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AAA Drive Trip: Miami, The Florida Keys and Everglades National Park

Submitted by Community Manager, June 12, 2009

     South Florida is the destination of today's featured AAA Drive Trip - just one of over 100 available.  For a detailed printable itinerary of this 330-mile trip, which is broken into three segments, see AAA Drive Trip: Miami, The Florida Keys and Everglades National Park. 

AAA Road Reporter Mike Robb says, "These parts of South Florida can be interesting to drive, as you can see both natural beauty and more populated areas. The Everglades area is definitely unique with swamps, vast remoteness and roaming alligators. County Road 9336 is a 46-mile scenic highway that offers several stops, points of interests, trails, and overlooks along the way. Watch for alligators on the road!

Miami is definitely a world all in itself. There is everything to do from cultural museums to frequenting the many bars and nightclubs into the early hours of the morning.  Note: Greater Miami/Dade County is a large metropolitan area of over 5 million people that stretches some 50 miles. Traffic can be very heavy during the morning and evening hours (much like any large metropolitan area of similar size).

The highlight of this Drive Trip (for me at least) is US Highway 1 south to Key West. The 21-mile stretch (connector) of US 1 connecting Florida’s mainland to the Keys is a rather narrow 2-lane highway between Florida City and Key Largo. It can be very busy & slow moving at times. There are two passing zones (spaced 7 miles apart) to allow faster traffic to pass. There is the other option of taking the Card Sound road from Florida City over a toll bridge to the key’s and through the Crocodile Lake National Wildlife Refuge via CR 905 back to US 1 & Key Largo -- this route is 27 miles, but it can be faster.    

Once one reaches the Keys, US 1 becomes a four-lane divided highway for the next 20 miles as it passes through the more populated area of Key Largo.  Key Largo, Islamorada and Marathon are the 3 ‘main towns’ en route to Key West with most visitor facilities. Key West, to anyone that has been there, is truly unique & can be very expensive. So one needs to plan accordingly for pricing and availability in Key West. Duval Street is the town’s main street and boasts a myriad of restaurants, hotels, gift/souvenir shop, bars/saloons & other businesses. Cat lovers, don’t miss Ernest Hemingway’s place.

One other highlight is Ft Jefferson National Monument, some 100 air/sea miles west of Key West.  A flight or ferry ride out there offers great views of the Dry Tortugas. Ft. Jefferson itself is an interesting old fort dating back to the 1800’s. It’s a neat place to roam around but note: There are no bathrooms and you cannot leave any trash on the island—it all must go back with you!"
AAA Drive Trips® are two- to five-day driving itineraries for popular U.S. and Canadian destinations. These ready-to-go itineraries include an overview map, estimated drive time, mileage, photos, links to information on cities, attractions and events, as well as hotel booking. You can plan your own drive trip using TripTik Travel Planner, AAA’s online interactive mapping, routing and travel planning tool.
[Drive Trips], [Florida], [Florida Keys]
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  • Image Community Manager The Community Manager typically blogs about holiday travel forecasts, travel documentation, Diamond Ratings, other general AAA travel information, etc

Comments (1)

Submitted by Charles Rinehart, February 11. 2010 20:26
If you are heading to the Keys from the north, try this route. Instead of driving I-75, get off at the last exit in Naples (exit 101 I believe). When you hit highway 41, or Tamiami Trail, make a left. That takes you towards the Everglades and the Seminole Reservation area. You'll go through Collier County, where they filmed part of "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective.

This is a nice, quiet drive compared to the Alligator Alley and crazy Miami drivers. There is a tourist info center down on the left, and they can direct you to make a right at the light on Chrome Avenue, drive through Homestead, and hit highway 1 to the Keys. The first time I drove this, there was a mom and baby dear grazing right on the side of the road. A very relaxing and scenic drive. Good luck.

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    Inspector 84Inspector 84 was born, raised, and still lives in the smallest of our great states, Rhode Island.  Growing up by the ocean meant learning how to dig for clams and shuck oysters by the time she was 7 years old, not realizing this would someday prepare her for a life of adventurous eating.  While in college, Inspector 84 began her career with AAA as an intern at the local Auto Travel call center.  She loved helping members plan their dream vacations and is happy to still be guiding them today.  She has always had a passion for traveling, experiencing nature, and learning about different cultures.  It has brought her on a quest to see all things beautiful in the 14 countries and 17 states she has visited.  Her favorite places tend to be sunny locales with turquoise waters and swaying palms including Mexico, Hawaii and the Florida Keys.  When not on the road, Inspector 84 enjoys spending time with family, photography, gardening, driving her husband mad with yet another house project and spending time at the neighborhood animal shelter.