Find Out What's New This Fall in the Florida Keys & Key West

FLORIDA KEYS — Fall in the Florida Keys & Key West is an ideal time to visit and participate in a wide variety of Keys outdoor experiential activities as temperatures begin to cool.

In Islamorada, the expansive new 15-acre contemporary Three Waters Resort & Marina — featuring an adults-only resort-within-a-resort and Marriott Bonvoy’s first Tribute Portfolio Resort in the Keys — is to be unveiled in early October. Several additional refurbished and expanded Keys properties are nearing completion. 

Attractions that provide outdoor opportunities include new pickleball courts in Key Largo, an Upper Keys fox sanctuary offering public tours and an upgraded Key West wildlife aviary.

 Here’s what’s new in the Keys:

Keys Airlift

At Key West International Airport (EYW), a 49,000-square-foot Concourse A expansion — with completion set for spring 2025 and overall project completion in summer 2026 —includes eight passenger boarding jet bridges, with the first bridge installed this summer; a 446-panel electrochromic glass curtain wall; state-of-the-art baggage carousels; extended TSA lanes; and additional restrooms. New venues include a First Call Beach Bar at baggage claim, a Southern Point Bar, Chili's restaurant and Farm 2 Air Market. The facility is designed to withstand 200 mph winds while addressing long-term passenger needs. Six carriers — Allegiant, American, Delta, JetBlue, United and Silver — serve EYW with 21 destinations and more than 20 nonstop flights. The airport tallied a 10.3% passenger increase through August 2024, compared with the same eight months in 2023. Visit eyw.com/concourse-a or call 305-809-5200.

Keys Accommodations

Islamorada’s 15-acre, 214-room Three Waters Resort & Marina, a Tribute Portfolio Resort, Marriott Bonvoy's collection of independent hotels, opened Oct. 3, 2024, as the brand's first in the Keys. Located at 84001 Overseas Highway, the resort features The Cove, an adult-centric resort-within-a-resort with island-inspired rooms and king suites, a private beach lagoon, and the Wave Motion Studio, a beachfront fitness center. A rum library offers tastings upon check-in. With 80,000 square feet of indoor and alfresco event spaces, the property offers nine dining concepts including Islamorada Pizza Co., a signature venue featuring wood-fired fare, and an outdoor Central American food hall. Also featured are two retail shops, a water taxi, full-service marina and renovated Tiki bar. Activities include fly-casting, kayaking, offshore and backcountry fishing, and ocean adventures by Spray Watersports with a 26-mile personal backcountry watercraft tour. Nearby are sister Islamorada Resort Collection properties: the 110-room Amara Cay Resort and the 55-unit La Siesta Resort & Villas. Visit islamoradaresortcollection.com or call 866-806-0730. 

Islander Resort Islamorada, at 82100 Overseas Highway, is unveiling new dining options this fall that include the renovated coastal casual Tides Beachside Bar & Grill, and Drift, a new beachside dining pavilion. The dining venues join Elements Restaurant and the resort’s Oasis oceanfront food truck, serving fresh local flavors in a laid-back setting amid swaying palms. Additional renovations to expand the resort's beachfront area and one of the main pools are to be unveiled later this year. The upgrades are among recently completed resort enhancements, including fully renovated oceanside rooms and suites and the nearby Bayside Villas at Islander Resort, at 81450 Overseas Highway. Islander Resort's activities include Beach Movie Night on Fridays, Moonrise Bonfires on Saturdays, live music Fridays and Saturdays, beachfront yoga, snorkeling and paddle-boarding, complimentary loungers and rentable beach cabanas. Visit islanderfloridakeys.com or call 305-664-2031.

The Middle Keys’ Faro Blanco Resort, known for its iconic 65-foot Faro Blanco Lighthouse that dates from the 1950s, recently completed $14 million in renovations. Enhancements include updates to both the Faro Blanco Resort & Yacht Club, a Curio Collection by Hilton, and sister property, the Courtyard by Marriott Faro Blanco Resort, located at 1996 Overseas Highway in Marathon. Together, the resorts offer a total of 250 guest rooms, four pools, four dining options, a white sand beach and various watersports. The site also features the historic Parrish House, a two-bedroom bungalow that is one of Marathon's oldest buildings. Dining options at Faro Blanco include the Lighthouse Kitchen + Bar, Blue Waters Bar & Grill by the Courtyard's infinity pool, El Farito Coffee and Market, and The Bistro for grab-and-go items. Additional renovations encompass 10 to 12 poolside cabanas, the Ocean Spa — a 3,200-square-foot spa and wellness center — and a state-of-the-art fitness studio. The Faro Blanco Marina offers slips for vessels ranging from 35 to 140 feet as well as boat rentals. Visit faroblancoresort.com or call 305-743-1234.

