrideFest; parties, a tea dance; and the PrideFest Parade down Duval Street. Key West was the first American city to openly recruit gay tourists.
Tourism
Key West is a popular gay tourist destination, has a large Naval flight school and was the Winter White House of Harry S. Truman.
Climate
Key West claims to be the only city in the lower 48 states never to have had a frost. Because of the proximity of the Gulf Stream in the Straits of Florida, about 12 miles south and southeast, and the tempering effects of the Gulf of Mexico to the west and north, Key West has a notably mild, tropical-maritime climate (similar to the Caribbean islands), in which the average temperatures during winter are about 14 degrees lower than in summer. Cold fronts are strongly modified by the warm water as they move in from northerly quadrants in winter. The average low and high temperatures in January are 67°F/ 75°F. There is no known record of frost, ice, sleet, or snow in Key West. The coldest temperature ever recorded in Key West was 41°F (5°C) on January 12, 1886, and on January 13, 1981. Prevailing easterly tradewinds and sea breezes suppress the usual summertime heating. The average low and high temperatures in July are 81°F/ 90°F.
The period of November through April receives abundant sunshine and slightly less than 25 percent of the annual rainfall. This rainfall usually occurs in advance of cold fronts in a few heavy or light showers. May through October is normally the wet season, receiving approximately 53 percent of the yearly total in numerous showers and thunderstorms. Rain falls on most days of the wet season. Early morning is the favored time for these showers, which is different from mainland Florida, where showers and thunderstorms usually occur in the afternoon. Easterly (tropical) waves during this season occasionally bring excessive rainfall, while infrequent hurricanes may be accompanied by unusually heavy amounts. Key West is the most likely U.S. settlement to be hit by a hurricane. Humidity remains high during the entire year.
History and Development
Cayo Hueso is the original Spanish name for the island of Key West. Spanish speaking people also use the term Cayo Hueso when referring to Key West. It literally means bone key. It's said that the island was littered with the remains (bones) from an Indian battlefield or burial ground. The most widely accepted theory of how the name changed to Key West is that it is a false friend anglicisation of the word, being that the word hueso (pronounced way-so) sounds like it could mean west in English. Other theories of how the island was named are that the name indicated that it was the westernmost Key, or that the island was the westernmost key with a reliable supply of water.
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