Smathers Beach, Key West
Overview
Smathers Beach is the longest public beach in Key West, running for roughly half a mile along South Roosevelt Boulevard on the island's southern shore, opposite the airport. The sand is imported rather than natural, as it is at most Keys beaches, and it is backed by the road and a line of palms rather than by dunes.
It is a working public beach rather than a scenic one: metered parking directly behind the sand, watersports concessions, food vendors, and shallow water over a bottom that turns to seagrass and rock a short way out. Locals use it for kitesurfing and paddleboarding as much as for swimming.
Anyone expecting the deep sand and clear water of the mainland Atlantic beaches should recalibrate. The Keys sit inside a shallow, reef-fringed system; the water is warm and calm, the bottom is grass, and the appeal of the islands lies offshore rather than at the waterline.
Our current condition score for this beach is .
Photo summary of last month
Each photograph is published unedited and in date order, and is replaced as newer submissions arrive, so what appears here is the most recent view of the beach rather than a promotional photograph.
Photographs are taken at different points along the half mile of beach, so note where each one was taken.
Position relative to the Atlantic sargassum belt
Sargassum carried out of the Caribbean turns north through the Florida Straits in the Florida Current, which passes south of the Keys before becoming the Gulf Stream. Smathers Beach faces south, toward that flow.
Key West is therefore upstream of Miami rather than downstream of it, and it receives material at an earlier stage. Smathers Beach faces south, into that flow, which is the least favourable orientation on the island.
The water is very shallow for a long way out and there is almost no wave energy, so sargassum that reaches the beach can stay there until it is cleared.
Key West has other public beaches, among them Higgs Beach and the beach at Fort Zachary Taylor, so a photograph of Smathers describes Smathers only.
The sargassum season
Arrivals depend on the wind, so it is worth checking the dated record immediately before travelling.
The Florida picture in full, including how the season has changed, is set out in our Florida sargassum season guide.
Swimming conditions and safety
The swim here is shallow and calm, with no surf to speak of. Sea shoes are worth having: the bottom becomes seagrass and rock quickly, and grass beds hide urchins.
The genuine hazards are traffic and boats rather than water. South Roosevelt Boulevard runs directly behind the sand with no barrier, and watersports craft operate off the beach. There are no lifeguards at Smathers Beach.
On sargassum specifically: fresh weed in the water is harmless. The strong sulphurous smell that this beach can develop comes from thick material decomposing on hot sand over several days and releasing hydrogen sulphide; where mats have been sitting, walk around them rather than through them, since small stinging organisms live in the weed.
Choosing a hotel on this stretch
Key West divides between Old Town, where the streets, restaurants and Duval Street are walkable and there is no real beach, and the eastern end near Smathers and the airport, where the larger beachfront hotels sit. Visitors who want the town should stay in Old Town and treat the beach as an outing; visitors who want sand every morning are better served by the eastern hotels or by the resorts with their own maintained frontage.
The one question worth asking a beachfront property directly is whether it clears its sand daily in season. On an island where weed accumulates rather than disperses, that answer makes more difference to a stay here than at almost any other beach we track.
Bahia Honda State Park, about 60 kilometres up the chain, has the best natural beach in the Keys. It is a plausible day trip when conditions here are poor.
Access and parking coordinates
Smathers Beach (Key West)
Smathers Beach is Key West's longest public beach, with metered parking in the paved strip along South Roosevelt Boulevard beside the sand. Parking costs $5 an hour, from 8:00 to midnight Monday to Saturday and from noon to midnight on Sunday, and overnight parking is not allowed. Spaces fill quickly, and much of Key West otherwise relies on paid garages and permit-only residential zones.
S Roosevelt Blvd, Key West, FL 33040, USA
Without a car, the Key West Department of Transportation buses run along South Roosevelt Boulevard, and the island is small enough that cycling is the local default. Visitors arriving by air land at the airport directly behind the beach.
Check live conditions before you go
Conditions at Smathers Beach can change within days, and the south-facing Lower Keys beaches frequently read very differently from the mainland Atlantic coast and from the Gulf-side beaches up the chain. On the live map we track this beach with dated photographs and a current condition score, so you can compare Key West against Bahia Honda, Marathon and Key Largo on the same morning.
See live conditions, photos & cams →