Frequently Asked Questions

The Southernmost Tour covers approximately 1.6 miles.

The Historic Seaport Lover’s Tour covers approximately 1.5 miles.

The Cocktail Crawl covers approximately 0.5 miles.

However, all tours have frequent stops and walk an average of four blocks in-between each stop. The island is flat, and we walk at a very moderate pace.

The Southernmost Food Tour is a well rounded taste of Key West, sampling classic “must-try” foods and drinks like conch fritters, local fish tacos, Rum-Runner cocktails, traditional Cuban cuisine, and Key lime pie!

If you are more obsessed with trying all the fresh seafood Key West has to offer, then the Historic Seaport Tour is for you! Sample local fish, Caribbean spiny lobster, Key West pink shrimp, conch, and, of course, Key lime pie on this tour too!

**Please note that there will be seafood dishes on the signature Southernmost Food Tour, however we can substitute another dish if you do not eat seafood. (But we highly recommend that you try it – the ingredients are some of the freshest in the country!) On the Historic Seaport Tour, we ONLY accommodate shellfish, nut, dairy and gluten allergies.** 

Pescatarians welcome! We CAN provide substitutions for shellfish, dairy, gluten, and nut allergies, and those who do not drink alcohol.

We CANNOT provide substitutions for any other allergies or dietary preferences.  Allergies and preferences must be indicated in advance at the time of ticket purchase. Please note, substitute dishes will NOT always be the iconic Key West dishes that regular participants on the tour receive. 

No. Only guests 21 years and older with valid ID are allowed on the Cocktail Crawl.

As the Cocktail Crawl is mainly a craft cocktail tour, our food tastings may not be a full meal for some, however, they are generous and fun happy hour treats!

Absolutely!

Our original tour – The Southernmost Food Tour – is designed to accommodate virtually all food allergies, aversions, or dietary needs- including guests who do not eat shellfish or seafood. While our Southernmost Food Tour does feature local seafood dishes (including shellfish), with advanced notice we can gladly provide tasty non-seafood or non-shellfish substitutions that you’ll enjoy instead.

For the Historic Seaport Tour, we ONLY accommodate shellfish, nut, dairy, and gluten allergies.

*Please be sure to indicate your specific dietary preferences or requirements when purchasing your tickets so we can best prepare to host you!

We CAN provide substitutions for basically any common allergy – vegetarians, pescatarians, gluten or dairy-free, those who do not drink alcohol, and shellfish/nut allergies. Allergies and preferences must be indicated in advance at the time of ticket purchase. Please note, substitute dishes will NOT always be the iconic Key West dishes that regular participants on the tour receive. 

The food served on the tour is from mom and pops, ethnic cafes, and local restaurants. For more information on what types of eateries we will be visiting, a listing of the tasting locations can be found on the Southernmost Food Tour page, and the Historic Seaport Tour page.

Our Key West food tours serve enough food to be equivalent to a hearty lunch (for most people) that will not leave you hungry. With the combination of five to six food and drink tastings in addition to built in breaks for cultural, historical, and architectural insight along the way, most participants are comfortably full after our food tours.

Please understand our food tours are not intended to replace breakfast and lunch or lunch and dinner combined, so please consider eating breakfast before or eating dinner after the tour.

Yes! On the Southernmost Food Tour, participants get to sample a mixed rum drink. On the Historic Seaport Tour, guests get a pour of white wine at Eaton Street Seafood Market. Both of these food tours also include the option to add on a drink package that will serve you two additional drinks on your tour. Your guide can tell you what is on offer and help you purchase at check-in. The Cocktail Crawl samples four mixed drinks and one beer! Drinking alcohol is always your choice and you may have a non-alcoholic version of any drink if you so choose.

Our tours are held rain or shine. In the event of inclement weather however, we will be able to go inside of all of the establishments on the tour. We also provide ponchos in case of sudden weather changes if you do not have your own umbrella. However, we advise you to check the weather conditions for your tour date and dress/prepare appropriately.

