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Marathon FL: what to see, where to stay and how to get around

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Between 1905 and 1912 Henry Flagler pushed a railway more than 200 km across the Keys to Key West, a project people called his folly. Marathon was its main work camp, and many say the town got its name from the marathon effort of finishing the Seven Mile Bridge. The 1935 hurricane ended the trains, and the bridges became the Overseas Highway. This route follows the line by car, from Long Key in the east to Bahia Honda in the west, about an hour of driving with stops on foot.

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A short history of Marathon FL

Marathon lies in the middle of the Florida Keys, and according to tradition it got its name from Flagler's railway workers, who worked here in hard conditions building the Seven Mile Bridge, completed in 1912. In the hurricane of 1935 the railway was destroyed, and the bridges were converted to carry a road. The new road bridge opened in 1982, and the old bridge remains beside it. Marathon was only incorporated as a city in 1999, and it is a centre for fishing and for the care of sea turtles.

The ten best sights in Marathon FL

  1. The Turtle Hospital
    1
    The Turtle Hospital

    Guided tours only, about 90 minutes, and they sell out — book a day ahead

  2. Crane Point Museum and Nature Center
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    Crane Point Museum and Nature Center

    Trails through a rare hardwood forest to the water, a small museum and a bird rescue on site

  3. Old Seven Mile Bridge
    3
    Old Seven Mile Bridge

    Walk or cycle the restored old bridge out to Pigeon Key; no cars, little shade, so go early

  4. Pigeon Key
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    Pigeon Key

    The island camp of the railway builders, now a small museum; reach it on foot over the old bridge or by the ferry from Knights Key

  5. Seven Mile Bridge
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    Seven Mile Bridge

    You cross it in the car going west; there is nowhere to stop on it, so enjoy it from the driver's seat

  6. Sombrero Beach
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    Sombrero Beach

    Free town beach with palms, showers and calm shallow water; parts are roped off in summer for turtle nests

  7. Dolphin Research Center
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    Dolphin Research Center

    On Grassy Key, 15 minutes east; the shows are included in entry, the swim programmes cost extra and need booking

  8. Florida Keys Aquarium Encounters
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    Florida Keys Aquarium Encounters

    Small aquarium built around hands-on encounters; you can feed rays and snorkel in a reef tank

  9. Curry Hammock State Park
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    Curry Hammock State Park

    A quiet beach and calm water for kayaks and paddleboards, much emptier than Bahia Honda

  10. Bahia Honda State Park
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    Bahia Honda State Park

    Some of the best sand in the Keys, 20 minutes west; arrive early, the gate closes when the car park is full

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A guide in your headphones, stop after stop.

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Tours in Marathon FL →

A guide in your headphones: open the walk on our site, walk from stop to stop, and at each one your phone tells its story. No guide, no group, and free. This is the first walk in Marathon FL:

The railroad that went to sea

Free walking tours in Marathon FL

The railroad that went to sea

Between 1905 and 1912 Henry Flagler pushed a railway more than 200 km across the Keys to Key West, a project people called his folly. Marathon was its main work camp, and many say the town got its name from the marathon effort of finishing the Seven Mile Bridge. The 1935 hurricane ended the trains, and the bridges became the Overseas Highway. This route follows the line by car, from Long Key in the east to Bahia Honda in the west, about an hour of driving with stops on foot.

  1. Long Key Viaduct · This was Henry Flagler's favourite bridge on the Overseas Railroad: about 180 concrete arches across open water, finished in 1907. A picture of a train crossing it became the railway's emblem. The arches still stand beside the road bridge.
  2. Long Key State Park · Flagler's railway built the Long Key Fishing Camp here in 1906, a resort of cottages for wealthy anglers. The novelist Zane Grey was its president for years. The 1935 Labor Day hurricane destroyed it completely.
  3. Knights Key · For a few years before the line reached Key West, Knights Key was the end of the railway, and passengers changed here to steamships for Key West and Havana. Today it is where the old bridge walk to Pigeon Key begins.
  4. Pigeon Key · Up to about 400 workers lived on this 2-hectare island while they built the Seven Mile Bridge between 1908 and 1912. Several of their wooden buildings survive, and the museum tells how they lived with no fresh water except what came by boat.
  5. Seven Mile Bridge · The modern bridge opened in 1982 and is actually about 6.8 miles long. It replaced the old railway bridge, which had been turned into a road after the 1935 hurricane ended the trains.
  6. Bahia Honda State Park · Look at the old Bahia Honda bridge: the water here is so deep that Flagler built a tall steel truss, and the trains ran inside it. When it became a road, the truss was too narrow, so the cars were put on top of it.

