Key Largo is a beautiful city in Florida, 60 miles south of Miami. After finishing your supercharged visit to the fast-paced energy of South Beach, Key Largo is the ideal place for a cool, calm, relaxing, and romantic weekend. This city is the largest in the keys, so that means the warm tropical weather is all year-round making it the perfect destination with lots of activities to do. Visiting this city will give you relief and offer a great opportunity to connect with Mother Nature while having fun with family and friends.
10. Watching The Sunset
Watching the sunset off the coastline in Key Largo is absolutely stunning. The sun cascades off the horizon in a magical way that you could never imagine. Sailing a boat on these crystal clear blue waters will add another positive dimension to viewing the sunset. The sun reflects off the water, peering through the clouds giving off a hypnotic feel. Some of the restaurants to visit are Breezer’s Tiki Bar, Caribbean Club, and Sundowners. The Breezer’s Tiki Club is at the Marriott, and they open at 4pm daily. The Caribbean Club features live music, and Sundowners is a seafood restaurant where you can enjoy your seaside catch while watching the sunset. All of these restaurants are on the Overseas Highway.
9. Kayaking/Sailing
Kayaking toward the sunset will bring on an entirely new kind of fun to your trip. This activity will allow you to see manatees breaching the water, exotic fish just under the surface, and many species of birds just flying around. Kayaking along the mangroves will yield iguanas, turtles, uninhabited land, and more! If you stay at certain cottages along the coastline, you can use their sailboats free. This will be a great opportunity to truly bond with the family. Jet skiing and paddle boarding are also very popular activities in the area, so this is your chance to try them out. Additionally, there are plenty of boat tours that you can take to really get to know the area.
8. Dolphin Plus
At Dolphin Plus, you can interact with the dolphins by taking part in swims, which makes it a great place for family fun. There is several different programs designed to suit your needs from structured swims, family swims, natural dolphin swims, to meet and greets with the dolphins, as well as other things that might peak your interest. Dolphins are very sociable animals; they are very non-aggressive smart mammals that interact with people very well due to their intelligence. You can book a swim any time of the day by visiting their website or calling their toll-free number.
7. Jacob Aquatic Center
This center is absolutely great for kids. There are a slew of activities for them to take part in every day. This center is open 7 days a week, from 10am to 7pm in May through September, and 10am to 6pm through October to April. They have a pool area where you can take swimming lessons, aerobics exercises, fitness classes, lifeguard training, and more. They have event and conference rooms available for group meetings and family reunions. Think about visiting this wonderful place today for a fun-filled day of family activities! This is one of the most desirable things to do in Key Largo!
6. The African Queen Cruise Ship
The African Queen Cruise Ship is a small interpersonal vessel that has sailed the waters in this area for a century. Riding this vessel offer a great opportunity for true bonding with friends and family. During this adventure you will cruise throughout the canals past huge houses with unique architecture with them. Buying tickets online in advance is an option so everything booked early. This boat was originally constructed in the early 1900’s and designed as a prop in movies. The movie called “The African Queen” featured famous actors such as Humphrey Bogart and Katherine Hepburn. The film focuses primarily around this boat and its adventures. Some other boats to look out for when visiting this area are the Calypso Gypsy charter yacht, and the Pirates Choice cruise ship.
5. Glass Bottom Boat
Remember how we discussed the crystal clear water earlier? Well, imagine seeing a reef, fish, shipwrecks, etc., not from a scuba diving point of view but from a bottom boat point of view? That’s what the Key Largo Princess provides to its guests. This glass bottom boat will allow you to step on the sea floor without sinking down to the bottom. There is a narrator describing what are you are seeing in the sea. This is an excellent activity for family and friends. The Spirit of Pennecamp boat tour is another glass bottom boat to check out.
4. John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park
This underwater park is great for scuba divers and snorkelers wanting to see a variety of sea life teeming in the water. This place is genuinely phenomenal and absolutely stunning. It is relaxing, fun, and great for people who love any activity related to water. This is also where the glass-bottom boats do their tours. John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park is the first underwater park built in this country, attracting many visitors from miles away. This is the perfect time for the kids to learn about aquatic wildlife. Try it out.
3. Underwater Hotel
The Jules’ Undersea Lodge is where you can look out the window and see the fishes swim in front of your eyes before falling asleep. This underwater lodge has everything a regular hotel does; air conditioning, showers, kitchen, beds, TVs, phone, sound systems, video games, microwave, etc. What’s interesting is that you have to dive to get there. It’s definitely an interesting and unique underwater experience as you watch the fishes swim by while sleeping. This place is a real treat if you’re planning for a weekend getaway with loved ones. The hotel even has an underwater pizza service where a delivery diver will enter the bottom of the hotel to give you your food. Hopefully they don’t get the order wrong!
2. Deep Sea and Backcountry Fishing
After snacking at some of the city’s key restaurants and tasting the unique fishes that you can’t find in your hometown, this is the main place for a true seafood feast! Some of the fishes to catch during your tours are grouper, barracuda, tarpon (you can feed the tarpon in shallow water near the beach), red drum, snoop, ladyfish, sharks, and more. After fishing, you can cook up your catch on the boat or have it served at one of the many seaside restaurants along the water. There are plenty of guided fishing excursions that you take, just search for them online.
1. Scuba Diving/Snorkeling
After fishing, it is time to actually swim with these fishes. Scuba diving is one of the best tourist attractions in Key Largo. The crystal-clear blue waters will allow you to visibly explore the area while searching for deep-sea creatures. You will see shipwrecks from pirates who trolled the area in the early years. Don’t forget about the beautiful colored sand that you can walk in eventually leading to the reefs under the surface. Some of the main attractions to see when diving are Christ of the Deep (which features a Jesus Christ statue underwater with his hands stretched out asking you to come down), the Spiegel Grove sunken Navy ship, the well-preserved Molasses Reef, the USCG Duane, the Benwood Wreck, and the Grecian Rocks.
All of the fun things to do in this spectacular city are focused around water. Above I covered some of the best places in Key Largo. Travel Tip: Prior to visiting, make sure to stretch, do cardio and other physical exercises before departing. Fishing, snorkeling, and scuba diving are all physical activities that require lots of energy and stamina. If a person is out of shape, then it may be challenging not to become fatigued. So, it is time to get into the gym to become physically fit so you can enjoy the wonderful places to visit in Key Largo!