Jennifer

My husband and I are planning on going to Key West in May. We were wondering if we needed to rent a car or is there some type of public transportation to get us around?

laz

A car is definetly not needed on Key West . The Island is small enough for walking and there are plenty of places to rent scooters or bikes if you want to ..the conch train and trolley is running all the time. We went to Key West in February and the car was parked at the hotel all week...there isn't much parking on the Island anyway.

Rusty

Actually that depends. The island is bigger than you would think. The trolley only visits the touristy places. If you want to really snoop out the island than I would rent a car. I would just plan on renting one for the day. Parking is a bitch near Duval st. and the tourist trap areas. But outside the main area its not so bad. I would not rent a car for a week and then have to find something to do with it all week. If you need a car call avis in the morning or the night before and they will deliver it. There is lots to see on the island. The food gets much better the farther you get from the party zone. We have been to Key West 14 times. Have fun.

Brian in Atlanta

If you're staying in/near Old Town (which you should) skip the car and rely on your feet and bikes. Be sure to get ones with headlights. On the bikes, not the feet.

Patrick

Brian makes a very good point. A lot of people book in Key West at one of the "ocean front" hotels or at a hotel that is far from the old town. If you don't want to drive and fight the parking problem every time you go into the old town, make sure you book at a place in the old town. I agree that one day you might want to rent a car for the day, but unless you are there for a week or longer, I doubt that you'd even want to do that.

susan

Like everyone else has said, the need for a car is dependent on where you stay. If you're in Old Town - which in my opinion is the best place - you won't need a car. If you're not, you'll need either a car or a scooter.

Patrick

A side note: don't think of the conch train as a means of transportation, but by all means take the trip on it. This is one of things I avoided for many trips to Key West figuring it was "too touristy". When we finally took it, I learned a whole lot about Key West I never knew before. Most of the drivers are real Key West characters and will entertain you as well.

Sheli

Everyone is making excellent points of walking and bikeriding once you get to Key West (and around the old town area); however, how you get to Key West is another issue.

We normally fly to Miami and then rent a car and drive the keys, park the car at the guesthouse, hoof it for 3-4 days and then drive back up to Miami (of course stopping along the way at DRC, Anne's beach, Key Largo, Marathon, etc.)

We like the freedom of having a car at our disposal just in case we "wanted" to drive to the other side of the island. Usually we rent a $20/day compact car just to get us there and back...but this year we are splurging on the convertable...*just for fun!* You don't get a chance to really drive a convertable in Nebraska!

Hope you have a great trip..whatever you decide to do!

*lived in KW in the 80's (boy has it changed!) visited 5+ times since*

Kim

My husband and I spent a week in Key West, and rented a car for one day, to drive up Route 1. When we got back to Key West, we drove around the island a bit to see the rest of it, and we definitely were not missing anything but strip malls and Burger King.

It was so wonderful not have to have to worry about a car, and we had PLENTY to do and see in the Old Town area for 6 days.