If severe weather (such as a hurricane, lightening, or tropical storm) does prevent the tour from taking place, you will receive a full refund or a gift certificate to use on a date of your convenience.

We provide a waiting list. Please email us at [email protected], or call us at 305-570-2010 to let us know what date you are interested in if you do not see availability.

Key West Food Tours does not include tour guide gratuities in the cost of our tours, unless you have booked a Private Tour in which 18% gratuity is included. You may elect to prepay gratuity when purchasing your ticket online, but this is not mandatory. If you enjoyed yourself, gratuities are greatly appreciated and accepted by your tour guide. The standard gratuity for a tour guide in the service industry is 15%-20%.

Your ticket price includes the cost of the food and vendor gratuities associated with your meal.

Your tour ticket does NOT, however, include tour guide gratuities. If you enjoyed yourself, gratuities are greatly appreciated and accepted by your tour guide, although never mandatory. The standard gratuity for a tour guide in the service industry is 15%-20% the cost of your ticket.

Our Southernmost Food Tour can accommodate guests with strollers, and guests requiring wheelchair assistance. However, the tour is not suitable for guests with severe mobility issues.

We can always offer a modified tour route but it goes without saying that some of the presentations throughout the tour will be missed and the overall experience will not be as complete for the tour participant in that case.

If you are in need of a motorized scooter, “The Hip Tourist” & “Island Mobility” Key West stores can assist you.

Yes!

We typically have multiple tour starting times running each day between 11 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. Please take a look at our tour calendar to see our full listing of available tours for a particular day.

If one of the listed tour starting times does not fit your schedule, please contact us directly with a request for a special starting tour time and we’ll try to make it happen!

We understand that there are sometimes last-minute changes made to a cruise ship schedule and on occasion, a ship that is scheduled to dock in Key West might arrive at a different time/date than listed or in rare cases, bypass the port altogether due to weather, an onboard medical emergency, etc.

We also understand that these changes are out of your control.

In cases where we can reschedule you to join one of our tours on another tour day or at another time – we will. In cases in which this is not possible, we’ll issue you a gift certificate (with no expiration date) for the full value of your tickets that you’ll be able to use any time in the future. In special cases and when neither of these options is feasible, we’ll assess the possibility of issuing a refund.

The Southernmost Tour ends eight short blocks (0.5 mi) away from the meeting location, about a 15 minute walk.

The Historic Seaport Tour ends four short blocks (0.4 mi) away from the meeting location, about a 10 minute walk.

The Cocktail Crawl ends five short blocks (0.4 mi) away from the meeting location, about a 10 minute walk.

Yes, gift certificates are available for our Tours and make a perfect gift for holidays, birthdays, or any other occasion! To purchase or learn more about our gift certificates, please visit our Gift Certificates page or call us at: (305) 570-2010.

*FYI – our gift certificates never expire!

Of course! We highly recommend you take photos to cherish the memories of your tour. In fact, please share them on Facebook /Twitter /Instagram with our hashtags, or email them to us so that we can share them too!

@KeyWestFoodTour

#KeyWestFoodTour

Give us a thumbs up!

Due to the pre-arranged timing of the tour stops, we kindly ask that you wait to shop until after the tour is completed so that we can stay on our food-tasting schedule and ensure that we arrive at our tour partner locations in a timely manner. Remaining on our scheduled route ensures that the food and beverages at each stop are freshly prepared for our tour participants. If you’d like to return to your favorite tasting locations after the tour to make purchases, your tour guide is happy to direct you to that establishment. We also provide you with a detailed map displaying our route so that you can return to any of the tasting locations at your leisure.

**We encourage cruise visitors wanting to shop to select an earlier tour time where possible so that they’ll have some time for shopping after the tour is completed before having to head back to the ship.**

We’re constantly making slight changes to our tours every few months. Many parts of the tour remain the same, but we do our best to improve upon and enhance the tour and ensure that it is representative of Key West.

