Florida Keys Scenic Drive

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National Geographic's Guide to Scenic Highways and Byways

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Mangrove-fringed and water-bound, the Overseas Highway (U.S. 1) links a chain of subtropical isles that arc off the tip of Florida. Delving ever deeper into a tropical terrain, the route reveals a land of hammocks and reefs, miniature deer, and, at last, the fanciful, idiosyncratic town of Key West.

The drive begins a mile [1.6 kilometers] below Florida City on the mainland, where mile marker 126 starts counting down the miles to Key West. Following the former roadbeds and bridges of the Florida East Coast Railway, which was completed from the mainland to Key West in 1912, the highway shoots across the southern edge of the Everglades.

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Sunset fishing in the Florida Keys

Photograph © Acey Harper

A mile [1.6 kilometers] beyond Lake Surprise, named by early railroad explorers who weren’t expecting to find it, the highway enters Key Largo, the largest and northernmost key along U.S. 1. Bustling with fishing and tourist activity, Key Largo contains all aspects of the keys, from their rich tropical vegetation and opalescent waters to their billboards, dive shops, hamburger stands, and mom-and-pop motels.
At John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park (Mile 102.5. +1 305 451 1202. Vehicle $4), the first underwater state park in the U.S., you can take snorkeling, diving, or glass-bottomed boats out to the lacy coral reef that parallels the keys’ Atlantic shoreline from here all the way to the Dry Tortugas.
Continuing through Plantation Key, where pineapple and banana plantations flourished at the turn of the century, U.S. 1 crosses Snake Creek on one of the 42 bridges that connect the keys. At Windley Key the Theater of the Sea (Mile 84.5. +1 305 664 2431. $15.75 adults, $9.25 children) features performing sea lions, sharks, and dolphins.

Southernmost house, Key West

Photograph © Jake Rajas

Islamorada (Spanish for “purple isle”), the only settlement on Upper Matecumbe Key, marks the beginning of the Middle Keys. The island’s Hurricane Memorial (Mile 82) honors victims of the Labor Day hurricane in 1935, which washed out much of the railroad and was one of the most powerful ever recorded in the U.S.
Two sites can be visited off Lower Matecumbe Key. Lignumvitae Key State Botanical Site (Accessible via boat tours from Robbie’s Marina. +1 305 664 9814. 7 days a week. Fare), an uninhabited 280-acre [113.3-hectare] island, contains a rare virgin tropical hardwood forest that includes gumbo-limbo, pigeon plum, and poisonwood. At the Indian Key State Historic Site (Also accessible via boat tours from Robbie’s Marina. +1 305 664 4815. Thurs.-Mon.; Fare), the foundations of buildings and cisterns from an 1830s wrecking village, established to salvage ships that had run aground on the reef, are still visible amid the tropical undergrowth.
At the Long Key State Recreation Area (Mile 67.5. +1 305 664 4815. Adm. fee), swimming is poor, but beachcombers may find the rubbery egg cases left by sea turtles. The Golden Orb Trail here leads through a delightful mangrove-edged lagoon.
The Long Key Viaduct sweeps toward tiny Conch Key, then Rte. 1 angles across Grassy Key and into Marathon, the heavily developed commercial center of the Middle Keys. Amid the sprawl is Crane Point Hammock, where you’ll find a thatch-palm hammock with the combined Museum of Natural History of the Florida Keys and Florida Keys Children’s Museum (Mile 50. +1 305 743 9100. $7.50 adults, $4 students, children under 6 free).

Bahia Honda State Park, Florida Keys

Photograph © James Randklev

South of Marathon, U.S. 1 crosses the spectacular Seven Mile Bridge. One of the world’s longest bridges, it offers sweeping views of the open Atlantic on the left and the Gulf of Mexico to the right. On the other side of the bridge, Bahia Honda State Park (Mile 37. +1 305 872 2353. Adm. fee) has white-sand beaches, rare in the keys. Satinwood, key spider lily, and other West Indian plants can be found along the Silver Palm Trail.
As the road pushes southwest, the keys seem more isolated and less populated. Bridges become shorter, and islands begin to merge. Eagles, falcons, and red-tailed hawks like this area, and it’s not uncommon to see a large osprey nest perched atop a telephone pole.
Big Pine Key, unusual for its large slash pines, is the only place in the world where endangered Key deer live. Standing only 2.5 feet [0.8 meter] tall, the dainty subspecies of the Virginia white-tailed deer might be spotted if you take a 2.5-mile [4-kilometer] detour onto Key Deer Boulevard through the National Key Deer Refuge (+1 305 872 2239).
For its final 30 miles [48.3 kilometers], U.S. 1 crosses one small tropical key after another until it reaches Key West, an eccentric tropical town whose atmosphere is more Caribbean than American. Here, you can poke through the shops on Duval Street; see the southernmost point and the southernmost house at 1400 Duval St. (Private) in the continental U.S.; wander streets lined with fine Victorian homes and quaint white-frame “conch” cottages; visit the Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum (907 Whitehead St. +1 305 294 1575.$6); or simply soak up the town’s distinctive ambience.