How long is the drive from Miami to Key West?
 

Extremely pricey flights to Key West in November are forcing me to be creative. I'm thinking of flying one way to Miami (from NY), renting a car and driving to Key West. I understand that I won't be zooming along at 75mph, that the drive is part of the experience. But I also don't want to drive for the entire day, want to get to KW! Just a ballpark idea of how long it will take, please.

If memory serves me, it's about 3 hours.

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Vic's travels: http://my.flightmemory.com/vogilvie

Yes, it around 160 miles - figure between 3 and 3.5 hours driving time, depending on traffic and your actual starting point in Miami. Google Maps says 3:11while Mapquest says 3:32.

How well do you manage two-lane roads????

It's two lane roads, many of them over long bridges linking the various keys. Travel time will depend on time of day (Miami commuter traffic) and whether or not there is an accident anywhere en route.

You can usually save some time by taking Card Sound Road from US 1 to Key Largo even though it looks longer than staying on US 1.

This is one of those routes where the journey is as important as the destination. I would urge you to take it easy and enjoy it. Stop for a drink, get a _good_ map and go off the main road in the rare areas where you can. Shift down to Island Time!

Driving through the Keys is one of the great pleasures of visiting. Once you are west of Tavernier, you are touring the Caribbean by car. Great restaurants, tiki bars, quirky shops, bridges to hike, marinas to troll and even a couple of beaches.

I recommend you want to take a leisurely day to make the drive. I personally would rather spend a day cruising the Overseas Highway than walking down Duvall Street.

Fodors has many threads discussing the stops on the drive.
Get off the plane in Miami or Fort Lauderdale and enjoy.

We've driven between Miami and Key West several times and it's always taken 4 hours. In addition to the two-lane highway with no passing, there's also an area with lower speed limits (protection for key deer), and even mild congestion can slow things up considerably.

If you obey speed limits and other traffic restrictions, 150 miles down the keys takes lots longer than 150 miles someplace else.

We drove from FLL to Summerland Key in December took about 3.5 hours. Make sure you purchase or rent a Sun Pass ahead of time or you will pay dearly later. It is a nice ride once you get off the freeway.

freetrip.com shows 167 miles, 3:08.

Take water or soda with you. We were in the Keys once, and some of our group drove on down to Key West. coming back was a bad accident and they were stuck a good while.
I LOVE driving along the Keys--I immediately get into "island time" as someone else mentioned. It is such a different place.
And the map things can say what they calculate for the mileage--your mileage may differ!! But it WILL be enjoyable.

If it's good weather (not boiling hot), I'd suggest renting a convertible. It adds greatly to the experience!

You might want to fly into Ft. Lauderdale and avoid the Miami traffic.Also may be cheaper.

tony, I don't "get" your comment. If you fly into Ft. Lauderdale the worst traffic will be on the interstate getting to and through Miami. If you fly into Miami you've already avoided most of that and then pick up the route approximately where you'd have been going through from Ft. Lauderdale anyway.

Cheaper? Well, there's no guarantee and I like to avoid Miami airport when I can, but I can't recall ever finding flights into FLL cheaper than those into Miami.

Recently I had the occasion to drive from my Parent's house in Key Largo (mile marker 106) into Old Town Key West on 4 different week days. Each day the drive took me right around 2.5 hours. And since I have done the drive from MIA to my Parent's house many times and it takes about an hour, then assuming normal traffic and no accidents the total drive MIA-Key West is about 3.5 hours.

Also, unless there is an accident on the main road, now that the construction is completed on the 18 mile stretch there is no way that Card Sound is a faster option than US1 getting from Florida City to Key Largo. And with all due respect to those who love taking that road so they can stop at Alabama Jacks, there are about a million places in the Keys where one can eat yummy conch fritters while looking out over the water.

NeoPatrick, I really do not have first hand knowledge that FtL is quicker but after talking to some residents of the Keys in March on our trip they said they fly in and out of FtL,they mentioned time and traffic. I flew into Key West because of time restraints but in checking fares it was cheaper for me to fly to FT L. I do not unde3rstand how but thats how it was, strange.I am not here to argue with you since that isn't what this about.

Good to know that the seemingly permanent construction is over. No, Card Sound Road would no longer be faster, though it is an alternative in the case of accidents.

Not sure if this is still an issue but, the area around the old Holiday Isle used to get packed on holiday weekends. If you're planning on coming down for Memorial day, you might want to ask a local if this still happens. There used to be over an hour long back up in that area on Holidays.

The OP is coming in November, so I doubt Memorial Day is an issue. Also, the old Holiday Isle is no more....it is now the Post Card Inn. It has been years since the Villiage of Islamorada let Holiday Isle guests park in a vacant lot across US1 (this foot traffic crossing was what caused some of the tie up). However, the point is still a good one that the drive time of 3.5 hours applies to "normal" situations; not holiday weekends.

we always fly right in to Key West (coming from Vermont) - then while we're there if we want to take drives north we can. Sometimes in convertibles! We have had guests that stay with us fly in to both airports mentioned above. But we prefer (prefer being the key word) to fly right to KW! However you get there.....enjoy it!

tonyL64, no argument intended. And of course, flying to FTL CAN be cheaper -- just not usually the norm. My main point was about the distance and travel time. I just didn't get why arriving another 45 minutes to an hour north and having to add the traffic clear to and through Miami would be better than arriving in Miami, cutting much of that off.