Going to be in at the end of the month.  What to do besides the beach?  Been to your wonderful state many times, but never down this far south.  At least let me know where NOT to go.  Going to be me and the wife so not worried about nightlife, mostly restaurants and must see things.  She wants to check out the turtle sanctuary in the area.  What else would you recommend?  Thanks in advance

Standard tourist fare-Truman House, Hemingway House, watch sunset, you”ll figure it out

If you make it down that far - Duval Street in Key West is worth checking out one night. Cuban Coffee Queen & Kermit's. If you're going with the wife, there's a nice dessert spot called "Better Than Sex". It's only open at night and reservations are recommended.

Chances are you will travel outside of Marathon.  A big question is what do you like to do? Are you a foodie? Like to hit bars? Nature lover, or a little bit of everything?  Marathon is not a big tourist destination, so its where the locals live. It is mainly a fisherman's destination. That being said, you have the benefits of large grocery stores (Publix) which is nice if you don't want to pay for expensive restaurants all the time, and it even has a Home Depot.


Some staples to do in Marathon are:

Florida Keys Aquarium

Turtle Hospital

Cross the 7-mile bridge and check out the Key Deer on Big Pine Key, then go to the No-Name Pub for lunch or dinner. They are known for their pizza.

Bahia Honda State park

Sombrero Beach (it is a park/beach area)

Crane Point Hammock - it's a nature preserve, museum, with a nice nature trail.

Take a fishing Charter, either a head boat, offshore charter, or a bay side charter. You really can't go to Marathon and not go fishing.

If you are a boat person (like me), rent a boat for a day or three and travel around by water.  It is fun to pull up to restaurants, or motor around and see the natural areas that aren't visible from the roads. Or in my case, fish.

Make the trip to Islamorada and go to Robbie's and feed the tarpon. It is touristy, but it is something everyone does when they visit the keys. Seriously - do it! When you get back home, everyone will ask if you went to Robby's. While there, a few places to eat are: Lazy Days, Green Turtle Inn (open seasonally), Whistle Stop (locals joint, not touristy, fair warning), and Hog Heaven which is a classic sports bar, and the Island Grill.

Depending on where you are staying, if you want a nice heated pool (and your place doesn't have one), visit the Tranquility Bay Resort which is next to the Turtle hospital. They have a restaurant as well as a Tiki bar that serves food. We have never been questioned for using the pool as long as we have to-go plastic drink cups from one of the restaurants (has their logo on them). The food is good, too.

Make the drive to Key West for a day and see all the touristy stuff.  It is all cheesy, but the southernmost point is good, visit Mallory Square to see the sunset, see the damn wild chickens and roosters (it's actually a thing). The Truman house, Hemmingway home, and Autobahn house are other popular spots. In Key West, any restaurant on the water or at a marina will be pricy, but great food.  But if you drive around, you will find a ton of quaint restaurants, cafes, etc. A good restaurant along the way to Key West is Mangrove Mama's on Upper Sugerloaf Key. Get the conch fritters as an appetizer.  Loaded with conch meat.


Restaurants in Marathon:

Sunset Grill (right before the 7-mile bridge).

Island Fish Company.

Wooden Spoon and/or Stouts for breakfast.

Florida Keys Steak and Lobster House.

The Stuffed Pig - huge locals joint. Only open for breakfast and lunch, if I recall. Expect a wait to get a table, the place is tiny.

Cracked Conch Cafe (local dive, but decent food, did I mention it is a complete dive?)- Get a conch sandwich to go if it's too dingy for you, but it is a well-known old time Keys cafe.

Key Colony Inn restaurant (best to call and make a reservation). Use a GPS to find it as it's off the main road.

Lighthouse Grill.

Lazy Days South.

Castaway Waterfront Restaurant.

Go to Duck Key and see how the upper 1% live and go to the Hawks Cay Resort for lunch ($$$$ BTW but excellent food)

Dockside Boot Key Harbor - (near Sombrero Beach so a good place to hit if you go to Sombrero).  Sometimes they have live music.

Brass Monkey - it's a local's bar, so the food (typical bar fare) and drinks are more affordable, but it can get obnoxious when it gets late.  Depends on your interests.

There are too many others to list, but we visit Marathon almost once a year mainly to go fishing. As a native Floridian, I dislike Key West since it is a complete tourist trap, but you still have to experience it.  You picked a great place by staying in Marathon. We have stayed all throughout the Keys, and that is our go-to spot, with Islamorada being a close second.  Enjoy your time down here!
 

Timely post OP.  I just moved to FL and the wife and I will be headed that way next week.   We will be driving our van and taking our time and plan to drive until the road ends.  

Someone told me there is a gps app you can get for the ride.  As you get to a point of interest it tells you about it like a virtual tour guide.  I’m going to try it out.

Go to the Hogfish Bar and Grill on Stock Island (just before the entrance to key West on Stock Island).  Pretty decent food in an open Tiki Bar setting and it is always full which is a good sign.  Prices are very reasonable for the area. Lots of locals go there.  They will also cook your fish catch if you bring it with you.  Look them up on google so you will know exactly how to get there.  It is off the Overseas highway.  You can see their menu online.  

Take a ride on a snorkle/scuba boat out to Sombero reef. Water temps should be low 80's.

They'll take bubble watchers out, too, if you don't want to get in the water.



Enjoy your trip!

We used to take our SeaDoos out there to snorkle. The have tie downs (or whatever you call them) for people to use, instead of idiots trying to use anchors and screwing up the reef. There are places to rent boats if you don't want to go on a three hour tour.

Many years ago we went to the Dolphin Research on Marathon. It was off season and we had our Elkhound with us. They asked us to bring him in because the dolphins love dogs. Everywhere we went on the docks the dolphins swam next to our dog. It was crazy. Our dog was kinda lollllll.

“Guide Along”

It’s about $15.

We recently discovered it on Kauai.  It certainly made the trip more interesting. It just breaks in to whatever you’re listening to and tells stories, gives directions and options, and does some history.  It is very accurate and descriptive.