Key West New Years Eve 2024

Guide to New Years Eve in the Florida Keys. Find the best fireworks, parties, hotels and restaurants for NYE 2023-2024

Everyone knows that Florida Keys likes to do things a bit differently and seeing in the New Year is no exception! With a host of very unique and quintessentially new years eve celebrations, centred mainly on the party hub of Key West, you won't want to miss out!.

Dropping things is the speciality here, with a range of objects lowered from various locations as the new year arrives - see below for some more details on what's going down (literally!) this year.

New Years Eve Fireworks

There are fireworks all around the Florida Keys at new years, and given the maritime setting and flat landcsape making for excellent panoramic views you'll be able to see some from pretty much anywhere, but in Key West the main fireworks are launched from the end of the White Street Pier over Key West Harbor.

Mallory Square Sunset Celebration

If you're wanting to get an early start on your new years eve celebrations then head on down to Mallory Square a couple of hours before sunset to join the Sunset Celebration!

They'll have a selection of performers, including magicians, jugglers and artists all agains the spectacular backdrop of the Florida Keys sunset.

Red High Heel Shoe Drop

Key West brings its own unique interpretation to the ball drop on New years eve, an event that originated in New York's Times Square and is now fondly imitated in locations around the world as diverse as Hong Kong and Tokyo! In the Keys version, we get to see the Red Shoe Drop which is, well, exactly what it sounds like, featuring a 6 foot tall high heel, carrying a drag queen by the name of Sushi descending from the roof of the Bourbon Street Pub on Duval Street. This year will see a new queen step (literally) into the shoe, as the iconic Sushi has retired.

Crowds gather all around the venue for free, but if you book well in advance you can actually get VIP tickets for the balcony from New Orleans House Guest House, which will give you the best view but aren't cheap at around $100 each.

Conch Drop at Sloppy Joe's

Another unusual "drop" takes place at the famous Sloppy Joe's bar on Duval Street, where their emblem of choice is a conch shell. There are normally crowds of thousands that gather to watch this event, so much so that the location has been likened to New York's Times Sqaure on new years's eve!

With live music on stage into the wee hours of the new year, the main advice if you're heading down there is to get there early if you would like any chance of getting a decent spot. Details of venue here.

Pirate Wench Drop at Schooner Wharf

The final act in the triumvirate of unorthodox drops is the not really politically correct Wench Drop, which sees a pirate's wench lowered from the mast of the Tall Ship America 2.0 schooner moored in the Key's Historic Seaport, accompanied by live music and event cannon blasts at midnight! Details here.

New Year Cruises

One option a lot of people go for in the Florida Keys, especially visitors to the region, is to join one of the many new years eve cruises on the waters around the keys, which has the advantage of avoiding the crowds and giving you fantastic views of the fireworks.

Some of the best options available this year are provided by Fury Water Adventures and include a Chamopgane Sunset Cruise, a Commotion on the Ocean live music party cruise and a Glass Bottom Boat Sunset Cruise.

Get more details and book your tickets online here.

New Years Eve Hotels

The Florida Keys are of course a tourist destination, popular with winter visitors in particular, so you can expect to find no shortage of accommodation, although over the festive season it always makes sense to book well in advance.

For a full range of hotels, bed and breakfast, apartments and guest housesm you can find the top Florida Keys hotels here.

Restaurants

For those seeking sustenance, either as part of a quiet civilised evening with friends or as a pre-cursor to hitting the bars and street parties then Key West has a load of choice for such a relatively small location, and on new years eve there will be plnety of places throwing a party and putting on some additional entertainment too.

Seafood is obviously a speciality but you'll be able to find pretty much anything here - recommended choices include Hot Tin Roof, Prime Steakhouse, The Flaming Buoy Filet Co, Blue Heaveb and The Stoned Crab. All of these are well located for getting to and from the main parties.

NYE Live Stream

Places to watch live online - there are absolutely loads of webcams in the area, including those perfectly positioned on Duval Street and at Sloppy Joe's Bar, so you can keep an eye on the NYE events wherever you are:

Key West webcams

Due to the colourful and lively nature of some of it's big parties, Key West is often also featured on the New Years Eve Live broadcast on CNN, which is available to watch live online around the world, find the live stream links here.

Latest NYE News

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