Turtles, dolphins and birds

Marathon is the animal-rescue capital of the Keys: sea turtles, dolphins and injured birds are all cared for within a few kilometres. The reef and the shallow bays around it are a nursery for much of this sea life. This route mixes rescue centres with a beach and a park where you can see the animals in the wild. Most places need tickets and fixed times, so plan the Turtle Hospital tour first and build the day around it.

  1. The Turtle Hospital · The hospital opened in 1986 in a former motel, and the old motel pool is now a tank for turtles that cannot go back to the sea. Many patients have fibropapilloma, tumours that the vets remove surgically before release.
  2. Crane Point Museum and Nature Center · Crane Point protects one of the last stands of tropical hardwood hammock in the Keys, with trees like gumbo-limbo and poisonwood. The Marathon Wild Bird Center on the grounds nurses injured pelicans and herons.
  3. Sombrero Beach · Loggerhead turtles come ashore here to lay their eggs between about April and October. The nests are marked and fenced, and the beach lights are kept low so the hatchlings head for the sea and not the road.
  4. Florida Keys Aquarium Encounters · Instead of walking past glass, visitors get into the water: there is a reef tank to snorkel in among tropical fish. Feeding sessions bring you close to stingrays, sharks and moray eels.
  5. Curry Hammock State Park · Every autumn, migrating hawks and falcons funnel down the Keys toward Cuba, and volunteers count them from a platform in this park. On some days they record hundreds of peregrine falcons.
  6. Dolphin Research Center · Before it became a research centre, this was Santini's Porpoise School, where Mitzi, the dolphin who played Flipper in the 1963 film, lived. She is buried here, and her memorial stands by the lagoon.

The fishermen's town

Before tourism, Marathon lived from the sea: Bahamian settlers fishing and sponging, then lobster and stone crab boats that still work from its docks. The town spreads along the highway, but its real life is on the bay side, around the harbours. This route moves from the oldest house to the docks and ends with the sunset at the old bridge. It is mostly short drives; finish at Sunset Grille about an hour before sunset.

  1. Adderley House at Crane Point · George Adderley, a Bahamian settler, built this house around 1903 from tabby, a concrete made from burnt seashells, lime and sand. Bahamians were among the first settlers in the middle Keys, fishing and sponging for a living.
  2. Keys Fisheries · The boats unload spiny lobster and stone crab at this dock. Stone crabs are not killed: fishermen take one claw and return the crab to the sea, where the claw grows back. The season runs from mid-October to May.
  3. Boot Key Harbor · One of the best-protected anchorages in the Keys, it fills every winter with cruising sailors who stay for months. The city marina rents moorings, and many boats here are people's year-round homes.
  4. Burdines Waterfront · A tiki bar and grill upstairs over a working marina on Boot Key Harbor. You eat looking down on the fuel dock and the fishing boats tying up for the evening.
  5. Key Colony Beach · This small island was dredged and built up in the 1950s as a planned resort town, and it is a separate city with its own police and a short par-3 golf course. Its quiet streets are good for walking at dusk.
  6. Sunset Grille · It sits at the foot of the Old Seven Mile Bridge on Knights Key, facing west over open water. Locals and visitors gather at the bar for the sunset, and the old bridge walk starts beside the car park.
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Getting to Marathon FL and getting around

