Key West Airport to Old Town: Transfers, Parking and the Drive from Miami

KEY WEST · ARRIVALS & DEPARTURES · MILE MARKER 0

You reach Key West one of two ways. You land at EYW, on the island itself, or you drive the last 113 miles of the Overseas Highway with the mile markers counting down from about 126 at Florida City to 0 at the corner of Whitehead and Fleming. That corner is the southern end of US-1, roughly 2,370 miles from Fort Kent, Maine, and published figures for the total vary between 2,369 and 2,390.

The transfer question splits along the same line. Off a plane, it is a short ride across a small island at a price nobody publishes clearly. Off the Turnpike, it is a rental car you will then pay to keep still: $3.00 an hour at a street meter, $48 a day in the Old Town garage. Both decisions are best made before you book the flight, not at the curb with bags at your feet.

On this page

• How far Key West airport is from Old TownEYW, Old Town and Mile Marker 0
• Driving from Miami to Key West155 miles, four hours clean, all-electronic tolls
• Getting around Key West without a carThe free Duval Loop and its 18 stops
• Parking rates in Old Town$3.00 an hour at the meter, $48 a day in the garage
• What time to leave for a departing flightDeparture morning, and what a cruise call changes
• Taxi and shuttle fares from EYWWhy no fare is printed, and who to ask

No taxi or rideshare fare appears anywhere here: we could not read a rate card solid enough to print, and an invented number is worse than none. Ask for the price to your street address before the bags go in the trunk. Drive times, the free bus and the parking rates below come from the road authorities, the city and the operators. Where a climate figure turns up here, such as January’s 1.83 inches of rain across the month, it comes from NOAA’s 1991-2020 normals for station USW00012836, the gauge at the airport itself.

Key West airport (EYW): how close is it to Old Town?

Key West has its own airport, EYW, and that single fact is the whole argument for flying instead of driving. The road version from Miami runs about 155 miles and close to four hours without stops. A landing does the same job in an afternoon nap. What a small island field cannot do is scale: if your flight falls apart, the backup is that same road south, not another gate an hour later.

We could not verify a mileage or a drive time between the terminal and Old Town, so neither figure is printed. The geography is verified. Airport and Old Town sit on the same island, and Mile Marker 0, the reference point locals give directions from, stands at Whitehead and Fleming. Your hotel quotes this run several times a day. Ask for their number when you book, then ask again at check-in if you have an early flight home.

Old Town is the largest wooden historic district in North America, flat and compact, laid out for walking and cycling. That shapes the transfer decision more than any mileage does, because plenty of first-time visitors never move a vehicle again once the bags are in the room. Fort Zachary Taylor, the beach most often called the best on the island, is within walking distance of Old Town and costs $2.50 to enter on foot or by bicycle.

Driving from Miami to Key West: distance and time

From Miami the drive comes to about 155 miles, given as close to 3 hours 40 minutes by one transport source and about four hours by another, with no stops. The Overseas Highway accounts for 113 miles of that, its markers counting down from around 126 at Florida City to 0 in Key West. Add lunch, a swim and the old bridge at Marathon, and six to eight hours is the working figure. On an arrival day, that gap decides whether you check in before dark.

The usual route south is the Homestead Extension of Florida’s Turnpike, an all-electronic toll road with no cash booths, running down to Florida City. From there US-1 is the only road. For a rental, the toll question therefore gets settled at the counter, not on the highway: take the company’s transponder or toll program, or find out exactly how they bill plate readings back to your card. There is no window on that road where cash ends the matter.

Working backward from the sunset crowd is the cleanest way to choose a departure hour. The Sunset Celebration at Mallory Square runs every night of the year, weather permitting, starting about two hours before sunset. Mid-January sunset falls around 6:01 p.m. and mid-July around 8:19 p.m. (sunrise-sunset.org, converted to local time). Leave Miami at eight in the morning in winter and even the six-hour version of this drive puts you in Old Town with the afternoon intact. We hold no verified traffic data for either road, so that is arithmetic rather than a forecast.

One road also means one bad afternoon can rewrite the estimate entirely. There is no detour south of Florida City, and no safe place to stop on the Seven Mile Bridge itself. The stopping point is the restored two-mile span of the old bridge alongside, with a car park at the Marathon end and Pigeon Key sitting halfway out. Anyone driving north on a departure day should build the buffer into the morning rather than into the airport curb.

Getting around Key West without a car

The Duval Loop bus is free and calls at 18 stops through Old Town. Its timetable is where our sources fall out with each other: one gives every 20 minutes from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., another every 30 minutes from 6 to 10 a.m. and then every 15 minutes until midnight. Read the sign at the stop rather than any printout, including this one. And note the limit that catches arrivals out: the Loop does not serve the airport.

Parking is the line that argues hardest against renting. Street meters run $3.00 an hour. The Old Town Parking Garage charges $6 an hour or $48 a day plus tax. The Mallory Square lot is $7 an hour or $48 a day with a ten-hour maximum, and the Key West Bight lot $5 an hour or $40 a day. Three nights in the garage comes to $144 plus tax for a car that has not moved (City of Key West rates, subject to change).

