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Miami to Key West Day Trip: Dolphin Boat & Beach Time

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Free cancellation

1/13

Duration15h

GroupUp to 49

LanguagesEN · ES

PickupAt your hotel

The Dolphin Boat Leaves at Mid-Morning: Six Hours in Key West from Miami

You get round-trip coach transport from Miami, arrival in Key West by mid-morning, and your choice of a 2.5-hour dolphin boat tour or free exploration time. Either way, you have several hours to walk around, eat, and see the island before the return drive to Miami. Hotel pickup is included, so you just need to be ready at your door.

15h

Step-by-step itinerary

Pick up in Miami
Coach travel to Key West
Choose dolphin watch boat tour
Explore Key West for three hours
Return coach trip to Miami
Drop off in Miami

The Experience

The coach picks you up from your Miami hotel sometime in the early morning—the exact window arrives in an email a few days before—and then it's a straight drive down the Overseas Highway toward Key West. You're on the bus for around three hours, which gives you time to settle in, watch the water get bluer, and mentally prepare for the day ahead. Once you arrive in Key West, you've got a choice to make: either join the 2.5-hour dolphin watch boat tour and still have roughly three hours to wander around town, or skip the boat entirely and have the full five to six hours on your own to explore the island.

If you go for the dolphin spotting option, the boat heads out into the ocean looking for wild dolphins—the kind that show up on their own schedule, not in a tank. You're out on the water with other travelers, scanning the horizon, and if the dolphins are around that day, you see them. If they're not, you don't, which is just how it works with wild animals. Either way, you come back to Key West with a solid chunk of afternoon left. The Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum is there if you want to pay extra and go inside, or you can just walk the streets, grab lunch at one of the waterfront spots, hit a beach, browse the shops. The rhythm of the day is yours to set once the boat tour ends.

The return trip follows the same route back to Miami, so you're looking at another three hours on the coach. Pickup and drop-off are included from select hotels, which means you don't have to figure out parking or navigate to a terminal—the bus comes to you and brings you back. The whole day is structured around the drive and the choice you make in Key West, so there's no scrambling for tickets or coordinating with a guide once you're there.

What’s included

Round-trip coach transportation from Miami to Key West.
hotel pickup and drop-off from select Miami hotels.
six hours in Key West with free time to explore, eat, and walk around.
optional 2.5-hour dolphin watch boat tour (additional cost).
optional snorkel activities with instruction and equipment provided (additional cost).
optional visit to the Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum (additional cost).

Good to know

Easy physical levelNot for pregnant travelersNot for heart conditionsNot for back problemsInfants must sit on laps

Operated by US2U

Is this one for you?Book this if you want a full day out of Miami without renting a car or arranging your own transport—the coach handles the drive, and you decide whether to add the dolphin boat or just have time to yourself in Key West.