KEY WEST · MARCH · MILE MARKER 0
March lands Key West in the back half of its dry season, and the numbers read well: an average high of 79.6°F, an average low of 69.3°F, and 1.53 inches of rain spread across the whole month. The water off the island averages 78.6°F, warm enough that most people stop negotiating with it after ten steps.
Set against that, March is a booking month. The Yankee Freedom III ferry to Dry Tortugas leaves daily at 8 a.m. and sells out weeks ahead, street meters in Old Town cost $3.00 an hour, and the Old Town Parking Garage charges $6 an hour or $48 a day plus tax. Every figure here is dated and sourced at the end.
THE MONTH AT A GLANCE · KEY WEST · MARCH
March gives you February’s rainfall with water 2.3°F warmer and a 12-hour day, which is why it suits an outdoor trip with a boat day in it.
DRY SEASON · SEA AT 78.6°F · SUNSET 7:37 P.M. ON MARCH 15
Go for: swimming at 78.6°F, walk-everywhere Old Town, and the 8 a.m. crossing to Dry Tortugas on a month with no tropical systems on the calendar.
Think twice before: arriving with a car and no plan for it: the Mallory Square lot runs $7 an hour or $48 a day with a ten-hour cap, and the ferry is gone weeks in advance.
Air: NOAA NCEI station USW00012836 · Sea: Open-Meteo Marine · full sources at the end
On this page
- March highs, lows and rain daysKey West weather in March
- Is the water warm enough to swim?The sea at 78.6°F
- Crowds, booking lead time and the lodging taxHow busy March gets
- Things to do in Key West in MarchFort Zachary Taylor, the Hemingway Home, Dry Tortugas
- A two-day plan with timesTwo days, hour by hour
- March vs February and AprilHow the three months compare
- Is March a good time to visit?The verdict, and who should shift
Every number here comes from two places, and they are not the same kind of measurement. The air figures are 1991-2020 monthly normals from NOAA NCEI station USW00012836, a real thermometer at Key West International Airport. The sea figure is a 2015-2024 average from Open-Meteo’s marine data, taken as the mean of daily maxima.
Key West weather in March: average highs, lows and rain days
| Measure | March value |
|---|---|
| Average high | 79.6°F |
| Average low | 69.3°F |
| Precipitation | 1.53 in |
| Days with 0.10 in or more | 2.9 |
| Days with 1.00 in or more | 0.4 |
| Sea surface (2015-2024, daily maxima) | 78.6°F |
| Daylight, March 15 | 12 h 03 min |
| Sunrise and sunset, March 15 | 7:34 a.m. and 7:37 p.m. |
NOAA’s 1991-2020 normals for the airport station put March at a 79.6°F average high and a 69.3°F average low, with 1.53 inches of rain for the month. That high sits 2.2°F above February’s 77.4°F and 3.0°F below April’s 82.6°F, which places March squarely in the middle of the spring climb. It is a station record, not a model grid cell, and the distinction matters when you compare it with figures elsewhere.
Rain reaches 0.10 inch or more on 2.9 days in an average March. That is roughly one day in ten. Days carrying a full inch average 0.4, so a proper soaking turns up in about two Marches out of five. The practical shape of the month is short bursts rather than a gray week, and a whole afternoon lost to rain is the exception.
Between the 79.6°F afternoon and the 69.3°F hour before dawn lies a gap of 10.3°F. Small by mainland standards, it still shows up on a boat deck at 8 a.m. and on a walk back from dinner. A long-sleeve shirt and one windproof layer cover the entire month. Nothing in these normals calls for a coat.
On March 15 the sun rises at 7:34 a.m. and sets at 7:37 p.m. Eastern time, giving 12 hours and 3 minutes of daylight. Daylight saving has already begun by then, so the generous end of the day is the evening one. The Sunset Celebration at Mallory Square runs every night of the year, weather permitting, beginning about two hours before sunset. In mid-March that puts the first performers on the pier near 5:40 p.m.
Can you swim in Key West in March? Sea temperature and what it feels like
Open-Meteo’s marine series puts the sea surface off Key West at 78.6°F in March, averaged over 2015-2024. One caveat travels with that number: it is the mean of daily maxima, so it runs a shade warmer than a 24-hour average would. Read it as the afternoon water, not the water at 6 a.m.
At 78.6°F the sea sits well above the month’s 69.3°F overnight low, so the first steps in are easier than the first steps back out into a breeze. Fort Zachary Taylor Historic State Park charges $2.50 if you arrive on foot or by bicycle, and its gates run 8 a.m. to sundown. The fort building itself shuts at 5 p.m., which leaves about two and a half hours of beach after the history closes.
