Free West: 11 Free Things to Do in Key West, Florida

Like any island town that has to import just about everything from gas to groceries, the resort destination of Key West, Florida, can be a pretty pricey place to visit. The good news: You can go for days from dawn to dusk without paying a single dime for sightseeing.

Here are 11 fun Key West freebies.

The Duval Loop Bus

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Key West is one of America’s most compact walking towns, but if you really want to be wheeled around, there’s no better (or cheaper) way to get around the island’s Old Town than this free bus line. Hop on board at any of the numerous stops and you can cruise from fabled Mallory Square, past the Truman White House, the Key West lighthouse, the stately Key West Library, and the historic seaport.

San Carlos Institute

A reminder of how close – and far – Cuba is in relation to Key West, this impressive Spanish Colonial Duval Street building — with a spiral marble staircase, expansive historical exhibits, and beautiful auditorium — was established in 1890 as a gathering spot for Cuban political exiles. Legendary Cuban poet/patriot José Martí called it “La Casa Cuba.” The building is open every day for visitors — a step back in time to when Havana and Key West, just 90 miles apart, were, for all intents and purposes, sister cities.

Florida Keys Eco-Discovery Center

Visitors entering this lavish hands-on museum instinctively look for the ticket booth – but the 6,000-square-foot exhibit space is absolutely free. There’s a walk-through mockup of an underwater scientific lab, a spectacularly detailed map of the Florida Keys, and a 20-minute movie that takes visitors from the Keys’ mangrove forests to the teeming waters of the coral reef.

Truman White House

Taking his cue from his old boss, FDR, Harry S. Truman often wielded the power of the Presidency down south—in this case, from a lovely home on a shaded street near the old Key West Naval Base. Tours are available for a reasonable fee, but there are always free exhibits in a set of galleries just off the gift shop. Plus, on many days you can get a look at Harry’s 1949 Cosmopolitan limousine. (Guests willing to pop $600 or more can get a private tour of the house plus a ride in Harry’s limo.)

Key West First Legal Rum Distillery

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The Florida Keys have a long history of rum runners, both during and following Prohibition. In fact, it wasn’t until 2012 that Key West’s first legal distillery opened right near downtown — in, appropriately, a former Coca-Cola bottling plant. Not only does Key West First Legal Rum Distillery conduct free hourly tours of its facility, but the place also offers free samples of their several rum varieties, including Glazed Pineapple Tropical Rum, Cuban Coffee Rum and, of course, Key Lime Rum.

The REAL Southernmost Spot

Not far from the southern end of Key West’s main drag, Duval Street, you’ll find tourists lined up to have their photos taken next to an enormous red-and-black buoy labeled “Southernmost Point/Continental U.S.A.” It’s a fun photo op, but you can skip the line and have your picture taken at a point even farther south: less than a mile east at the end of Edward B. Knight Pier, which extends far into the Atlantic Ocean south of Higgs Beach. The actual Southernmost Spot is at the tip of Whitehead Spit, located on the Key West Naval Air Station, but unless you’re willing to enlist, you can’t go there.

A Fling with Marilyn Monroe

Film buffs strolling along Eaton Street, a half-block off Duval, have for years been stopping in their tracks as they get a load of none other than Marilyn Monroe on the sidewalk, holding her billowing skirt down as air from a metal grate seems to blow it dangerously out of control. Located outside the front doors of Key West’s cinema art house, Tropic Cinema, the bronze statue, Forever Marilyn, was created nearly 20 years ago by the late artist J. Seward Johnson, whose monumental works stand in galleries and outside settings around the world (a monumental 26-foot-tall version towers over Palm Springs, California). A part-time Key West resident, Johnson wanted to leave a bit of himself in town even when he was gone. Now tourists pose beside — and under — the beaming sex goddess, day and night.

Churches in Paradise

Some of Florida’s oldest church congregations are based in Key West, and their sanctuaries provide welcome, cooling respite from the tropical sun. St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, founded in 1831, is the oldest church congregation south of St. Augustine. The first three buildings fell in fires and hurricanes; the current one, a lovely whitewashed concrete structure with beautiful stained glass and a timbered ceiling, has stood since 1912. Towering over Duval Street, the church is usually open at night, offering a quiet retreat from the raucous sounds of the nearby bars and nightclubs. A few blocks away, on a quiet alley, stands St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, established by African-Bahamian immigrants in the 1870s. The 1924 sanctuary is an impressive example of miniature Gothic revival — but be sure to venture into the tiny Lady Chapel, to the right of the main altar, where you’ll find a charming pastiche of European, Eastern Orthodox, and Caribbean motifs.

Cemetery Walks

Speaking of peace and quiet, there’s no better place to get away  from the brouhaha of the tourist trade than the 19-acre Key West Cemetery, final resting place of some 100,000 souls, a few blocks from Duval Street. When an 1846 hurricane unearthed the burial sites at the city’s beachside cemetery, the town established this one on what passes for high ground in these parts: 16 feet above sea level. You can’t bury folks in Key West’s limestone, so this cemetery is entirely above ground, with the dearly departed resting in whitewashed concrete blocks. Guided tours are available, but I prefer to wander the long rows of gravesites on my own, discovering epitaphs like “If You’re Reading This, You Desperately Need a Hobby” and “I Always Dreamed of Owning a Small Place in Key West.” Standing watch above the grounds is a bronze sailor erected in memory of the 266 people who died in the 1898 explosion of the Maine in Havana Harbor.

Several blocks south of Key West Cemetery, by the sands of Higgs Beach, the African Cemetery memorial approximates the location of more than 294 shallow gravesites. These unfortunate souls were among 1,500 Africans rescued in 1860 from three illegal slave ships, diverted to Key West by the U.S. Navy. Compassionate local people provided food and shelter for those they could save — and makeshift burials for those they could not. Today, many of those graves still remain beneath the sidewalks and pavement surrounding the site. The memorial, colorfully decorated with designs based on African art, features a mural map depicting the route of the victims from Africa to the Americas, then back to Liberia, the African nation founded for people formerly enslaved in the United States.

Key West Garden Club at West Martello

Just steps from the African Cemetery, orchids, water fountains, sculptures, waterfalls, and exotic birds await around each corner in this botanical paradise. You enter through the shadowy casements of a former Civil War fort (donations are welcome, but not required, at the front desk), then walk into the explosion of color and greenery enclosed within the fortress walls. Follow the paved trail to the top of the beachside bluff — one of the highest spots on Key West — for an expansive view of the blue-green ocean.

Sunsets, Sunsets, Sunsets

You can experience one of nature’s most spectacular free shows — Key West’s legendary sunsets — from just about anywhere along the island’s west and southwest shorelines, but three spots stand out: The most popular vantage point, by far, is Mallory Square, where thousands of opacarophiles — that’s Latin for sunset fanatics — cheer the sun to sleep as it sinks below the horizon (or, at some times of year, the island across a narrow channel). Acrobats, jugglers, and fortune tellers add to the carnival atmosphere of Key West’s signature daily event. For a slightly less frenetic experience, mosey on over to Truman Waterfront Park, where the crowd is decidedly less dense but equally enthusiastic. Most Thursdays, the park’s quay is lined with the tents of a farmer’s market where for roughly an hour after sunset you can buy anything from fresh bread to lawn sculptures to fossilized megalodon teeth. Finally, if after a day of doing everything for free you don’t mind dropping a couple of bucks for the entry fee, you can head next door to the beach at Fort Zachary Taylor Historic State Park, where swaying palm trees frame the setting sun, creating an unforgettable end to a day in the Continental U.S.’s tropical paradise.