An island this flat rewards leaving the thing parked, or never collecting it. Old Town is compact and level, and the bicycle is the local vehicle. Fort Zachary Taylor charges $2.50 on foot or by bicycle against $6.00 per vehicle for up to eight people plus a $0.50 county surcharge each, or $4.50 for a single-occupant car. The park opens 8 a.m. to sundown, 365 days a year, and the fort itself closes at 5 p.m.

A car earns its keep on the way in and the way out, rarely in town. Driving back up the Keys for a day at the old bridge or the reef puts it to work, and our day trips from Key West guide covers those. The biggest excursion of all needs no vehicle: the Yankee Freedom III leaves for Dry Tortugas at 8 a.m. with check-in before 7:30 a.m., and the 2026 adult fare of about $250 includes park entry, snorkel gear, breakfast and lunch.

What remains unpriced here is the rental itself. We have no verified daily rate for a car collected at EYW and no verified figure for airport-counter surcharges, so none is printed. Get the quote at booking, add the parking line above to it, then compare that total against a free bus and a rented bicycle. The statewide car logic sits in getting around Florida.

Key West airport departures: how early to arrive

Going the other way, the free bus is no help at all, since the Duval Loop does not reach the airport. Your departure run is a taxi, a shuttle, a hotel car or the rental you are returning. We could not verify a drive time from Old Town to the terminal, nor a check-in cutoff for EYW worth printing, so ask the airline and the front desk the night before. Driving back to Miami for the flight instead? Run it backward from four hours clean, and use six the moment you plan a coffee.

Cruise calls are the variable nobody can hand you in advance. In November 2020 Key West voters approved limits on cruise traffic: a cap of 1,500 disembarking passengers a day, a ban on ships carrying more than 1,300 people, and docking priority for lines with the best environmental and health records. Governor Ron DeSantis then signed SB 1194, under which a local ballot measure may not restrict maritime commerce in Florida ports, written to apply retroactively to those votes. No local cap now governs your departure morning, so check the port’s published call list the night before and leave earlier if a ship is in.

Taxis and shuttles from Key West airport

Fares first, and frankly: we do not have them. No meter rate, no flat rate and no rideshare estimate for the EYW run could be read from a source we trust enough to publish, and a made-up figure is the kind of thing that ends up in somebody’s budget. Numbers floating around forums for this ride deserve exactly the same suspicion, including the ones quoted with great confidence.

Ask the people who quote this run daily. At the airport, get the price to your street address from the driver or the dispatcher before the bags go in the trunk, and confirm whether a per-bag or per-passenger add-on applies. Shared shuttle and private transfer companies publish a per-person or per-vehicle price at the booking step, so your card meets a number you have already seen. Your hotel front desk arranges the same trip every day of the week and will tell you what guests pay.

A private transfer stops being an indulgence in specific cases. A late arrival, when you would rather not negotiate at a dark curb. A group of four or more with dive bags, where one vehicle beats two. A child seat that a taxi may not carry and a transfer company can supply on request. And the Dry Tortugas morning, with check-in before 7:30 a.m. and no second sailing to catch. If none of those apply, a metered ride you have priced beforehand does the job.

Sources & data for this guide

• EYW, Miami to Key West distance and drive time · transport sources · checked Sep 11, 2026 · durations indicative, sources give close to 3 h 40 and about 4 hours
• All-electronic tolling on the Homestead Extension, US-1 south of Florida City, Overseas Highway at 113 miles and its mile markers · Florida’s Turnpike + AARoads · checked Sep 11, 2026
• Duval Loop: free, 18 stops, no airport service · City of Key West + Car-Free Key West · checked Sep 11, 2026 · sources disagree on hours and frequency, both versions given rather than one picked
• Parking rates: meters, Old Town Garage, Mallory Square lot, Key West Bight lot · City of Key West Parking Department · checked Sep 11, 2026 · rates change
• Fort Zachary Taylor fees and hours · Florida State Parks · checked Sep 11, 2026
• Yankee Freedom III departure, check-in and 2026 adult fare · drytortugas.com · checked Sep 11, 2026
• Sunset Celebration timing · sunsetcelebration.org · checked Sep 11, 2026 · sunrise and sunset times from sunrise-sunset.org, converted to local time · checked Sep 11, 2026
• Cruise referendum of November 2020 and SB 1194 · Seatrade Cruise + Florida Politics · checked Sep 11, 2026
• Climate normals · NOAA NCEI 1991-2020, station USW00012836 (Key West International Airport) · checked Sep 11, 2026
• Mile Marker 0 and the length of US-1 · Atlas Obscura + Key West travel guides · checked Sep 11, 2026 · totals published as 2,369 or 2,390 miles
• Taxi, rideshare and shuttle fares: not published in a form we could verify · no figure printed · ask the dispatcher, the operator or your hotel