We found no March wind or wave statistics for the reef, so we give no figures for either. The calendar we can date: the Atlantic hurricane season runs June 1 to November 30 and peaks on September 10, putting March entirely outside it. A canceled boat day in this month comes from a passing front, not a tropical system.
How busy is Key West in March? Crowds, prices and the demand peak
March falls inside Florida’s dry season, November through April, the stretch the Keys’ visitor economy is built around. We found no occupancy series and no monthly room-rate series for Key West, so we crown no month expensive and quote no nightly figure. The statewide seasonal pattern, school breaks included, sits in our best-time guide.
Booking pressure shows up first on anything with a fixed number of seats. The Yankee Freedom III runs once a day to Dry Tortugas, departs at 8 a.m. with check-in before 7:30, and sells out weeks in advance: a month ahead is the minimum we would give it. A room inside Old Town, where the car can stay parked, is the other item worth locking early.
The lodging tax is published and simple to check. Monroe County levies a 5.0% transient rental tax, filed and paid alongside the 6% state sales tax, per the Florida Department of Revenue’s form DR-15TDT. That is 11% on top of the room rate, in March as in any month. Online quotes may or may not already fold it in, so read the breakdown before you compare two places.
The car is the one line where spending more genuinely changes the trip. Street meters run $3.00 an hour, the Old Town Parking Garage $6 an hour or $48 a day plus tax, the Mallory Square lot $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. Old Town is the largest wooden historic district in North America and it is flat, so a bed inside it turns parking into one charge instead of a daily one. Rates change: check the city before you book.
Things to do in Key West in March
March opens the day at both ends: 12 hours and 3 minutes of light on the 15th, an average high of 79.6°F, and no tropical systems on the calendar before June 1. That combination is what makes the long boat day sensible now. The ferry to Dry Tortugas leaves at 8 a.m., the crossing covers 70 miles each way, and you are still back for the pier at sunset.
Fort Zachary Taylor Historic State Park holds the beach most often called the best in Key West, within walking distance of Old Town. Entry is $6.00 per vehicle for up to eight people plus a $0.50 county surcharge per person, $4.50 for a single-occupant vehicle or motorcycle, $2.50 on foot or by bicycle. The Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum takes walk-ins 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, $19 for adults, $7 for children, free below six. The Dry Tortugas ferry fare is about $250 for adults in 2026, park entry, snorkel gear, breakfast and lunch included.
What moves between months at these addresses is the water and the light, never the ticket. The sea off the fort’s beach averages 78.6°F now against 76.3°F in February, so the swim after the 5 p.m. fort closure is a different proposition. At the Hemingway house the garden is the visit, and 79.6°F by day with a 69.3°F night is the mildest that garden gets before April pushes afternoons to 82.6°F.
Nothing at all is charged for the Duval Loop bus, 18 stops through Old Town. Its timetable is where our sources disagree, one giving 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 until midnight, so read the stop sign rather than trusting a number; it does not serve the airport. The Sunset Celebration at Mallory Square costs nothing and runs nightly, weather permitting. Mile Marker 0, at Whitehead and Fleming, is a photograph and a two-minute detour.
Key West in March: a two-day itinerary
Day one stays on foot. Breakfast before 9, then the Hemingway Home at opening, since walk-ins start at 9 a.m. Lunch in Old Town, then the walk out to Fort Zachary Taylor for the afternoon at $2.50 on foot, fort first because it closes at 5 p.m., beach after, water at 78.6°F. Leave the sand around 5:30 for Mallory Square, where the Sunset Celebration is already under way two hours before the 7:37 p.m. sunset. Dinner later, with key lime pie, Florida’s official state pie since 2006.
Day two is the boat: check-in before 7:30 a.m., departure at 8, 70 miles west, back in the evening. If a front arrives instead, and 2.9 days in an average March record measurable rain, keep the day in Old Town. The largest wooden historic district in North America is walkable end to end, the free Duval Loop shortens the wet stretches, and the Hemingway house reads the same in rain as in sun. With sailings gone weeks ahead, a same-week rebooking is not something to count on.
