Dance clubs, live music, rooftop bars, speakeasies, LGBTQ+ venues, listening bars and late-night dives in Key West.
Dance clubs, live music, rooftop bars, speakeasies, LGBTQ+ nightlife, listening bars and late-night dives across Key West, with where to go and what is worth the late night.
The Green Parrot has poured at Whitehead and Southard since 1890 by its own count, Key West's open-shuttered dive with free popcorn and nightly bands.
Tip: There is no kitchen, only free popcorn, and outside food is welcome; soundchecks around 17:30 are a show in themselves.
Sloppy Joe's opened with Prohibition's end in 1933 and has held Duval and Greene since 1937, a National Register Key West saloon with all-day live music.
Tip: The operator dates the bar to 1933 and this corner to 1937; July's Hemingway Look-Alike Contest is the rowdiest week to visit.
Schooner Wharf Bar has held the old Singleton shrimp-factory site on Key West's bight since 1984, an open-air deck of roosters, rum and live music.
Tip: Breakfast starts at 08:00 Friday to Sunday and 08:30 Monday to Thursday; the bar calls itself a last little piece of old Key West.
Hog's Breath Saloon works an open-air corner near Mallory Square, the Key West room of a saloon brand founded in Florida in 1976, with all-day bands.
Tip: Live music runs from 13:00 to close most days; the raw bar side is quieter than the stage side if you want to talk.
Irish Kevin's has run singalong sets on lower Duval since July 1998, a Key West show bar pouring Irish beer with a kitchen that serves until 23:00.
Tip: Entertainers work the crowd hard, so sit back from the stage if you would rather not be part of the act.
Berlin's hides behind A&B Lobster House above Key West's harbour, a leather-chair speakeasy the operator dates as a local favourite since 1947.
Tip: You can order the full A&B menu at the bar, and the cigar terrace overlooks the marina; jazz nights run in season.
General Horseplay mixes proper cocktails and pours craft beer on Caroline Street in Key West, with a hidden back bar opening nightly at 19:00.
Tip: The back bar opens at 19:00 and feels like a second, smaller venue; sister rooms include Mary Ellen's and The Roost.
The Rum Bar pours one of Key West's deepest rum lists on the Speakeasy Inn porch, an upper Duval house whose basement once hid Prohibition bottles.
Tip: Ask the bartender to build a three-pour flight by island; the porch rockers are the best seats on upper Duval.
801 Bourbon Bar anchors upper Duval as Key West's best-known drag room, with the 801 Girls performing nightly above a bar that pours until 04:00.
Tip: The downstairs bar is the walk-in room and the cabaret upstairs is the show; go late, because the bar runs to 04:00 every night.
Aqua runs Key West's drag programme across a Duval Street complex of bars that includes the Birdcage Cabaret, the Back Bar and 22&Co under one roof.
Tip: The complex is several rooms rather than one bar, so check which room the night's show is in before you queue at the front door.
Captain Tony's Saloon drinks inside an 1851 icehouse on Greene Street, the Key West bar that claims Hemingway's patronage and a tree through the roof.
Tip: The operator says the building was an icehouse and morgue and that Hemingway drank here; both bars on this block claim him, so enjoy the argument.
The Chart Room hides inside the Pier House Resort at mile zero of Duval, the wood-panelled Key West bar once frequented by Jimmy Buffett and Mel Fisher.
Tip: The keywesttourist guide notes Buffett and treasure hunter Mel Fisher drank here; the room seats barely a dozen, so go at 17:00 sharp.
The Smallest Bar squeezes a full Key West cocktail list into 72 square feet on lower Duval, claiming the title of the tiniest bar in the United States.
Tip: The operator claims 72 square feet and America's smallest-bar title; the Key Lime Pie shot is the thing to order at the ledge.
Tiki House shakes zombies and mai tais with fresh fruit on lower Duval in Key West, the island's dedicated tiki room from the Horseplay bar family.
Tip: Happy hour runs 12:00 to 15:00 before the street gets loud; the rum build quality beats the location's spring-break stereotype.
Mary Ellen's serves grilled cheese down an Appelrouth Lane alley until 02:00, the late Key West kitchen that beats a pizza slice after Duval Street.
Tip: Appelrouth Lane is easy to walk past; the kitchen serves late, which makes it the grown-up alternative to pizza slices.