Key West's Best Beaches: Fort Zachary Taylor State Park, Smathers & Higgs Beach

If you ask ten Key West locals for their favourite beach on the island, nine will point past Truman Annex to the southwestern tip of Key West: Fort Zachary Taylor Historic State Park ('Fort Zach'), while joggers, paddleboarders and sunbathers looking for imported soft sand head to the southern Atlantic shore along Smathers Beach and Higgs Beach.

1. Fort Zachary Taylor Historic State Park (Best Overall & Shore Snorkelling)

At the end of Southard Street through Truman Annex, where the Gulf of Mexico meets the Atlantic Ocean, Fort Zachary Taylor charges a modest state-park admission fee and combines a National Historic Landmark 1845 Civil War brick fortress with the clearest swimming water on the island:

• Why Locals Love Fort Zach: instead of shadeless sand beside a road, the beach is backed by a breezy grove of tall green Australian pine trees shading picnic tables and grills.
• Snorkel Around the Rock Breakwater Jetties: bring a snorkel mask and swim out 20 metres to the three limestone breakwater rock piles, home to yellowtail snapper, blue tang, parrotfish and coral.
• Crucial Foot Tip, Pack Water Shoes: Fort Zach's natural beach and water entry consist of crushed coral pebbles and shells rather than soft sand. Slip on rubber-soled water shoes (or rent chairs and water shoes at the beachfront Cayo Hueso Café), and stay to watch sunset from the water.

2. Smathers Beach, Higgs Beach & West Martello Tower

1. Smathers Beach (South Roosevelt Boulevard, Free Entry & Parking): stretching for nearly a mile along the Atlantic shore, Smathers Beach is topped with imported soft white Bahamian sand, lined with coconut palms, food trucks, volleyball nets, and rentals for hobiecats, kayaks and paddleboards.
2. Higgs Beach & The Key West Garden Club (1862 West Martello Tower): ten minutes west of Smathers at White and Reynolds Streets sits Higgs Beach (with a wooden pier and dining at Salute on the Beach). Right behind the sand, walk for free into the ruined brick arches of the 1862 West Martello Tower, turned by the Key West Garden Club into an oceanfront botanical garden of orchids and bromeliads; for natural sandbars, visit Bahia Honda State Park.