Florida Keys Escape: A Self-Drive Journey

Nine nights from Miami to Key West, self-drive, down the Overseas Highway, finishing on a private island.

The road is the trip. The Overseas Highway runs a hundred and thirteen miles out into the sea on forty-odd bridges, built on the bed of Flagler’s railway after a hurricane destroyed it in 1935, and the Seven Mile Bridge is the stretch everyone photographs.

Two nights at Bungalows Key Largo open it, adults only, with paddleboards, kayaks and snorkelling gear at each bungalow, a cruise aboard the restored steamboat used in The African Queen, and private trips out to a sandbar. Three nights at Isla Bella near Marathon follow, by way of John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park, the first undersea park in the United States, with Sombrero and Coco Plum beaches and the Turtle Hospital’s rehabilitation work nearby. Big Pine Key comes next, home to the Key deer, a miniature subspecies found nowhere else, and Bahia Honda’s beaches, before a boat transfer to Sunset Key Cottages off Key West.

The rental car, the named properties, the African Queen cruise, economy flights from London, the transfers and UK airport lounge passes are all included; snorkelling gear hire at Pennekamp and Turtle Hospital admission are not. No wildlife sighting can be promised, deer or turtle. December to April is the season, since the summer is humid and the hurricane season runs from June to November, which is worth factoring in when choosing dates for a trip this far out to sea. Ten days at this pace is a holiday rather than a drive, with only three moves in it and the longest leg a couple of hours.