My wife and I are going to be heading to Florida in October(yes, I know, hurricane season). We are going to be hitting places such as Jacksonville, Daytona Beach, Cape Canaveral and Orlando. My question is, is it worth driving all the way to the Florida Keys for 2 nights and 3 days? I don't mind driving at all, in fact I love it. But I'm curious to know, people that live there or that have visited there, if they would recomend driving all that way or not in a short ammount of time. We will be in Florida for 13 days total. But will only have about 2 nights worth to visit the Keys.
I don't mind what island we would stay on also. I have done my research and just about every island has it's good and bad points.
One more quick question, is there any type of ferry that will transport passangers and automobiles from say Key West to Miami, or Naples?? Haven't found anything yet, just ferry's for passangers. I just figured it might help in only driving one way and then saving yourself some driving time by taking a boat back.
Thanks to all that answer this.

Whether it's worth it depends on your interests. I personally would prefer the Keys to any of the places you're visiting, so for me, yes, it would be worth it. But if you have 2 days total to both drive to and from Orlando to the Keys, you won't have much time once you get there. I also would not consider 5 locations in 13 days a relaxing trip but different strokes...

There is ferry service now between Miami and Key West according to this
http://www.seakeywestexpress.com/miamitokeywest.htm
No cars, but you can really manage without a car in Key West. Here are other options
http://www.floridakeys.com/lowerkeys/gettinghere.htm

http://fodors.com/miniguides/mgresul...ur_section=tra

If you have never been and don't expect to have more time there in the near future, then go. It's beautiful, it's different, and I think you will enjoy it. I've done the same thing and am looking forward to visiting again.

No car ferries -- no.

What about flying from Orlando? As mentioned above you really don't need a car in Key West. You could park at Orlando airport and fly down saving one heck of a lot of time and gas.

Sorry, I don't know about flight costs from there.

But there is much more to the Keys than just Key West. How about the 7 mile bridge? Bahia Honda State Park? John Pennekamp State Park? The dive shops along the way? The tacky tourist shops? :^)

The ferry between Miami and Key West isn't in service. It's been on the books for several years, and has even had a few disastrous starts, but it's currently not running. (I'm fairly sure it didn't/won't transport cars, anyway). There is a passenger ferry between Ft. Meyers and Key West and the trip is about 4 hours.

I absolutely adore Key West, but can't imagine driving down there for 2 nights. The trip from Miami is about 4 hours, so you'd be facing a LONG drive.

In my opinion, there IS quite a big difference between the keys - the upper and middle keys are great for scuba and snorkeling, but they don't have anywhere near the tourist activites or restaurants that Key West has.

My initial reaction is no, but it depends on what you are looking for.

Are you looking for night life, beaches, snorkeling?? What exactly do you want out of this side trip?

The beaches on Key West stink and you will have to take a boat out to snorkel/dive anywhere in key West. As another person said, it will take a good 8hrs to get from O-town to Key West, with good traffic and not on the weekend.

The original poster didn't say where they were from. I'm from Minnesota and after a long winter, any time at all on the Keys is magical. :^)

Thanks for all the help everyone. I am actually from Wisconsin. So yes, I good trip down to the Keys would snap some of those winter blues we have had recently. Then again, we're not leaving until October anyway.
If we do make the trip down to the Keys, we really are open to just about anything. We have never snorkled, scuba dived, seen clear water beaches, all of that. I will however say this. We would be driving down from Daytona Beach on a Wednesday and probably get into some part of the Keys around 6pm ish. I would book a hotel somewhere in the Keys(not sure where yet), and then we would be leaving on that same Friday morning to be heading back to Orlando for a week. So this is why I had originally asked if that kind of a trip would be worth it all the way down to the Keys. I appriciate everyones help and suggestions.

You should plan at least a trip on a "glass bottom" boat to one of the reefs, be it at John Pennekamp State Park on Key Largo or from one of the other keys. The colorful fish and the coral formations are fantastic. If you could, I think you would enjoy a snorkel tour so you can "get right into them" (don't touch!). Since your trip isn't until October, you could take an introductory course on snorkeling and practice a bit at home before traveling that far, although the snorkeling cruises claim that they can teach you as part of the trip.

I would say if you would like to see nice beaches and clear water, then maybe head over to the St Pete Beach/Clearwater area. It's only 2hrs from Orlando and much nicer beaches.

MM60, If you reach the Keys Wed. eve and leave Fri. AM, you only have Thursday there; that's a really long haul for one day. I'd think you'd desperately want to take a snorkeling boat to do that. Why a whole week in Orlando? A much shorter side trip for a Caribbean-like feeling is Sanibel Island. It is on the southwest coast next to Ft.Myers. Tropical ambiance, much better beaches than the Keys, just no snorkeling.