Florida Keys: Key Largo & Islamorada

The Upper Keys begin three and a half hours south of Orlando where US-1 leaves the Florida mainland at Key Largo and the roadway becomes a series of bridges across the turquoise shallows between the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic. Key Largo holds the only living coral reef in the continental United States at John Pennekamp State Park. Islamorada, 25 miles south, is the sport-fishing capital of the world and has the best restaurants in the Keys. Three days in the Upper Keys moves at the pace the Keys are designed for: glass-bottom boat in the morning, fish tacos at noon, tarpon feeding at Robbie's Marina in the afternoon, and watching the sun go down over the Gulf from a tiki bar at six.