Florida Keys: our ultimate gay travel guide

The gay scene of Key West is based along Duval Street in the section between Petronia Street and Angela Street. The area is marked by a permanent rainbow crossing so you can't miss it!

The gay scene of Key West is mainly based between 3 large buildings or complexes. These are the 801 Bourbon Bar, the Bourbon St Pub and Aqua. Each of these has several bars inside and a club, each with their own vibe, drag shows and handsome exotic dancers doing the rounds. Our best advice is to head here in the evening, especially on a Saturday, check out the vibe in each complex, then hang out in the one you like the most. Find out more in our gay travel guide to Key West.

The ZAGAT surveyed over 700 South Florida restobars and rated this gem of a place as the “Best casual dining experience in the Florida Keys”. The No Name Pub initially opened in 1931 as a general store then evolved into the Pub it is today as the owners expanded. It's super quirky, with dollar bills plastered across the walls, and a slogan: “A nice place if you can find it”. They have some of the best pizzas in the Keys and a great place to come for a beer or glass of wine.

The Florida Keys Brewing Co is an institution in the Islamorada Key. We loved chilling in their beer garden, which often has live music. They are famous for their craft beers, which they brew right here! Try out some of the more unique flavours like beer infused with Key Lime – my favourite! Beer enthusiasts should check out their tasting sessions and the Brewery tour. It’s also a very chilled atmosphere here – they even allow you to bring your own food to eat with your beer.

Mrs Mac's is famous for having some of the best seafood in the Keys. It was originally founded by Jeff MacFarland in 1976 who named it in honour of his mother and her recipes. It's definitely one of the best restaurants we went to in the Keys – and we definitely rate their Key Lime Pie! Mrs Mac's is a local favourite – so popular that they've even opened a second restaurant called Mrs Mac's Kitchen II down the road.

Marker 88 is another top restaurant in the Florida Keys for tasty seafood. We tried and loved their Mahi Mahi, fresh lobster, conch, and ahi tuna – all unique to the area and must be at the top of your culinary bucket list. Marker 88 also specializes in brunch on the weekend, with lots of delicious food and THE best cocktails and mimosas in Islamorada.

Morada Bay is one of our favourite gay friendly romantic restaurants on Islamorada. It's an outdoor Mediterranean bistro café set right on the sand. The ambience, delectable food and the friendly staff make this a memorable and really special experience. Palm trees line the beach and the views are simply glorious, especially at sunset as you can imagine! As for the food, uh-maaaazing! We loved and highly recommend their Thai shrimp tacos, fresh fish dishes and their cocktails.

As we said at the start of this article, the sunsets of the Florida Keys are one of our travel highlights. Whether you watch it with a cocktail to hand from a beachfront bar or at the “Sunset Celebration” at Key West's Mallory Square, we guarantee you'll also fall in love with it as much as we did. Our favourite sunset experience was on a romantic cruise onboard the Schooner America. This is a must! It's worth every penny. everything is top quality, from the Champagne reception to the fresh hors d'oeuvres. Also, spaces are limited, so it doesn't feel crowded like some of the other cheaper sunset cruises offered in the larger boats.

This is the first undersea park in the United States. As well as a beautiful park to visit for a picnic, it also has mangrove swamps where you can kayak, as well as healthy coral reefs for snorkelling. The big underwater highlight here (other than the many tropical fish!) is the 8.5ft (2.6m) underwater statue of Jesus called, “Christ of the Abyss”. Fun fact, this statue isn't the result of a shipwreck or anything but was donated by an Italian “scuba entrepreneur” and is a replica of the Il Cristo Degli Abissi in the Mediterranean Sea near Genoa, Italy.

If you don't make it to the John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park, you can also book an eco-tour which includes a mix of snorkelling and kayaking in the mangroves across 3 different marine ecosystems around the Florida Keys. We love to get active when travelling and this day trip was just the thing! We got to kayak through the mangrove tunnels (while keeping an eye out for manatees) and then ride a boat out to beautiful snorkelling spots. Our guide was a marine biologist, so we also learned a lot about the different eco-systems, corals and wildlife we spotted.

One of our favourite ways to soak up the atmosphere of Key West is taking a stroll down Duval Street during the day. Along with the many souvenir shops, galleries and bars, look out for gay shops like, “Leather Master”, “InTouch” and “Graffitti“. The vibe is quite different during the day time as well, before all the gay bars and clubs open up at night turning the area into a fabulous street party. This is also the place to get your quirky/whacky T-shirts in some of the more eccentric souvenir shops.

The Key West Butterfly and Nature Conservatory was one of our favourite places in the Florida Keys. It's a greenhouse-like garden with many different species of butterflies, some of which are really big! It's so mesmerising watching them flutter about so delicately. It's even more mesmerising watching an excited Seby act like a kiddie, trying to catch and play with the big blue butterfly… One big tip, we recommend using your phone's slow-mo feature to get some really impressive shots of a butterfly taking off.

Tarpons are large air breaching fish, sometimes called the “Silver Kings”. At Robbie's Marina on Islamorada you can buy a bucket of fish for a few dollars and feed the family of tarpons that reside here, often straight from your hand. Just watch out for those seagulls who'll stop at nothing to steal a few fish from your bucket – it happened twice to an unsuspecting Seby… Robbie's is also home to the Thirsty Tarpon Bar and Hungry Tarpon Restaurant, so you can grab a burger afterwards.

We love this aquarium on Marathon Key. Just like the Florida Aquarium in Tampa, you can dive in the large tank and interact with wildlife, like nurse sharks and stingrays. We got close up to the stingrays in their tank and also hand-fed sharks through a safe hole between the tank walls. There are also opportunities to feed turtles, alligators and more tarpons. There are “touch-tanks” where you can interact with crabs, baby rays and the Queen Conch.

Is there anything more exciting and romantic than going on a scenic helicopter flight? We did a helicopter tour over Key West and absolutely loved it! It's certainly the most unique way to see Key West as well as the whole of the archipelago. You can choose from different departure times during the day starting from 10am, with one departing every subsequent hour until 5pm. We recommend getting the 5pm flight – ie close to sunset, but still with good light for photography.