Miami to Key West Road Trip: 17 Stops Along the Florida Keys Scenic Highway

[Music] the 165 mile drive from miami to key west is one of the best road trips you can do in the united states while you can do the drive in two to three hours i recommend taking the entire day and finding many fun stops along the way the road has bridges that go over the ocean to connect the keys and there's many towns and attractions you can see on the drive to key west my dad and i did this drive a couple months ago and here's how we made an entire day out of our drive from miami to key west let's jump into it let me know what you think in the comments we're saying goodbye to our hotel in miami and we're heading to key west with a few stops along the way we started our drive with a stop at makondo coffee roasters for some great colombian coffee we got our coffee and now we're headed out on the road trip 45 minutes south of miami we were arriving at our first stop on the journey coral castle unfortunately they didn't allow video here only photos but this is a really fun and historic spot along the drive the work was all done by one man ed lead scotland in the early 1920s he moved the castle from its original location about 10 miles north in the 1930s which is what you can still see to this day the tour takes about 45 minutes and it starts with a video about ed and then walks you through the grounds and tells you a lot of its history it's pretty fascinating it's definitely worth stopping out on your road trip 15 minutes south as a fruit stand known as robert is here if it's open when you're driving south then you definitely should go check it out this place is crazy with all sorts of different fruit some that i'd never even heard of and they make most of them into milkshakes plus in the back area there's lots of antiques and things to explore and there's turtles and other animals so it's just a great stop for a family while driving to key west this fruit stand is also next to the entrance for the southern portion of everglades you could always go into the park if you wanted to but that's a little much for this road trip i have a video on everglades that i'll link to in the description as we headed south an accident closed the bridge on highway 1 so we had to take county road 905a into the northern part of key largo and then head south from there welcome to the florida keys this is a nice drive as well with some good views of the water but unfortunately it took a lot longer because of the traffic trying to turn back on highway 1. if you have the option highway 1 is definitely the better way to take the traffic ended up being that there's a stop sign in order to turn left onto highway 1 so that's what took so long but eventually we are back on the road heading to our next stop if you're hungry when you get to key largo head to miss mac's kitchen this spot has been here for decades and it's famous for its key lime freeze which is like a key lime milkshake they also have great fresh fish crab cakes and key lime pie we didn't go on the way down but we did go on the way back up i should note that people often think this route is just along the ocean the entire time but a lot of it actually feels more inland as you're driving through towns and there's trees that block the view of the water we finally made it to our first stop in the keys this massive lobster outside of the rain barrel store it's called betsy the lobster and it's made of fiberglass it was completed in 1985 and it is 30 feet high and 40 feet long just in case you wanted to know how big it is six seven pops and betsy the lobster it's pretty big there's also a fun tourist shop here if you want to pick up something from the florida keys after we said goodbye to betsy it was only a five minute drive to the next stop in the town of isla murata stop number two is the history of diving museum the history of diving museum was a huge highlight on the trip for me i was honestly shocked by how much this small museum had the museum opened in 2005 and supposedly the collection has diving gear from over 30 different countries [Music] the exhibits in the museum are well laid out and have some interactive components like how long you can hold your breath not very long it's fascinating to see how much the diving equipment has grown over the last century and some of the innovations they used to dive in the early days check out this room that has all of the different helmets from different nations it's pretty incredible to see it's worth the price of admission just to see this room i think they also have a show you can watch back here as well [Music] i spent another 20 minutes exploring the rest of the museum which included a cool aquarium and exhibits on some of the deep sea suits they use plus there was even some information on diving in the movies that was fun to see this type of regular is how they created darth vader's iconic breathing sounds it's crazy that museum was really cool definitely stop here so much to see and lots of stuff you wouldn't see in a normal museum now we're heading on to uh brewing company i think only three minutes drive from the history of diving museum brought us to the florida keys brewing company florida key's brewing company has been there since 2005 and has a great relaxed vibe and it's definitely a place you'll see people congregating on the weekends this is the florida keys brewing company this is the iguana bay which is their most popular beer we tried the ipas and the iguana bay but i actually really like this unique flavor plus it's a cool spot to hang out so definitely check it out while you're at the brewing company you can actually walk down to the hurricane memorial if you're interested this memorial is dedicated to the 408 people that lost their lives in the hurricane in 1935. it was a category 5 hurricane and was one of the most intense to ever hit the united states the memorial here is beautiful and worth seeing and it's made out of a coral limestone on the walk back to the brewing company you can see historic houses that were built in the wake of the hurricane and that were designed to survive future hurricanes that may hit the area [Music] our next stop was basically across the street from the florida keys brewing company depending on what you're planning to do in the keys this is a great place to stop for fishing and all that kind of stuff since 1967 this sporting goods store has become a popular spot in isler murata in the early 1990s it was sold to bass pro shop though so it looks a lot more like what you'd come to expect from bass pro shops around the united states it's a pretty awesome spot with a historic boat right in the middle the boat was built in the 1930s and is supposedly the sister boat to ernest hemingway's they allow you to climb up into the boat and have lots of information on its history while you're there [Music] heading seven minutes south we made it to everybody's favorite stop on the drive from miami to key west we made it to robbie's