Experience Key West

As a tourist destination, Key West has a lot to sell -- an average temperature of 79°F, 19th-century architecture, and a laid-back lifestyle. There's also a growing calendar of festivals and artistic and cultural events -- including the Conch Republic Celebration in April and a Halloween Fantasy Fest. Few cities of its size -- a mere 2 mi by 4 mi -- offer the joie de vivre of this one. Yet, as elsewhere, when preservation has successfully revived once-tired towns, next have come those unmindful of style and eager for a buck. Duval Street can look like a mini Las Vegas strip. Mass marketers directing the town's tourism have attracted cruise ships, which dwarf the town's skyline, and Duval Street floods with day-trippers who gawk at the earringed hippies with dogs in their bike baskets, gay couples walking down the street holding hands, and the oddball lot of locals.