June Keith's Key West & the Florida Keys: Food Hotels Beaches Diving Fishing History Writers Festivals Attractions Museums Wildlife (2nd Ed)

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Summary: A history and guide to America's sub-tropical islands
Review: A fresh, new guide that steers clear of hype, describing the Florida Keys with candor and wit. Miami Herald columnist June Keith, longtime Keys resident, critiques restaurants, resorts, attractions, and chronicles the region's swashbuckling history. She introduces the real Jimmy Buffett, and the ever present ghosts of Ernest Hemingway and Tennessee Williams. Keith tells you where to go to swim with dolphins, dive the living reef, and camp on a beach. This dazzling guide takes readers into the heart and the soul of America's favorite vacation destination. 560 pages with 65 line drawings by Keys artist David Harrison Wright. $18.95.

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Summary: Definitely a 5-star reference to the Florida Keys
Review: Definitely a 5-star Reference to The Florida Keys We were in Key West on our last day when we first encountered June Keith's book on the Keys, and immediately felt it was highly informative and accurate - we wished we had found it when we first arrived! It was evident that June Keith made significant efforts to visit or sample most if not all of the restaurants, locations, and visitors information she writes about, and to provide an objective, unbiased review of those topics. An excellent guidebook for anyone visiting, traveling, and thinking of living in the Florida Keys.

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Summary: Guide Book Lite
Review: For those planning to use this book as their main resource for planning their trip to the Keys - don't. This is a great "one-person's-opinion" guide, but it is not all it's cracked up to be. One, June is not that great of a restaurant critic. We found we thoroughly enjoyed places that June panned (like the Half Shell in Key West) and did not really care for places she loved (like Kelly McGillis' restaurant). Used as a resource in conjunction with other material, this book has a lot of excellent insight into places you may want to go. One tip: Bahia Honda State Park is even better than the glowing writeup June gave it. Plan at least one day there! If diving and snorkling are your pleasure, get another book. This one does not really cut it. Last, June captured a lot of things to do in her book, but there are about a million more. Best thing is to be flexible and hunt around for the best deals. Have fun!

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Summary: Best book on the Keys yet
Review: I bought this book and still refer to it whenever we're heading back to Key West. It's the most informative book on Key West and the Florida Keys I could have ever hoped to find. There are reviews of restaurants (big and small, expensive to modest), hotels, guesthouses, walking tour guides, even prices of the various accomodations and attractions. There are even juicy behind-the-scenes stories about the colorful lives of past and present Key Westers. Ms. Keith is a wealth of information and makes an extraordinary effort to share that information with the rest of the world. This is the consummate guide to Key West, and I've recommended it to everybody I know.

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Summary: Best book on Key West
Review: I go to Key West twice a year. This is the best book I've found by far.

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Summary: Surprisingly Useless
Review: I just spent a week in Key West and found this book to be surprisingly useless. There are unnecessary negative comments in many of the reviews, even in places she likes. There is a negative thread running through the majority of the book. I cannot recommend this book for any reason. Fortunately we had another guide book which was very helpful.

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Summary: A Witty Guide Book
Review: I like using guide books and have used others when visiting Key West. But this one is the ultimate. I felt like the author was sitting in the back seat of our rental car, providing a narration as we wandered around looking for sights and scenes that we had never seen before. The restaurant reviews were right on, and funny even. My husband and I liked the discussion of Hemingway and Tennessee Williams, and, believe it or not, we'd never heard of a wonderful movie, "The Rose Tattoo," filmed in Key West - which we never, ever miss when they show it late at night. We read about it in this book. Also, she recommends lots of books about Key West which we will read in preparation for our next trip. There are free sights to see on the road between Key West and Miami, the Overseas Highway, and we'd never known about them, either. There are some terrific beaches, libraries, a Pioneers Cemetery - on a beach! - a Hurricane Monument. Also, some interesting restaurants off the main highway that you don't know about unless you read about them in this book. Anytime someone we know is headed for the Keys, we give them this book. It's a winner.

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Summary: entertaining, informative, this lady really knows her stuff!
Review: I purchased this book before embarking on a vacation with my family to the Keys. We visited several of the places described in the book, and found the information to be right on target. She tells you about so many places you otherwise might not even see or know about. One of our favorite places was Robbie's Marina where they give you so much food you can't finish it, and you can feed the Tarpon and the Jacks from the pier What fun! Thanks to Joan Keith we felt as though we captured the true flavor of the Keys and visited all of the favorite hangouts of the locals. Thanks a million!

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Summary: Excellent guide book and a fun read
Review: The diving sections in this Keys guidebook are brief and generalized. As with the other guidebooks for sale here, the diving descriptions give the non-resident a small taste of what a visit will be like, and perhaps some ideas on what to ask for when calling a diveshop. The non-diving info is interesting, filled with fun anecdotes and history, and will surely contribute to anyone's understanding of this unique locale. Highly recommended (as guidebook).

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Summary: Best book on Key West
Review: This is the perfect book for first-timers visiting the Florida Keys. It gives explicit detail on the layout, roads, scenery, and recreation in the keys. If you are the "plan-ahead" type, this is the book for you. You will be able to easily decide where to stay, and how to spend your time on each of the different keys. There are several insider tips as well, given by the locals that call the Keys home. This author is also very humorous.