In Key West, the downtown 160-room La Concha Key West, an Autograph Collection Hotel at 430 Duval St., has unveiled its new Grand Dame Villas at the Rooftop. The property's seventh floor now offers seven rooftop villas with a concierge-level experience. Villas feature floor-to-ceiling windows, balconies and a dedicated concierge. They include the Hemingway Suite, the largest, with a sunroom and guest copy of "To Have and To Have Not," written by Hemingway and set primarily in Key West; and the Sunrise, Sunset, Havana, Hibiscus, Tortuga and Flagler villas. Units feature textured furniture, diagonal square wooden tile patterns, gold and rattan details, floor-to-ceiling windows and Bose sound systems — with amenities such as fresh flowers, stocked fridge, welcome gift, seasonal fruit, assorted beverages and handcrafted Panama hats. The property's public spaces, including the lobby and exterior façade, are undergoing a full restoration set for completion by year’s end. Food and libation venues include Tropicado with classic crafted cocktails; Perla and El Dom Coffee Shop with fine and casual Cuban cuisine; and Epicurean, a market with Key West goods and gourmet dining options. La Concha originally opened in 1926 with marble floors, private baths and ocean views. Visit marriott.com/en-us/hotels/eywaw-la-concha-key-west/overview/ or call 305-296-2991.

Key West’s downtown 178-unit Opal Key Resort & Marina, located at 245 Front St., is undergoing renovations to its lobby, pool deck and signature restaurant Bistro 245, slated for completion as a new venue in December. The popular restaurant is to be unveiled as Lolitas, with a new dining concept. Guests currently can enjoy breakfast, lunch and dinner from a tented waterfront pop-up location by the marina. Visit opalcollection.com/opal-key/ or call 305-294-4000.

Keys Attractions

In Key Largo, the nonprofit Pawsitive Beginnings Inc., founded to provide a safe haven and permanent home to foxes saved from the fur trade, has been honored with the county proclamation of “Pawsitive Beginnings Day in Monroe County,” designated Aug. 27 each year. A new Healing Den at Pawsitive Beginnings assists individuals seeking bonding  and animal-assisted therapy for trauma, depression and anxiety. Visitors can book private hourlong tours of the Pawsitive Beginnings sanctuary for up to four participants ages 10 and older, with a prior appointment, to learn about the sanctuary’s eight foxes and the history of fox fur farming. Tour donation fee is $150 for the group. Children under 18 must be accompanied by a participating adult. Visit pawsitivebeginnings.org or call 305-376-1887.

In Key Largo, the Monroe County Parks and Beaches Department has unveiled the Keys’ largest standalone pickleball complex, with 10 new dedicated outdoor pickleball courts at Key Largo Community Park, located at 500 St. Croix Place, mile marker 99.5. The courts are open from 7:30 a.m. until sunset. Three additional county courts are to be built at Blue Heron Park at 30451 Lyttons Way on Big Pine Key. Visit parksandbeaches.fun or call 305-453-8748 or 305-453-8808.

The Key West Wildlife Center is unveiling a new elevated lime-green avian clinic and a welcome center, both targeted for completion in early 2025, within the 7-acre Sonny McCoy Indigenous Park at 1801 White St. near Atlantic Boulevard. The clinic is to offer therapy baths and digital X-rays to better serve native and injured wildlife. The new $2.4 million facility is to feature a dedicated treatment area with additional interior space for patient care, more exterior space for rehabilitation and protected space for education and outreach. The wildlife rescue and rehabilitation facility, with a 24-hour wildlife rescue line, also provides rehabilitation for non-avian species. Some 1,500 native wildlife patients were rescued in 2023, said executive director Tom Sweets. The facility is currently open 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekends, with variable hours during the week; visitors should call ahead. Visit keywestwildlifecenter.org or call 305-292-1008.

In Key West, the Mel Fisher Maritime Museum at 200 Greene St. is debuting comprehensive “Spirits of the Passage” exhibit that documents the history of the transatlantic slave trade, its legacy and Florida Keys heritage — including Key West’s 19-century role as headquarters for the U.S. Navy’s antislavery squadron. The exhibit’s centerpiece is an extensive collection of artifacts recovered from the English merchant slave ship Henrietta Marie, which sank 35 miles west of Key West in 1700 after unloading enslaved Africans in Jamaica. Exhibit modules place the transatlantic trade in the context of its time, re-creating portions of the Henrietta Marie as well as depicting captured Africans’ homeland, the Jamaican plantation experience and Florida Keys elements ranging from Key West’s African Cemetery to the Cuban slave shipwreck Guerrero discovered off Key Largo. Plans call for the exhibit’s soft opening in October and a grand opening in mid to late November. Visit melfisher.org or call 305-294-2633.

The Key West Art & Historical Society has acquired the woodcarving “Elegant Lady,” hand-carved by acclaimed Cuban-American folk artist Mario Sanchez, a Key West resident who died in 2005. “Elegant Lady” portrays a Bahama Village street scene at the intersection of Petronia and Thomas streets with Blue Heaven restaurant as a backdrop. With 200 works by Sanchez in its permanent collection, KWAHS has the world’s largest assemblage of the artist’s works and personal artifacts, ranging from paper bag sketches to handcrafted paper kites to intricate woodcarvings. The society operates the Key West Museum of Art & History at the Custom House, Fort East Martello Museum, the Tennessee Williams Museum and the Key West Lighthouse & Keeper’s Quarters. Visit kwahs.org/exhibit/mario-sanchez/ or call 305-295-6166.