Yes. Please refer to your confirmation email as convenient, available parking is notated according to the starting location of the tour you purchased.

Our tours begin promptly at the scheduled starting time.

The first portion of our tour is a meet and greet introduction for about 10 minutes or so – this allows for any late comers. After that, the show must go on in order to ensure that we are able to arrive at all of our tasting locations on time.

If you are scheduled for a tour and know you are running behind schedule, please call us at (305) 570-2010 to let us know before the tour begins so that we can give you directions on where to meet us en route.

*Please note that refunds are not given for latecomers!

We highly recommend taking our tour at the beginning of your visit, especially if you’ve never been to Key West before, so that you’ll learn the lay of the land early and will be able to navigate Key West’s delicious culinary landscape with confidence for the remainder of your trip. Of course, another reason we recommend taking our Southernmost Food Tour early on in your visit is so that you have an opportunity to head back to your favorite tasting locations from the Tour to redeem your Key West Food Tour Store Coupons (available to tour participants only).

We often host singles (both visitors and locals looking for something fun and different to do in Key West) on on our Tours. We have found that most people who take our tours are adventurous and sociable, excited about trying amazing food, and open to meeting new people (or even making new friends)! We like to think of each tour group as its own family, exploring Key West and sharing foodie moments together. If you are open to meeting new people and having a great time, you will have a wonderful time on our food tour.

Of course! We welcome young foodies on our Southernmost and Historic Seaport Tours but they must be accompanied by an adult.

However, the tours average three hours in length and do involve a fair degree of standing and walking so we ask that you consider whether your child would like to participate on a food tour. Parents, who know their children best, should assess the situation individually.

There will be a non-alcoholic beverage served to the children during the tasting.

Please note, there is a special Child Ticket Fare of $49 for children joining the tour, ages up to 12 who will be eating. Children 12 and under not participating in the tastings do not require a separate ticket.

However, only persons over 21 years old with a valid ID may join us on the Cocktail Crawl.

Absolutely not! All our tours combines architectural commentary, historical facts, local culture and culinary insights into a unique three-hour experience. Imagine walking through old Key West tasting our island’s most delicious foods while learning about the neighborhood from real locals.

Please consider reading reviews from hundreds of past guests on TripAdvisor to learn more about their experiences.

Tickets must be purchased in advance. Purchasing tickets at the start of the tour would not give us enough time to secure food tastings that are prepared for you.

Tours usually sell out ahead of time. In order to get the day, time, and number of tickets you prefer, please book well in advance. Tickets can only be purchased with a Visa, AMEX, or MasterCard from our website or by calling 1-305-570-2010. Cash and/or walk-up traffic are not accepted.

Yes. There will be bathrooms at almost every tasting we have. Your guide gives you a five-minute warning before leaving each stop to use the restroom before you venture to the next location.

At this time, we do not offer tours in any other languages except English.

We absolutely do! We can accommodate a variety of special requests (corporate team building, incentive trips, reunions, wedding parties, birthdays, bachelor/ettes,  and more).

In addition to a healthy appetite, please bring along your e-ticket (electronic form is fine) to give to your tour guide at the tour starting point.

In terms of clothing, we suggest that you wear comfortable, light clothing and walking shoes. Summer months (May-September) in Key West can be very hot and humid and we recommend that you wear sun protection i.e. sunscreen, sunglasses, a hat, etc.

Ice water is provided at several of our tasting locations throughout the tour to help keep you hydrated. However, you might also like to bring your own bottle of water with you.

We also suggest you bring a camera to capture the memories you’ll create during the tour and lastly, gratuity for your tour guide if she/he impresses you! Guides also accept Venmo, as well.

Customers will receive a full refund or credit with 24+ hours notice of cancellation, and a 50% refund within 24 hours notice. Customers will also receive a full refund or credit in case of operator cancellation due to weather or other unforeseen circumstances. Contact us by phone to cancel or inquire about a cancellation. No-shows will be charged the full price.