  • Florida Keys Marathon International Airport · A small airport with very few scheduled flights; most visitors fly into Miami or Key West and drive the Overseas Highway
  • Bus stop at mile marker 50 · Buses along the Overseas Highway stop at mile markers; slow and infrequent, but cheap — a car is far easier

Cheap eats in Marathon FL

In the Keys the menu is the sea: fried or blackened fish sandwiches of mahi-mahi, grouper and hogfish, conch fritters, spiny lobster and, in winter, stone crab claws. Dessert is key lime pie, made with the small, sharp local limes. Lunch at a dock counter costs far less than dinner in a waterfront restaurant. Prices are in US dollars, and a tip of 18-20% is expected wherever there is table service.

  • Keys Fisheries · Lobster reuben or a fish sandwich at the dock counter, about $18-30
  • Wooden Spoon · Southern breakfasts, biscuits and gravy, about $8-15
  • Brutus Seafood · Seafood market and kitchen; fried fish baskets about $14-22
  • Fish Tales Market and Eatery · Fish counter with grouper and mahi sandwiches, about $12-20
  • Porky's Bayside · Open-air waterfront grill, a fish sandwich about $15-22
  • Publix deli · A made-to-order sub for the beach, about $9-14

Museums in Marathon FL

  • Pigeon Key · Railway camp museum on its own island; ferry or a walk over the old bridge
  • Crane Point Museum and Nature Center · Natural history museum, hammock trails and a bird rescue
  • The Turtle Hospital · A working hospital you tour with staff; see the operating room and recovery tanks
  • Dolphin Research Center · Education sessions with dolphins and sea lions through the day
  • Long Key State Park · Site of the vanished fishing camp of the railway era

Nature and day trips near Marathon FL

  • Bahia Honda State Park · Beaches, snorkel trips and a walk onto the old bridge for the view
  • Curry Hammock State Park · Calm water for kayaks; a mangrove paddle trail
  • Old Seven Mile Bridge · A 2.2-mile walk or ride over the sea to Pigeon Key
  • Sombrero Beach · Shallow, calm water and palm shade, free
  • Long Key State Park · Golden Orb trail and a canoe route through mangroves

Things to do in Marathon FL with kids

  • Florida Keys Aquarium Encounters · Touch tanks and ray feeding; book the encounters ahead
  • The Turtle Hospital · Children can help feed the permanent residents at the end of the tour
  • Dolphin Research Center · Dolphin sessions all day; a paint-with-a-dolphin option for children
  • Sombrero Beach · Safe, shallow water and a playground near the car park
  • Marathon Community Park · Playground, skate park and sports fields in the middle of town

Where to eat in Marathon FL

  • Sunset Grille · Sunset drinks and seafood at the old bridge, mains about $20-35
  • Burdines Waterfront · Burgers and fish tacos over the marina, about $14-20
  • Herbie's Bar and Chowder House · Old-style Keys roadhouse; chowder and conch fritters, about $12-25
  • Island Fish Company · Tiki bar on the bay with fresh fish, about $18-30
  • Porky's Bayside · Barbecue and seafood on the water, about $15-28
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Frequently asked questions about Marathon FL

What is there to see in Marathon FL?

The top sights in Marathon FL are The Turtle Hospital, Crane Point Museum and Nature Center and Old Seven Mile Bridge. The full list on this page has 10 sights, each with a photo and a short note.

How many days do you need in Marathon FL?

Three to four days are enough to see the best of Marathon FL without rushing, including at least one walking tour.

Is there a free walking tour in Marathon FL?

Yes. sleepntrip has 3 free audio walks in Marathon FL, with no guide and no group: your phone tells the story at every stop. The first one: The railroad that went to sea.

How do you get to Marathon FL and get around?

The main ways are Florida Keys Marathon International Airport and Bus stop at mile marker 50. Full details are in the transport section on this page.

Where to stay in Marathon FL, and for how much?

sleepntrip shows only rooms in Marathon FL that meet nine conditions: a good location, high guest scores, cleanliness, and a price of up to $80 a night for two. Pick your dates and see what is free.

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