Ghost Cities · Florida
Of the four Key West ghost tours we compared, the Ghost and Mysteries walk is our top pick at 4.5 stars across 1,117 reviews from $33, while the Ghosts and Gravestones trolley carries the deepest record at 4.4 across 1,361. Every number on this page was checked on Viator on July 29, 2026.
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Our top picks in Key West
The Key West Ghost and Mysteries Guided Tour is our top pick in Key West. Ninety minutes on foot through Old Town's hidden lanes: where Robert the Doll lived, the Count Von Cosel case, the windows at La Concha, and dowsing rods in your hands with a guide who explains how to work them. Strollers welcome, a moderate level of fitness asked for, free to cancel up to 24 hours out, and wheelchair access is not listed. 4.5 stars across 1,117 reviews, from $33.
Key West's colorful side is easy to find; this walking tour covers the other one. Landmarks include St. Paul's Episcopal Church and Captain Tony's Saloon, with the grisly history that explains both. Its page shows 352 reviews, and we could not verify a starting price on our July 29, 2026 pass, so it sits outside our comparison table. Listed until recently as The Dark Side of Key West Ghost Tour.
The Key West Haunted Pub Crawl and Ghost Tour with Free T-Shirt is the bar route in Key West, run by Key West Promotions. Two hours through the eeriest bars in Old Town, which its listing describes as two haunted mansions and a repurposed morgue, with local tales of reported activity between rounds. Its listing states "Minimum age is 21 years; photo ID required", and it lists wheelchair and stroller access, the only tour in our four-way comparison to pair bar stops with a wheelchair listing. 4.5 stars across 605 reviews, from $32.20. The free T-shirt is new to the listing's name; the route is the one this page has always pointed to.
More worth a look
The Key West Ghosts and Gravestones Trolley Tour is the seated option in Key West and the most reviewed tour on this page. One hour aboard the Trolley of the Doomed through Old Town's narrow dark streets, lined with 19th-century wooden houses that keep their former residents' secrets, narrated by a gravedigger who commits to the role. Its listing states the tour "may not be suitable for children under 13" and that "an adult must accompany children under 10", warns about loud noises, does not list wheelchair access, and confirms within 48 hours. 4.4 stars across 1,361 reviews, from $38.85.
Most tours tell you the stories; this one hands you the gear. Work haunted locations around the island with dowsing rods, EMF meters, a spirit board, and more, and see what you can raise yourself. We could not verify a price or a rating for it on our July 29, 2026 pass, so it sits outside our comparison table. Listed until recently as The Original Key West Ghost Hunt.
The Ghosts of Key West Walking Tour is the lowest-priced tour on this page, run by Ghost City Tours of Key West. Ninety minutes on foot through the historic core, stopping at St. Paul's Episcopal Church and the Audubon House and Tropical Gardens while your guide connects the island's dark history to its best-known figures. Wheelchair and stroller accessible, free to cancel up to 24 hours out. 4.3 stars across 139 reviews, from $29.99, the thinnest review record in our comparison.
A pub crawl built on the island's stranger files, from its infamous dolls to one notorious case of obsession that outlived the grave. Not everything in paradise is glamorous, which is rather the point. We could not verify a price or a rating for it on our July 29, 2026 pass, so it sits outside our comparison table.
A private two-hour walk reserved for your party alone: at least five haunted mansions and two haunted bars, with your guide's full attention and a pace you control. Private rates depend on party size, so it sits outside our comparison table. Listed until recently as PRIVATE Key West Haunted History Walking Tour.
A self-guided smartphone tour of the island's most haunted spots with theatrical narration and music, navigated on the WalknTours app. One purchase covers two phones, and the tour never expires once unlocked. There is no guide and no group, so it sits outside our comparison table. Listed until recently as Key West's Self Guided Ghost Walking Tours Smartphone Navigated on WalknTours.
Old Town Manor is the Old Town base for adults who want a short walk home: an adults-only bed and breakfast beside the Duval Street nightlife, less than a mile from the Southernmost Point, with a courtyard, a garden, a sun terrace, and a daily breakfast of pastries and fruit. Pet friendly and smoke free, and an 11-minute walk from the Ernest Hemingway Home.
Courtney's Place Historic Cottages and Inns is a one-minute walk from Duval Street, which is the whole argument on a tour night. Cottages add a full kitchen and a seating area, some with a pool view, and the property includes a light continental breakfast, barbecue facilities, and free on-site parking, which counts for more in Old Town than it sounds. Mallory Square is a 15-minute walk.
The Orchid Key Inn sits on Duval Street itself, adults only, a three-minute walk from the Historic Lighthouse and seven minutes from the Southernmost Point. A heated pool with a hot tub, a daily continental breakfast, a complimentary happy hour, and cocktails at the Orchid Bar. On a tour night the meeting points are a walk rather than a ride.
