Beach · Overseas Highway
A pocket beach with a pier off the south end of Duval.
Overview
South Beach is a small, sandy oceanfront beach at the southern end of Duval Street, beside the Emma Carrero Cates Pier. The sand runs for about 200 feet, so think quick swim or a short pause by the water, not a long beach walk. It's an easy add-on if you're already exploring the south end of Key West; the water is described as warm and shallow.
Parkwolf’s verdictIs it worth a stop?Map
Plan your stop
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Overseas Highway Tour Guide
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Overseas Highway. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
See the Overseas Highway audio tourRecorded for this place
Southernmost Point and the Butterfly Conservatory“You're coming up on the Southernmost Point area, a familiar Key West photo stop. The painted buoy is a landmark rather than an exact geographic claim: Ballast Key lies farther south.”
Plays as you drive up to South Beach in the Parkwolf Overseas Highway Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
Guide
The low pier gives you an open-water view and a natural place to watch sunrise or sunset. For a photo, frame the pier from the sand; it gives the small stretch of beach a focal point and helps show its scale.
Local lore says Tennessee Williams swam here almost every day while he lived in Key West. Treat that as a town story, not a documented daily record. Southernmost Beach Café is right beside the sand if you'd like to add food to the stop.
Wildlife
18 sightingsCrocodileMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
255 sightingsAlligatorMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
55 sightingsManateeMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
70 sightingsCommon Bottlenose DolphinMost seen around 9 AMSighting map
51 sightingsBald EagleMost seen around 8 AMSighting map
1,120 sightingsKey DeerMost seen around 6 PMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Overseas Highway. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
Keep exploring
Sight · At the trailheadSouthernmost Point BuoyA quick photo with Key West’s famous painted buoy.
Sight · 0.1 mi awayKey West Butterfly and Nature ConservatoryWalk among butterflies, then meet Rhett and Scarlett.
Sight · 0.4 mi awayKey West Lighthouse and Keeper’s QuartersClimb 88 steps for a high view across Key West
Sight · 0.4 mi awayErnest Hemingway Home and MuseumA preserved Hemingway home, a tropical garden, and his former studio.
Beach · 0.5 mi awayClarence S. Higgs Memorial BeachA roomy Atlantic beach with a wooden pier stretching out to sea.
Sight · 0.6 mi awayWest Martello Tower and GardensA former coastal battery turns into a slow garden walk.
Sight · 0.7 mi awayTennessee Williams MuseumA literary stop for the Key West story behind Williams's plays.
Sight · 0.7 mi awayKey West CemeteryA free map makes this cemetery a compact tour of island history.Parkwolf’s Overseas Highway ranking
The audio tour guide for the drive, plus offline maps, trails, and wildlife heatmaps for when the signal drops.
