10 Best Sights in The Florida Keys, Florida

Amenities at this gem of a public park include a palm-shaded beach, pool, marina, skate park, tennis, and places to rent a boat or learn to sail. If you're staying in Islamorada, admission is free; otherwise, it costs $8 (cash only) to enter.

This museum plunges into the history of man's thirst for undersea exploration. Amid its 13 galleries of interactive and other interesting displays are a submarine and helmet re-created from the film 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Vintage U.S. Navy equipment, diving helmets from around the world, and early scuba gear explore 4,000 years of diving history. Nifty scavenger hunt printouts make this fun for little ones. 

On Lower Matecumbe Key this popular village park is named for a local environmental activist. Its "beach" (really a typical Keys-style sand flat with a gentle slope) is best enjoyed at low tide. The nicest feature here is the elevated, wooden, ½-mile boardwalk that meanders through a natural wetland hammock. Covered picnic areas along the way give you places to linger and enjoy the view. Restrooms are at the north end. Weekends are packed with Miami day-trippers as it's the only public beach until you reach Marathon. Amenities: parking (no fee); toilets. Best for: partiers; snorkeling; swimming; windsurfing.

On Monday, September 2, 1935, more than 400 people perished when the most intense hurricane to make landfall in the United States swept through this area of the Keys. Two years later, the Florida Keys Memorial was dedicated in their honor. Native coral rock, known as keystone, covers the 18-foot obelisk monument that marks the cremated remains of some 300 of the storm victims.

Mystery surrounds 10-acre Indian Key, on the ocean side of the Matecumbe islands. It was a base for 19th-century shipwreck salvagers until an 1840 attack by Native Americans wiped out the settlement. Dr. Henry Perrine, a noted botanist, was killed in the raid. Today, his plants grow in the town's ruins. Most people kayak or canoe to the park or take a boat from Robbie's Marina to snorkel or explore nature trails and the town ruins.

On the National Register of Historic Places, this 280-acre bayside island is the site of a virgin hardwood forest and the 1919 home of chemical magnate William Matheson. His caretaker's cottage serves as the park's visitor center. Access is by boat—your own, a rented vessel, or a tour operated from Robbie's Marina. The tour leaves at 8:30 am Friday through Sunday and takes in both Lignumvitae and Indian Key (reservations required).

Silver-sided tarpon—huge, prehistoric-looking denizens of the not-so-deep—congregate around the docks at this authentic local marina. Children (and many adults) pay $4.50 for a bucket of sardines to feed them and $2.50 each for dock admission. You can also grab a bite to eat indoors or out; shop at a slew of artisans' booths; or charter a boat, kayak, or other watercraft.

The second-oldest marine-mammal center in the world doesn't attempt to compete with more modern, more expensive parks. Even so, it's among the better attractions north of Key West, especially if you have kids in tow. In addition to seeing marine-life exhibits and shows, you can make reservations for up-close-and-personal encounters like a swim with a dolphin or sea lion or stingray and turtle feedings (which include general admission). Stop for lunch at the grill, shop in the extensive gift shop, or sunbathe and swim at the private beach.

This was one of the first of the Upper Keys to be permanently settled. Early homesteaders were so successful at growing pineapples in the rocky soil that, at one time, the island yielded the country's largest annual crop. However, foreign competition and the hurricane of 1935 killed the industry. Today, life centers on fishing and tourism, and the island is filled with everything from bait shops and charter boats to eclectic galleries and fusion restaurants.

Originally two islets, this area was first inhabited by Native Americans, who left behind a few traces of their dwellings, and then by farmers and fishermen who built their homes here in the mid-1800s. Henry Flagler bought the land from homesteaders in 1908 for his Florida East Coast Railway, filling in the inlet between what were then called the Umbrella Keys. Today, this is where you'll find Theater of the Sea, the famous Holiday Isle (now Postcard Inn), and Windley Key Fossil Reef Geological State Park.