This 113-mile Highway Through the Florida Keys Is Lined With Delicious Seafood, Charming Islands, and Ocean Views

"By the time I reach Key Largo, the air feels heavier with salt, softened by humidity, and the light sparkles on the water. As the mile markers count down, Old Florida sharpens into focus. Strip malls and snorkel shops thin out, turquoise water flashes brighter, and soon the highway becomes a series of bridges, skimming low over flats so shallow I can see stingrays ghosting beneath the surface."

"I pull into the Bungalows Key Largo. A former trailer park reborn as a lush adults-only retreat, it's a place of private verandas, plunge tubs, outdoor showers, and just enough Hemingway-era romance. With six bars and restaurants and a fleet of catamarans at the ready, it's dangerously easy to never leave, but my eyes pull offshore, where John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park protects the first undersea park in the United States."

The drive south from Miami along U.S. 1 transitions from cityscape to Old Florida, with turquoise water, shallow flats, and visible stingrays beneath low bridges. The 113-mile Overseas Highway comprises 42 bridges and encourages unhurried stops to explore reefs, mangroves, and beaches. Key Largo hosts adults-only retreats like the Bungalows Key Largo, offering verandas, plunge tubs, and easy access to boating. John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park protects the first undersea park in the United States, where coral heads cluster, visibility can reach eighty feet, and schools of blue tang and parrotfish graze near attractions such as the Christ of the Abyss statue.

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