Accessible Florida Keys Travel: Planning a Wedding Guests Can Attend

Beach wheelchairs, accessible transport, equipment rental and the questions to ask a Keys venue before you book. Specific, sourced, and written for couples planning around a guest list.

By Michael Willis · Last reviewed 2026-09-10.

Why this guide exists

A destination wedding asks more of some guests than others. Sand, docks, historic buildings with three steps and no rail, and a four hour drive are all things that quietly decide who can come.

Most of it is solvable. Very little of it is solvable late.

Everything below is drawn from Visit Florida Keys and Key West, the Monroe County Tourist Development Council's official visitor site, and from Florida State Parks.

Beaches and parks

Beach wheelchairs are available at three state parks: Curry Hammock, Bahia Honda, and John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park. All three also have accessible trails and accessible restrooms.

That is the full published list, which is worth saying plainly. If your ceremony is on a beach that is not one of those three, assume you are arranging beach access yourself.

Source: Visit Florida Keys and Key West.

Getting around

In Key West: Key West Transit, the Conch Tour Train and the Old Town Trolley all have accessible options. Old Town's walkability is a genuine accessibility advantage over the rest of the chain, with the caveat that its historic sidewalks and curbs are not uniformly even.

From the airports: hotels arrange accessible airport shuttles from both Key West and Miami airports. Ask your block property to confirm this in writing when you contract the block rather than assuming it.

On the water: ferries to Dry Tortugas and Sunset Key offer wheelchair friendly boarding. Tranquil Adventures in the Upper Keys runs wheelchair accessible boating, fishing and snorkelling excursions with a certified accessible captain, which is the answer if your weekend has a boat in it and your guest list includes a wheelchair user.

Source: Visit Florida Keys and Key West.

Equipment

Five companies rent wheelchairs and scooters in the Keys: Keys Vacation Supply Rentals, Island Comfort Mobility, Cloud of Goods, Four Star Rentals and The Hip Tourist.

Renting locally is usually better than flying equipment in. Airlines damage mobility equipment often enough that a guest arriving for your wedding with a broken chair is a real risk, and a Keys rental delivered to the hotel removes it.

Pools and swimming

Jacobs Aquatic Center in Key Largo has a ramp accessible pool with a lift. The College of the Florida Keys in Key West has a lift equipped Olympic pool.

Deaf and hard of hearing guests

The Key West Butterfly Conservatory and Tropical Forest & Botanical Garden offers a quiet environment and printed materials.

For anything requiring relay, Florida Relay Service is reached by dialling 711.

The questions to ask your venue

Ask these before you sign, not after. Venues answer them honestly when asked early and defensively when asked late.

Is the route from the car park to the ceremony site step free, and is it firm underfoot the whole way?
Where is the nearest accessible restroom to the ceremony site, and how far is it?
If the ceremony is on sand, what is the plan? Matting, a boardwalk, a beach wheelchair, or a relocation?
Are there steps onto the dock, the terrace, or the dance floor?
Is there accessible parking, and how many spaces?
For a historic property: which entrance is the accessible one, and is it the same one everybody else uses? Guests notice being routed around the back.
For a boat based event: what is the boarding arrangement, and who has actually done it before?

Accessibility is a room block question too

The properties that can absorb a fifty room block are not always the properties with the accessible rooms, and accessible rooms are the first inventory to go.

If anyone on your guest list needs one, name that when the block is set rather than when the guest books. Blocks are contracted nine to twelve months out and the accessible rooms inside them are finite.

We handle this as part of the block rather than as an afterthought, through an independent travel advisor affiliated with Fora Travel.

Getting help directly

Visit Florida Keys and Key West runs a main line for accessibility planning: 1-800-FLA-KEYS, alongside five destination chambers of commerce covering the different parts of the chain.

All accessibility detail published by Visit Florida Keys and Key West and Florida State Parks. Facilities and operators change. Confirm directly before traveling, and confirm with the venue in writing before you contract.