Key West in March vs February and April
| Measure | February | March | April |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average high | 77.4°F | 79.6°F | 82.6°F |
| Average low | 67.1°F | 69.3°F | 73.1°F |
| Precipitation | 1.54 in | 1.53 in | 2.07 in |
| Days with 0.10 in or more | 2.4 | 2.9 | 2.8 |
| Sea surface (daily maxima) | 76.3°F | 78.6°F | 79.8°F |
The climb across the three months is steady. February averages a 77.4°F high and a 67.1°F low, with the sea at 76.3°F. March adds 2.2°F of air and 2.3°F of water. April jumps again to 82.6°F by day, 73.1°F at night and 79.8°F in the sea. Rain is where March shows best: 1.53 inches against February’s 1.54 and April’s 2.07, while the wet-day counts stay close at 2.4, 2.9 and 2.8.
Shifting four weeks later buys 3.0°F more in the afternoon and 1.2°F more in the water, at a cost of half an inch of extra rain. Going four weeks earlier saves nothing on rainfall, 1.54 inches in February, and hands back the sea, since 76.3°F is swimmable and noticeably cooler on the first entry. For a trip built around a boat day and a beach afternoon, March holds the middle ground.
Is March a good time to visit Key West?
For most travelers, yes, and the case is arithmetic rather than mood: 79.6°F days, 1.53 inches of rain, water at 78.6°F, and a hurricane season that does not start until June 1. It is a poor fit if the trip depends on off-season room rates, and we cannot tell you where March ranks on price, because we found no occupancy or rate series for the island.
When the answer is no, April is the first month to check. It runs warmer in the sea at 79.8°F and warmer in the air at 82.6°F, with 2.07 inches of rain as the trade. Anyone who prefers cooler afternoons should look back at February, 77.4°F by day with the sea at 76.3°F, and accept the slower entry into the water.
One thing March holds alone: February’s rainfall, 1.53 inches against 1.54, with water 2.3°F warmer and daylight running to 7:37 p.m.
The last word
Book the ferry first, the room second, and let the car be the last decision. Getting here is part of the date: from Miami it is about 155 miles and close to four hours without stops, out on the all-electronic Homestead Extension of Florida’s Turnpike to Florida City, then US-1 for the final 113 miles of bridges, six to eight hours if you stop the way that drive deserves. Key West has its own airport, EYW, for anyone who would rather skip it. Either way the road ends at Mile Marker 0, Whitehead and Fleming, roughly 2,370 miles south of Fort Kent, Maine.
Sources & data for this guide
- March normals: high 79.6°F, low 69.3°F, 1.53 in, 2.9 days at 0.10 in, 0.4 day at 1.00 in · NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USW00012836 (Key West International Airport) · checked Sep 23, 2026
- February and April normals and sea temperatures · same NOAA NCEI series and Open-Meteo Marine averages · checked Sep 23, 2026
- Sea surface 78.6°F, mean of daily maxima 2015-2024 · Open-Meteo Marine API · checked Sep 23, 2026
- Sunrise 7:34 a.m., sunset 7:37 p.m., 12 h 03 min of daylight on March 15 · sunrise-sunset.org, converted to America/New_York · checked Sep 23, 2026
- Hurricane season dates and September 10 peak · NOAA National Hurricane Center · checked Sep 23, 2026
- Monroe County 5.0% transient rental tax with the 6% state sales tax · Florida Department of Revenue, form DR-15TDT · checked Sep 23, 2026
- Fort Zachary Taylor fees and hours · Florida State Parks · checked Sep 23, 2026
- Hemingway Home hours and $19 / $7 admission · hemingwayhome.com · checked Sep 23, 2026
- Yankee Freedom III schedule and 2026 adult fare of about $250 · drytortugas.com · fare subject to change · checked Sep 23, 2026
- Parking meter and lot rates · City of Key West Parking Department · rates subject to change · checked Sep 23, 2026
- Duval Loop: free, 18 stops, no airport service · City of Key West and local guides · our sources disagree on frequency and operating hours, so we give the full range · checked Sep 23, 2026
- Sunset Celebration timing · sunsetcelebration.org · checked Sep 23, 2026
- Mile Marker 0 and the distance to Fort Kent · Atlas Obscura and Key West Travel Guide · sources give 2,369 or 2,390 miles, so we give the order of magnitude · checked Sep 23, 2026
- We found no occupancy series, no monthly room-rate series and no verified March event dates for Key West, so none appear above.
To plan your stay
- Things to Do in Key West: Hours, Prices, Hemingway House and the Dry Tortugas Ferry
- Where to Stay in Key West: Old Town, New Town and What Parking Costs
- Key West Airport to Old Town: Transfers, Parking and the Drive from Miami
- What to Know Before You Go to Key West: Parking, the Free Duval Loop, Sunset and the Dry Tortugas Ferry