How to Enjoy Visiting Key West with the Kids

Key West is a wonderful vacation destination for both kids and adults. To truly enjoy this spectacular travel destination, you should plan your vacation as either "family fun time" or as a grownup vacation. Unless you bring a babysitter, you should not combine the two. Although Key West is affectionately known as a "quaint little drinking village with a fishing problem", before sundown there are many family friendly ways to be entertained.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Good walking shoes for everybody
• Water bottles in a pack
• a map of the island
• Tourist info to read before your trip

1. 

   A couple weeks before your trip, either read online or get some info from the tourism board of Key West. This will help you and your family start to get excited about all you will see and do on your vacation. What you will do in Key West is largely dependent on the ages of your children. If they are teenagers, you can rent bikes for them. Small kids, however, will be safer if you just walk with them.

2. 

   The first thing you have to do is get a hotel or other suitable place to stay. In "new town" (the upper end of the island) there are large family-friendly hotels. I say this because many bed and breakfasts in old town cater only to adults. Some are MEN ONLY and some are for WOMEN ONLY! Hotels like Fairfield Inn in new town have plenty of parking and offer a large free breakfast (which saves you a LOT of money when travelling with kids).

3. 
   Treasures from the wreck of the Atocha

   Once you get settled into your hotel, take the kids down to the pool. Bring your brochures and start planning your adventure. Some kids would be happy to spend thier entire vacation in the hotel pool, but when you are ready, get them out. Be prepared, on this trip, for some down time. No matter how much fun you are having, kids get inundated by constant stimulus, get tired, and start losing thier minds. If they start getting cranky, it may be time to head back to the hotel for a couple hours of swimming or just watching cartoons in the room.

4. 

   Some REALLY COOL places to see and do with your kids in Key West:
   1. Mel Fisher's Maritime museum. Especially if you have read about the wreck of the Spanish Galleon Atocha in advance, the museum is a wonderful place to spend a couple hours.
   2. Key West Aquarium. When you buy a ticket to go to the aquarium, it is good for two days. At first it may be a letdown if you have been to the Monterrey Bay aquarium, but the Key West aquarium is a great place to cool off and rest and learn about the local sea creatures. Make sure and be there when they feed the huge fish in the tank in the back

5. 
   Wyland

   A good time to wander with the kids is in the morning, after breakfast. Key West is quiet that time of day. That's when you can really enjoy the birds singing and truly enjoy the natural beauty of this island splendor. You can play the "chicken-spotting" game (there are free-range chickens all over Key West). Visit the store called Fast-Buck Freddy's. They have toys and trinkets you have never seen before. See the Wyland mural down by the old desalination plant. By ALL MEANS, GET OUT ON THE WATER!!! If the kids are big enough, go out on a snorkeling trip on the reef. If they are small, take a sunset cruise on a pirate ship. They will remember it forever!

6. 

   Try the indigenous food. To me, conch fritters taste like hushpuppies filled with rubber bands, but there are many little restaurants and food vendors that offer great fish tacos and Cuban fare. To end the day, every day, go to the Sunset Festival at Mallory Pier. In addition to free live music, you may see bag pipers, cats jumping through rings of fire, and of course, a spectacular sunset.

[lucindaroth]

on 11/19/2009 It is so tough to have kids on a trip. Great job!!

[rindy]

on 11/15/2009 I'm still leaving the kids at home. I can never have any fun when they are there. I even crack the window in the car for them when I'm inside a bar having a quick cold one. My kids are buzz kills!

[sullysee]

on 11/15/2009 Good article focusing on visiting Key West with the kids. Nice photos, too. 5*, rec.

[edwardvance]

on 11/14/2009 I love this article. Key West is one of my favorite places, and you have made me long to be there! 5* and I recommend.

[askanna]

on 11/12/2009 Great tips for visiting Key West. We plan on going and your ideas for traveling with kids is great! Thanks for the specific hotel recommendations!