Keys Environment

In the Lower Keys, the Plant a Million Corals restoration organization has successfully cultivated 40,000 corals at its land-based nursery in Summerland Key. PAMC, with goals of cultivating 100,000 corals by the end of 2024 and plans for future expansion, was founded in 2019 by Dave Vaughan, a Keys coral reef scientist known globally for pioneering the micro-fragmentation method of growing corals. Each of the 100,000 corals can be fragmented into 10 pieces, with PAMC targeting a goal of cultivating a million corals by year-end 2025. “Reaching 40,000 corals is a monumental step forward in our mission to restore the Florida Reef Tract,” Vaughan said. The organization also is growing mangroves in partnership with Key West–based Coastlove to help restore Keys coastlines. Visitors can book a tour of the organization’s Summerland Farms facility at 23801 Overseas Highway. Visit plantamillioncorals.org or call 772-216-0391.

Mote Marine Laboratory on Summerland Key has deployed a SeapHOx sensor at Looe Key in the Lower Keys to monitor pH, dissolved oxygen, salinity and temperature, to assess coastal acidification. Ocean acidification occurs when carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere is absorbed into seawater, reducing the pH (increasing acidity) and negatively impacting calcifying organisms like corals, shellfish and some plankton species. “Deploying the SeapHOx sensor is a milestone for our efforts to preserve coral reefs,” said Emily Hall, manager of Mote's Ocean Acidification and Chemical and Physical Ecology research programs. High-resolution data collected by the sensor tracks subtle changes in the reef environment, offering early warning signs of stress conditions. The deployment is funded by the Southeast Coastal Ocean Observing Regional Association. Complimentary public tours are conducted Tuesdays at 10 a.m. at Mote's Summerland Key facility, 24244 Overseas Highway. Visit mote.org/news/mote-leads-successful-sensor-deployment-initiative-to-impr or call 305-745-2729.

Key Dives, a conservation-minded dive shop in the Upper Keys, has a new location in Islamorada after moving from Bud N’ Mary’s to 85960 Overseas Highway, located bayside off Snake Creek Bridge. Key Dives was founded by Mike Goldberg, a CNN Hero and co-founder of the nonprofit Island Conservation and Restoration Education, known as I.CARE, with a goal of empowering divers to help restore Keys coral reefs. I.CARE is dedicated to restoring reefs off the Upper Keys including Alligator Reef. Key Dives conducts coral restoration and outplanting dive trips on the second and fourth Saturdays of each month. Visit icareaboutcoral.org or keydives.com or call 305-664-2211.

Keys Transportation

Conch Connect, a new on-demand, door-to-door rideshare service between Key West and neighboring Stock Island, has been launched by Monroe County. Conch Connect operates daily from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. with all-electric Teslas. Rides are $2 per person, per ride, with payments made via the Freebee app. Cash is not accepted. Users can download the app by searching "Ride Freebee" on the Apple App Store or Google Play Store. Users should request rides at least 30 minutes in advance. Visit conchconnect.org or call 855-918-3733.

Keys Arts

Key West’s “Walk on White” kicked off in October and is set for 6 to 9 p.m. the third Thursday evening of each month through May 2025. Strollers can sip complimentary libations and explore an array of arts-focused venues with works by painters, photographers, sculptors, ceramic and mixed media artists, and artisan jewelers. Arts lovers can enjoy creative demonstrations and musical and literary performances. WOW, launched in 1999 to promote and showcase the island’s midtown artists, now features more than 25 businesses in the White Street Gallery District. Visit WalkonWhiteKeyWest.com.

Keys Accolades

Noble House Hotels & Resorts’ Little Palm Island Resort & Spa in the Lower Keys and The Marquesa Hotel in Key West have earned prestigious rankings in the “First MICHELIN Key Hotels: All the Keys in the United States.” Little Palm Island Resort & Spa earned a top “Three Keys: Extraordinary Hotels” honor. “This 4-acre island is home to a mere 30 suites and a couple of rules — no guests under 18, no audible cell phones — serve to keep the atmosphere properly tranquil,” MICHELIN stated. The Marquesa Hotel earned “Two Keys,” with MICHELIN citing its rooms as “just what you’d expect, breezy and open, with gently rotating ceiling fans and robust antique furniture.” The Perry Hotel Key West earned the MICHELIN "One Key" distinction. Visit guide.michelin.com/us/en/article/travel/all-the-key-hotels-united-states-michelin-guide-2024.

The Key West Art & Historical Society has been chosen for a Smithsonian Institution's Traveling Exhibition Service partnership program sharing local narratives on food. "Peeling back the layers of our local and regional food, you uncover a much larger story centering around Key West's diverse community," said KWAHS curator Cori Convertito, manager of "FOOD: Celebrating Conch Cuisine." The exhibit is to debut in early 2026 with additional funding provided by the nonprofit Florida Humanities, a National Endowment for the Humanities affiliate. Visit kwahs.org or call 305-295-6166.