AnnMarie

My husband and I are thinking about flying into Florida and driving to the keys the day after Thanksgiving for our 21st anniversary.

Where do they have the best beaches in the keys? We would just like to relax, but stay in a nice hotel with a beautiful beach.

Would appreciate your suggestions..

Thanks!
AnnMarie

Karen

If it's beaches you want don't go to the Keys. Based on what everyone on this broad says they are small and man made, not the luxuary beaches of other parts of FL or the Carribean.

Do a search on this board using the search box at the top. You will find oodles of info on this and other keys topics.

abc

Try the Upper Keys.

xxx

Maybe Key largo. If warm weather and great beaches is what you want, fly into Miami and just do South Beach as an option, OR fly into FLL and stay there as an alernative plan for the better beaches. As people say, Key West hasn't any beaches per se.

xxx

There are lots of good reasons to go to the keys, but beaches aren't one of them. If a true "beach" vacation is what you're after, you'll be very disappointed in the keys, as all the beaches are man-made and most are tiny.

Derek

Hey Karen, Just how many have been on "this broad"?

Larry

Although I usually steer clear of the humor posts, Derek's post and the re-read of Karen's made me laugh out loud.

Lori

As a native Floridian that lives in S.Forida, everyone is correct about the lack of beaches in the Keys. It is beautiful down there and we go down all the time. Excellent off-shore fishing, snorkeling, boating, that type of thing. Some areas have small beaches, but it's not known for them.

We have beautiful beaches in Hollywood and Ft. Lauderdale, and on the west coast Sanibel Island is famous for its beaches with tons of shells.

Recommend using Ft. Lauderdale airport if you can, much nicer and you won't have to deal with all the hectic-ness in Miami. Personally, I avoid the Miami area all together (except for work).

xxx

Lots of resorts have man made beaches (Wyndham Casa Marina, Cheeca Lodge, Moorings) they are not very wide. I don't need a whole lot of space on the beach so it was no big deal. The great thing is that the pools are right on the ocean (if you stay ocean side). If you are interested in warm weather, turquoise blue water, and swaying palm trees, you won't care about beaches.

Joebob

no beaches in the keys worth the drive to see, however there is many other things there that still make it better than the rest of Fla........

Karen

Glad I could make you laugh with my bad typing and lack of proof reading.

Obviously, I meant board.

Robert

Pops Motel has a nice beach in the keys. Robert

kathy

Have't seen the keys, in fact saw your posting while i was looking for info, but have spent several vacas at Sanibel, captiva- the beaches are stunning, sunsets better(like North Shore of Oahu) but the prices are pretty high. Flying into Tampa and driving a couple of hours can help. Also the beaches at longbeachkey-off of Sarasota are beautiful-last Xmas a little chilly, but great if you don't mind one day of sweather one day on the beach.

Bruce Tobin

The Keys do have one very nice beach: Bahia Honda State Park on Big Pine Key. It was the 1992 "Best Beach in the USA" winner. That's pretty much it for beaches in the keys, though, except for manmade stuff at resorts.