Everything You Must Know Before Taking Your Kids to the Florida Keys

Prepare. Book. Relax

We decided to take our 13-month-old son to the Florida Keys for our first family vacation. Why? Because the Keys have wonderfully warm weather year-round and stunningly beautiful waters that are calm and shallow. Perfect for a young toddler to splash around in!

Traveling with my husband pre-baby, we preferred to under plan, be spontaneous, and roll with the punches. Now with a kid in tow, I realize that a little more research beforehand would have saved me precious vacation time and unnecessary frustration. So, below is everything I wish I had known before traveling to the Keys and more.

Look for the Lil’ Steps symbol throughout this post for ideas on how to engage your child even more during this experience!

How to Ensure a Fun and Perfect Beach Day with your Toddler

I’m guessing if you’re visiting the Keys, then you’re planning to take your little one to the beach. This happened to be our number one reason for going, and while I planned pretty well for this, I was also surprised by a few things once we arrived.

Where I Under Planned

• Water Shoes – Many of the beaches are uncomfortably rocky. I highly recommend taking water shoes to protect everyone’s feet. Walking into the water was downright painful at some beaches without footwear.
• Sound Machine – If your baby/toddler uses a sound machine while sleeping, take a portable one to the beach. After our first beach day, I realized that I needed it to drown out loud radios and people while he was napping in the beach tent.
• Floaties – We held our son in the water, so these weren’t completely necessary, but I wish I had gotten something for extra security. Depending on the age of your child these will be a requirement.

What I Got Right

• Sun Protection – Anyone who’s had a sunburn knows how painful they are. Something you definitely don’t want your little one to suffer. Swimwear that covers as much skin as possible will offer you great peace of mind, while you’ll need reef-safe, 50+ SPF baby sunscreen for any area that can’t be covered. A billed hat that protects their face and neck is important, as well as sunglasses to protect their developing eyes. I was worried my son wouldn’t wear his sunglasses, but once he realized the alternative was blinding sun, he never tried to take them off again.
• Swim Diapers – We use reusable diapers and always took a spare in case of poop. Disposable diapers are another option, and ideal if you don’t have access to a laundry machine or prefer not to hand-wash poopy diapers on vacation. If you’ve never used swim diapers before, it’s important to know that they are designed to only catch poop. Anything that absorbs water will balloon up in the ocean.

• Beach Tent – I can’t stress enough what a lifesaver our tent was! It provided much-needed shade from the hot sun and made the perfect place for our son to nap.

• Water and Snacks – We carry reusable water bottles everywhere we go, but we also took an extra gallon bottle to make sure we all stayed well hydrated. As far as food goes, if your kid is like mine, they have a bottomless pit where their stomach should be. We took plenty of snacks and PB&J sandwiches for fun picnics by the ocean.  

• Collapsible “Beach” Chairs – So technically we took camping chairs, but they do come with attachable feet designed for sand. We had so many people commenting on these chairs as we set them up! They are lightweight and pack down extremely small which made them super easy to fit in our suitcase. These definitely aren’t required, but I was happy to have them, especially on the rockier beaches.

My number one recommendation as to the best beach in the Florida Keys for families is Sombrero Beach. I would also recommend Bahia Honda, although we had to stick to the gulf side here due to high winds coming in from the ocean side.  

The Easiest Breakdown of Florida Keys’ Weather

I highly recommend traveling to the Florida Keys in springtime if possible. You will be met with warm, sunny days and low humidity. Summers and fall will be hot, muggy, overcast, and wet. There’s also a risk of hurricanes around this time. Winter is another great option, but temperatures will be at their lowest and the average daylight is around 10.75 hours. The Keys tend to see quite a bit of wind, so depending on its direction that day you may want to position yourself on either the ocean or gulf side to avoid its full force.

Note – Swipe if viewing this on a mobile device to see the full chart.

*Data attained from NOAA’s National Weather Service

Getting Around the Florida Keys

The Florida Keys consist of the Upper, Middle, and Lower Keys. The main cities associated with these are Key Largo, Marathon, and Key West respectively. If you are asking “So, what part of the Florida Keys is best for families? My advice would be to take your family to the Middle Keys. Here’s why, it has the best beaches like Sombrero and Bahia Honda, great activities like the Turtle Hospital, The Dolphin Research Center, and Aquarium Encounters, and is only about an hour’s drive to Key West and Key Largo. This gives you the flexibility to visit other parts of the Keys more easily.