where you can feed the tarpon this is easily one of the most popular stops on the entire drive robbie's has a market restaurant and different water activities that you can do but the most famous thing to do here is to feed the tarpons it costs a couple bucks for admission and a couple bucks for a bucket of fish but it's definitely worth it do be sure to put your sunglasses in your pocket as lots of people lose them is picking out our bucket it's a winner right here after getting your fish you proceed to the dock where there's literally hundreds of tarpon below you watch out for the pelicans though is they'll steal your fish if they get the opportunity [Laughter] oh sweet the best way to experience the feeding is to use the slow-mo option on your phone we had all these crazy massive fish right here [Music] it's so crazy oh that guy was massive the tarpon basically put your hand in their mouth as they're getting the fish all right pop's got the last fish here we go [Music] that was awesome bye tarpon [Music] you got to stop here that's a lot of fun that's really fun my whole hand was in his mouth didn't bother me at all i think it's safe to say that's probably the best six dollars you'll spend on your drive to key west from robbie's it was a 35 minute drive to our next stop along the way we got to see ocean views cross a few bridges and go through a few small towns it wasn't the clearest day but it's still an incredible drive with lots of beautiful views all around you [Music] eventually we made it to the town of marathon which was our next stop and we are finally gonna have something to eat when you research places to eat on this drive keys fishery comes up time and time again for their lobster reuben [Music] we ended up ordering the amazing smoked fish dip and a lobster reuben to share [Music] all right pop is going to try the famous lobster reuben best sandwich in the state of florida very good the lobster is overpowered by the other stuff yeah they're very good yes or no my turn with the lobster [Music] pretty good i don't know if it's 30 dollars good that's pretty good i would say that's worth trying at least once it was big enough that my dad and i could share plus the smoked fish dip and the key lime pie were both excellent so definitely don't miss a spot on the way down you can decide for yourself let me know in the comments another great spot in marathon is the turtle hospital which opened in 1986 they worked to rehab sea turtles and return them to their natural habitat you can take a tour here to see the sea turtles but we weren't able to do that on this trip as we're leaving marathon we saw a manatee and a shark how could you not stop plus you never miss an opportunity to have pop stick his head in something especially as cool as this pops is getting eaten by the great white this is uh this is commitment to the pose right here well worth the stop there's a woman manatee back here that's fallen over as well leaving marathon brings you the drive's most well-known landmark seven mile bridge there's a pullout on the right right before you get on the bridge if you want to get out and look at it from below we're now driving over seven mile bridge which is a popular landmark on the way to key west that over there is a pedestrian bridge but it was currently closed so we are just heading over the original seven mile bridge was created in 1912 as a railroad bridge after it was damaged by storms in 1935 is recreated for automobile use the current bridge was built in the 1980s and has become a popular tourist attraction and has been featured in many movies the old bridge was turned into a pedestrian bridge which can be used for fishing and even walking on today as you cross the bridge keep your eyes peeled on the right for fred the tree the australian pine is a local favorite and basically defies nature by growing right out of the old bridge [Music] right after you cross seven mile bridge there's a big parking lot this place wasn't closed so if you want to walk out on the pedestrian bridge you can do that from here this is a great stop as it's a fun way to experience the bridge and to truly understand the sheer size of this engineering marvel [Music] the old man in the sea so yeah you can walk out on the bridge do some fishing whatever you want to do [Music] as we said goodbye to seven mile bridge a five minute drive brought us to our next stop at bahia honda state park so when you get to this state park there's a trail to the old bridge that you can actually hike up to that's what we're doing now it's only about a tenth of a mile walk to the old bahia honda bridge and you can walk on it if you want to [Music] after about five minutes of walking we made it to the old bridge [Music] look at that water out there it is incredible even though it's not sunny looks amazing when you make it up to the bridge you can only walk on a small portion but you can get some great views of highway 1 running alongside you and it's cool to stand on this historic bridge after seeing the bridge from the top i think the best view is actually from the bottom on the side so you can actually see the old bridge so there's the bridge we are standing on you can see the people up there but as you can see it's much cooler from down below this is the original railroad bridge that was converted to an automobile bridge in the 30s now we're finishing the drive and we're heading down to key west just in time for sunset which doesn't look like we're gonna get much tonight from the state park to key west it's about 35 miles and it takes about 45 minutes this section of the drive is picturesque as there's more bridges and the views are not often blocked by trees if you have the time on the drive down go to big pine key and go to the national key dear refuge you can head to the blue hole where you may be able to see key deer and other wildlife or you often just see them as you're driving on the side of the road these deer are the smallest subspecies of the white-tailed deer and are only found in the florida keys [Music] eventually we made it to the outskirts of key west and started the slow drive into the city to park near duval street [Music] daval street is the nightlife capital of key west we thought it'd be a fun place to end our road trip so we made it to key west but in order to end our trip officially we're going to the mile marker zero sign mile marker zero the beginning of the florida key scenic highway or the end for us we did it we made it mile marker zero is a fun endpoint in key west with a couple little shops there and a great place for an ending photo that's it for our trip from miami to key west if you want to see key west recommendations you can check them out right here thanks for going on this road trip with us we'll see you on the next video [Music] you

Channel: Through My Lens

Views: 624,163

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Id: aaDvZfFoE5o

Length: 15min 59sec (959 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 30 2022