Key West

The Florida Keys & Key West offer a variety of new and enhanced attractions, accommodations, tours and cultural offerings to entice, intrigue and entertain visitors. Explore the winter 2017-18 highlights here.


 

Key Largo and Key West were least impacted by Hurricane Irma, as were hotels and businesses on the bayside or gulfside in Islamorada and Marathon. Most tourism infrastructure is largely restored. Visitors can anticipate memorable, quality vacation experiences in most areas of the destination.

Awards and prizes await winning Florida Keys culinary artists at the annual Master Chefs Classic, but the real winners are the event attendees who sample and savor the dishes presented for judges’ consideration. 

Attendees at the 13th annual Florida Keys Seafood Festival scheduled Saturday and Sunday, Jan. 13-14, can celebrate the region’s world-renowned fresh seafood and the commercial fishermen who devote their careers to harvesting it. 

Runners seeking a picturesque warm-weather challenge this winter can find it Sunday, Jan. 14, during an event acclaimed as one of the United States’ leading winter half-marathons.

From beachside fireworks to wacky takeoffs on the traditional ball drop in New York’s Times Square, the Florida Keys offer visitors a wealth of ways to welcome 2018. And because “winter” in the subtropical island chain means balmy breezes rather than blizzards, revelers can leave heavy coats and boots behind as they head out to celebrate wearing light dresses or shorts and sandals.

Florida Keys residents staged the ceremonial burning of hurricane warning flags Thursday evening to mark the official Nov. 30 end of the turbulent 2017 Atlantic Basin hurricane season.

An exhibit memorializing iconic playwright Tennessee Williams, who called Key West home from the late 1940s until his death in 1983, has expanded to become the Tennessee Williams Museum under new dual leadership.

A naughty and spirited two-act reverie, inspired by the classic holiday ballet “The Nutcracker,” is sure to bring laughter to Key West’s seasonal festivities in mid-December.

Restored cigar-makers’ cottages and lavish Victorian mansions stand side by side on Key West’s narrow streets, creating an intriguing architectural fusion in the historic Old Town district.