Have a family Key Lime Pie tasting competition! We got a slice of pie (or 2) everywhere we went. We rated the pies on crust, consistency, key lime potency, and overall flavor.

Flights

If you will be flying to reach the Keys there are three main airports to consider. The first two are large, international airports; Miami (MIA) and Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood (FLL).

Average Drive Times from Miami Airport to:

• Key Largo ≈ 1:05 – 1:25 hrs
• Marathon ≈ 2 – 2:20 hrs
• Key West ≈ 3 – 3:30 hrs

Average Drive Times from Fort Lauderdale Airport to:

• Key Largo ≈ 1:30 – 2 hrs
• Marathon ≈ 2:20 – 3 hrs
• Key West ≈ 3:20 – 4 hrs

Another option is to fly into Key West International Airport. This is a much smaller airport, and may cost a little more, but is a great option if you are staying in Key West and want to avoid a long drive.

Driving

It may be impossible to get lost in the Florida Keys (although I’m sure someone has). There is just one main highway, the Overseas Highway (US Route 1), that connects the islands. Much of the road is five lanes, two in each direction, and a two-way turn lane (i.e. suicide lane) in the middle. Occasionally a lane will drop off without much warning, so be prepared for quick merging. GPS is extremely helpful to check traffic. Accidents can cause some very long delays.

Fun fact, the Overseas Highway has 42 bridges which total 18.8 miles!

Walking

If you plan on walking quite a bit with your toddler, a stroller with a sunshade is vital, and a basket on the bottom is advantageous for carrying snacks, water, and sunscreen. I was able to borrow a great umbrella stroller that offered all these accessories and folded down compactly for travel.

Accommodations

You have several options when it comes to lodgings. There are luxury resorts like Isla Bella, standard hotel chains (mainly near Key West), mom-and-pop motels, campgrounds, and tons of vacation rentals. Now, I know everyone has their own preferences, but I highly recommend going with a vacation rental. My husband and I preferred this pre-baby, and I find them even more convenient with a toddler in tow. We love having a full kitchen to prepare meals and snacks, more than one bathroom, privacy, and a washer and dryer. Everyone is pretty familiar with VRBO and Airbnb, but you can also try the following for house rentals in the Florida Keys:

• home to go_ 
• Florida Keys Vacation Rentals (This is who we happened to book with. Key pick-up and drop-off was a breeze)
• Vacation Rentals of the Florida Keys
• Florida Rentals
• vacasa

You may want or need to rent baby furniture, like cribs or high chairs while vacationing. For this, I recommend either Baby’s Away or Baby Quip.

The Negatives of the Florida Keys

While none of these are dealbreakers for me, they are worth considering, especially when traveling with kids.

Jellyfish

First, we saw a few Portuguese man o’ war, and my niece was actually stung by one. While jellyfish (although it’s technically a siphonophore, not a jellyfish) are a risk at pretty much any beach, the nice thing about man o’ wars are that they float, so you can see them coming and act quickly. I had a bucket that I used to scoop them up in and would carry them away from all the beachgoers. Another popular option is to swim away furiously.

High Bacteria Levels

Secondly, I’ve been to the Florida Keys twice in my life, and while that’s not a lot, both times I’ve seen warnings not to swim at beaches due to high bacteria levels. It’s a bit icky to think about, and while you’ll definitely still see people swimming, you may not want your small child accidentally swallowing any water or swimming with a fresh cut. There should be signs up at the beach if the bacteria levels are high, but they aren’t always that noticeable. I recommend checking on the Florida Dept. of Health’s website here, which lists all the Florida Keys beaches and their recent sample reports.  

Mosquitos

Lastly, mosquitos were awful. I happen to be a mosquito magnet and ended up with 26 bites our second night there. Pretty much all restaurants are open-air, so you’ll want to apply some bug spray before going out in the evenings (which I obviously didn’t do).

And that’s it! Now plan that trip and have a great time!

If you enjoyed this post, check out my guide to the 7 Best Free Activities with Kids in the Florida Keys!

Have you gone to the Florida Keys with your kids and have some advice to recommend? Be sure to add it in the comments below!