Key West

Key West, the southernmost city in the continental United States, sits at the end of the Florida Keys chain 160km from Miami and just 145km from Cuba — a subtropical island of Bahamian-style wooden houses, world-class snorkelling on the living reef, Hemingway heritage, a completely unconventional community and a tradition of spectacular sunsets watched from Mallory Square. The Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum, in a beautiful Spanish Colonial house, is excellent — the six-toed cats (descendants of Hemingway's original polydactyl cat) roam freely through the gardens. The Harry S. Truman Little White House and the Key West Lighthouse are other historical attractions. Duval Street is the main entertainment strip. John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park (60km north in Key Largo) is the finest reef snorkelling in the continental US. The Dry Tortugas National Park (70 miles offshore, accessible by ferry or seaplane) is extraordinary — a 19th-century fort on a coral island with exceptional snorkelling and camping.