Gay Key West: your essential guide to the best gay bars, clubs, beaches and hotels

Bobby's is one of our favourite gay bars in Key West. It's a dive bar, like a gay Cheers, where everyone knows everyone. It's homely and super friendly, which is why we love it so much. The owner, Bobby, is the life and soul of the bar, always chatting with people, making everyone feel like they're part of a big happy family. They have karaoke every evening from around 9:30pm where everyone gets involved and sings along with you! It's truly a warm atmosphere…particularly when we tried out a few ABBA numbers and had the whole bar singing along with us!

801 is a large gay complex standing proud next to the Rainbow Crosswalk. The 801 Bourbon Bar bar is downstairs and its sister club is upstairs (read more about this below). The bar is a good spot to come for a few cocktails to kick off the evening. It's open late, which is handy if you're looking for a place to just hang out and chat with friends at 2am. They have themed events worth checking out – our favorite is their Sunday karaoke between 4-8pm for the simple reason that the drag queens get involved, and these fierce queens just KNOW how to host a hilarious karaoke party!

As you're making your way down the gay ꜱtriþ of Duval Street, you're most likely to be enticed inside the Bourbon St. Pub by one of the speedo-clad Bourbon Boys standing outside. We sure were! Inside, it's like a gay man's paradise, especially the outdoor male-only “Garden Bar” – a large pool bar area with handsome topless staff and those hot Bourbon Boys performing on the bar! The bar hosts some of the raunchiest parties including “Holiday Underwear Party”, the “Bone Island Bare It All” and numerous frivolous pool parties! Check their Facebook page for the latest info.

Aqua is a large gay complex in the Duval gay triangle. It has 2 bars and a club dancing area called “Club 504” (see below), which features nightly DJs. The first bar, Aqua, is in the front and features drag shows, karaoke nights, and Gay Bingo. You HAVE NOT lived until you've had a drag queen heckle at you after you've cried out “BINGO!” Look out for drag stars – Inga, Jessica Deveraux, Elle Taylor, Faith Michaels, Beatrix Dixie, Maya Montana, and Epiphany Get Paid. Upstairs is a restaurant called “Poke in the Rear”, which is a cool place to chill and grab a bite.

Saloon 1 is Key West's main bear bar – “where real men come to play”. And come to play they sure do… This is one very unapologetically all-male bar, the type of place you come for one thing and one thing only! The first thing that greeted us as we walked inside was two sock-clad gentlemen (they literally had nothing else on!), bent over together by the bar in an overly sensual embrace… Saloon 1 also hosts many wonderful themed evenings ranging from Friday's “Cock Shock” contest to the “Gear Night” on Saturdays.

Island House is one of the most famous gay resorts in south Florida, particularly for their clothing-optional male-only pool parties. They have 2 every week – on Wednesday and Sunday. The Sunday pool party is the most famous and popular. We came here with a group of friends for brunch. It's absolutely crazy! We had loads of fun – plenty of wangers on display, everyone having a great time lounging in the sunshine and a few eccentric drag hosts to keep the crowd entertained.

La Te Da's Sunday “Tea Dance” pool party is a more low-key but just as buzzy affair as its cousin over at Island House. Everyone is welcome at the Sunday Tea Dance. It has a live DJ which is usually a local radio star like DJ Rude Girl or Molly Blue. Each Tea Dance is themed and tradition dictates that one dresses up (or dresses down!) accordingly. Most will first go to Island House for a Sunday brunch, then head over here to continue the party.

The upstairs of the 801 Bourbon complex is the club section of the building. It has drag shows taking place throughout the night in between the cheesy pop anthems and Latino pop beats. We love the 801 Bourbon club for this, and so did many others – 'cause when we came here on a Saturday evening, it was jam-packed! But in a good way. This is also the home of the island's most famous queen – Miss Sushi!

Once the Bourbon Boys have enticed you inside to the Garden Bar, we recommend checking out the dancing area of the Bourbon St. Pub building, particularly on their male-only “Bare It All” foam nights. It's raucous and you'll very quickly make plenty of new friends! We like coming to the Bourbon later in the evening at around 2am when its different bar/club sections all merge into one and the crowds spill out into the outdoor pool area outside. For the ladies, look out for their female-only “Girls Night Out” party on Tuesdays from 5pm to midnight.

Aqua dubs itself “Key West's Best Nightclub”. When we went on a Saturday night it wasn't as busy as the other clubs but this varies depending on which night you go. The themed nights are usually the best to look out for because they have some impressive Burlesque shows particularly for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's. The crowd is a mixed bag of all ages from all spectrums of our wonderful LGBTQ family.

The Crystal Room is La Te Da's Cabaret Theatre, which has shows every evening. Our favorite is Randy Roberts, who was one of the funniest and most talented female impersonators we saw during our trip to Florida. Between his Cher and Bette Midler impersonations, he'll have you in a fit of giggles throughout the entire evening. Definitely, one to get tickets for! 

We mentioned above how much we love the upstairs club of the 801 Bourbon complex – this is mainly because of the hilarious “801 Girls” who perform here every evening from 9pm, and again later in the night. 801 Bourbon is also where you're likely to see the famous Miss Sushi performing and mingling amongst the crowd – another not-to-miss gem in Key West!

