Overseas Highway: Miami to Marathon

Scenic road chapters

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Miami

   The Tamiami Trail was named for what it joined, Tampa and Miami, and it took thirteen years and an astonishing amount of dynamite to build. Begun in 1915 and opened in 1928, US 41 cuts straight west across the Everglades, one of the largest wetlands in North America, and it changed Florida by linking the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, though it also interrupted the flow of water across the Everglades in a way that scientists are still trying to repair. The road starts in downtown Miami as Southwest 8th Street, known to locals as Calle Ocho, the heart of Little Havana.

   Read the complete Miami write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Miami is where the day begins. Next is Key Largo.

2. 2. Key Largo

   Key Largo is the first of the Florida Keys, the one you reach after the long straight run down from Florida City, and it is also the biggest, stretching some thirty miles along the line of the old coral reef. The Overseas Highway, US 1, runs through its entire length, lined with dive shops, tackle stores, seafood shacks and motels. The town itself has about ten thousand people, and fuel, groceries and food are easy to find all along the road, which is marked by mile markers counted from Key West.

   Read the complete Key Largo write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Key Largo comes up about 196 km into the recorded legs. Next is Islamorada.

3. 3. Islamorada

   Islamorada is a string of low islands in the Upper Keys, and the name, Spanish for purple island, is applied to a village that spreads over several of them along the Overseas Highway. The sea is on both sides, the Atlantic to the east and the shallow, glassy water of Florida Bay to the west, and from the road you can often see both within a few hundred metres. It bills itself as the sport fishing capital of the world, and the claim is not idle, with charter boats, tackle shops and marinas lining the highway and anglers heading out before dawn for sailfish, tarpon and bonefish.

   Read the complete Islamorada write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 259 km into the recorded legs you reach Islamorada. Next is Marathon.

4. 4. Marathon

   Marathon is the middle of the Florida Keys, a flat, tropical working town strung along Key Vaca and its neighbours, and the place where the Overseas Highway pauses to take a breath before the famous long bridge. About nine thousand people live here, enough for plenty of fuel, supermarkets, diners and marine shops, and most travellers stop for coffee and a pit stop before the next stretch. The sea sits on both sides of the road, turquoise on the Gulf side and a deeper blue on the Atlantic.

   Read the complete Marathon write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Marathon closes the day.