Every evening from 7pm the “Aquanettes” perform to a seated audience at the Aqua complex. Saturday is the big night, which has 3 shows between 7pm and midnight. The shows are pretty unique because they are targetted to all ages and feature such humble(!), shy(!!) and super demure(!!!) queens such as Inga, Faith Michaels, Elle Taylor, Jessica Deveraux and Beatrix Dixie. We recommend booking your tickets in advance online as they sell out quite fast.

We came to the La Te Da restaurant for dinner before going to watch their Randy Roberts show cabaret show (we repeat, do not miss this in Key West!) and loved it. From the charismatic waiters to the hilarious Head Chef, they love making guests giggle and feel really welcome. They are open all day for breakfast, brunch, lunch, and dinner. Our favorites were the Onion Soup and the Hamburger La Te Da – uniquely served with Shoe String Fries. We also came for brunch and can confidently say they have one of the best egg benedicts we tried during our entire road trip in Florida.

Latitudes Restaurant was one of our favorite romantic experiences in Key West. It's a restaurant set on a private island called Sunset Key, which is just a short boat ride away from Key West. Seating is outdoors on the sand, complete with candlelight, with views over the Gulf of Mexico. We came during sunset which made those views particularly special. I had (and highly rate!) the Pan Roasted Caribbean Lobster Tail and Seby enjoyed the Mushroom Ragu Linguini. We both tried and loved their Key Lime Pie. Although, we both tried and loved the Key Lime Pie in every restaurant we visited in South Florida…

We found the New York Pasta Gardens completely by accident when searching on Tripadvisor for a highly rated restaurant close to Duval Street. It's set in a pretty outdoor patio with beautifully sculptured Instagrammable fountains and a few resident tropical birds that pose for pictures. They are famous for their pasta dishes, fresh fish, and steaks. For Seby he went ga ga over linguine with clam sauce, and for me, it was all about the fillet mignon. Obligatory key lime pie for dessert of course! Overall a fantastic meal: delicious food and attentive staff.

Our favorite “sunset experience” in Key West, which we highly recommend to other gay couples is to watch it onboard a cruise. There are many sunset cruises to choose from, but we strongly advise going for one of the more expensive ones, such as the Schooner America sunset cruise, which is the one we did. The more expensive it is, the less crowded it will be and also the quality of the drinks and snacks will be much superior – champagne with fresh shrimp, yes, please!

The sunset is so famous in Key West that every evening in Mallory Square there is a whole celebration for it! It starts around 2 hours before the sunset and has lots of arts/crafts exhibitors, food carts, and street performers entertaining the crowds that gather to watch. This was one of our favorite spots to watch the sunset in Key West because we had the unique backdrop of the cruise ships in the background.

As well as being the hub of the gay scene of Key West, Duval Street is also a great place to stroll and for shopping. It has many different boutique shops, galleries, souvenir shops, and novelty shops selling some of the funniest T-Shirts we've ever seen! Also, the best gay shops are on Duval Street, which include InTouch, Graffitti, and Leather Master. It's also quite interesting seeing Duval Street during the day – a far different vibe from the evening when the bars start to open up.

We always love to use food as a way to discover the local culture in every new place we visit. There is a unique story behind every dish you eat. We tried the “Secret Food Tour“, which started with a tour around Key West with a local, exploring the architecture and getting an insight into the history. We then headed to the Bahama Village (around 3 hours from Key West) where the locals go to escape the city and learned more about the island's historic culinary influences.

My Seby loves butterflies! Especially the big bright blue ones. So imagine his joy at seeing a whole bunch of them flying about, feeding on old brown bananas. We both loved the Key West Butterfly & Nature Conservatory. It's set in a greenhouse-like garden where all the many multicolored butterflies fly around, going about their daily business. We recommend trying out your phone camera's slow-mo setting to try and get a shot of a butterfly taking off!

One of Key West's most famous gay residents was playwriter, Tennessee Williams (1911-1983). He lived in Key West for 34 years and left his mark here, which is celebrated in this fascinating museum. We recommend visiting because it also gives you an insight into the island's LGBTQ history. The museum is dedicated to his life's work through an extensive collection of photographs, first-edition plays, books, rare newspaper articles, and videos.

Key West is famous for being the official Southernmost Point of Continental USA (the actual southernmost point of the entire country is at Ka Lae on Hawaii's Big Island). The Southernmost Point of Key West is honored by a colorful signposted buoy, which gets pretty busy! There is always a queue of people waiting to get their photo with this vibrant landmark, particularly at sunset. For this reason, we recommend going at dawn when the colors in the sky are quite spectacular and there are far fewer crowds, or consider doing a guided tour with a local, which includes a stopover here.

Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961) was another famous novelist who lived in Key West at The Hemingway House (now a museum) between 1931 and 1939 where he wrote To Have and Have Not. He was famous for being as lavish with women (he had 4 wives) as he was with his interiors! At one point he had peacocks wandering around the gardens. Today, the museum grounds are particularly famous for their (very photogenic!) 6-toed polydactyly cats.