The short answer, with every number checked on Viator as of July 29, 2026: of the four Key West ghost tours we compared, the one we would hand a first-timer is the Key West Ghost and Mysteries Guided Tour, 4.5 stars across 1,117 reviews, from $33 for 90 minutes on foot through Old Town. The deepest review record belongs to the Key West Ghosts and Gravestones Trolley Tour, 4.4 across 1,361 reviews, one hour with a seat from $38.85, and it is the priciest of the four. For a night with bar stops, the Key West Haunted Pub Crawl and Ghost Tour with Free T-Shirt runs two hours from $32.20 and holds 4.5 across 605 reviews; its listing sets a minimum age of 21 and, for a bar route, also lists wheelchair access. The lowest price is The Ghosts of Key West Walking Tour at $29.99 for 90 minutes, 4.3 across 139 reviews and the thinnest record of the four. The booking cards above carry the links; the comparison table below carries the numbers.
How we built this page: on July 29, 2026 we worked through the Key West ghost tour listings on Viator and kept the nine you see here, and every price, rating, and review count in the comparison table was checked that same day. Four of the nine are in the table, because those are the four whose numbers we could verify end to end, and every count on this page is scoped to those four compared tours. We added nothing new this round, and that was deliberate: the one candidate our sweep turned up that was not already on this page carried 24 reviews at 4.0 stars, too thin a record to put in front of you. Five listings had been renamed since our last pass, so the names here now match the names on the booking pages. The filters are the ones we use at home in Arizona: routes with something behind them, group sizes that let you hear the guide, access claims a listing will stand behind, and cancellation terms we would accept ourselves.
Key West's early settlers called it Bone Island, and the nickname has aged well. Behind the bars and the sunsets sits one of the densest haunted inventories in Florida, and nearly all of it fits inside one walkable old town. Robert the Doll, the island's best known resident, living or otherwise, now sits in Fort East Martello, a Civil War fort the U.S. Army began in 1862 to defend Key West against a possible Confederate sea assault and then left unfinished, per the Key West Art and Historical Society, which cleared it out and opened it as its first museum in 1950. Captain Tony's Saloon once served as a morgue and still keeps its hanging tree indoors, and the Shipwreck Treasure Museum has a cistern with a file of its own. We are Arizona tour guides who research haunted history everywhere, so read this as our honest shortlist for the island. The ranked list lives in our guide to the best ghost tours in Key West.
| Best for | Tour | When | Length | From | Rating (reviews) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First-timers, and our top pick | Key West Ghost and Mysteries Guided Tour | Evening | 1 hr 30 | $33 | 4.5 (1,117) |
| Riding, not walking | Ghosts and Gravestones Trolley Tour | Night | 1 hr | $38.85 | 4.4 (1,361) |
| Bar stops, 21 and over | Haunted Pub Crawl and Ghost Tour | Evening | 2 hr | $32.20 | 4.5 (605) |
| The lowest price | The Ghosts of Key West Walking Tour | Evening | 1 hr 30 | $29.99 | 4.3 (139) |
Prices and ratings in this table were checked on July 29, 2026 on Viator.
The island's defining disaster is a fire. It ran through the old town on the night of March 30, 1886, and the reports that reached the rest of Florida that week were counted in buildings and dollars. A telegram from George Lewis, president of the Bank of Key West, described a fire extending from Sawyer's building to the wharf; the building his bank occupied burned, but its books, papers, and funds were all saved, per The Weekly Floridian of April 1, 1886. A special printed in the same issue, filed from Key West at 7 p.m. on March 30, reported the flames entirely subdued, the United States custom house and the United States naval depot saved, total property loss estimated at two and a half million dollars, and several firemen injured, one of them probably fatally. In the bonded warehouse, two hundred thousand dollars' worth of leaf tobacco was consumed.
The same special, extracted from the Jacksonville Morning News, opened with a line a guide could still use tonight. Writing from Key West on March 30, 1886, its correspondent said that "a more desolate city than this can hardly be found under the blue dome of Heaven," in the issue held by the Library of Congress. The same special describes hundreds of people turned out into the streets with their entire earthly possessions gone, and reports that the origin of the fire had been variously accounted for but that the true cause was unknown.
Forty years earlier a hurricane did the same work on the dead. The City Cemetery was established in 1847 on "high ground, 16 feet above sea level" after the hurricane of October 11, 1846 unearthed the beach-side burying ground it replaced, per the city's own cemetery page, which puts between 80,000 and 100,000 people inside its fenced nineteen acres and counts about 100 interments a year still. It sits in the heart of Old Town with its main entrance at Angela and Margaret Streets, which is why so many routes work its fence line after dark. Robert the Doll keeps his own rules: the stories say those who mock or disrespect him tend to collect misfortune afterward, which is why guides handle his tale with a certain professional courtesy. Count Von Cosel's story involves an obsession that did not end at the graveside, and we will let your guide finish that one. The longer files on every address in this section live in our guide to haunted Key West.
The default Key West format is 90 minutes on foot through the lanes of Old Town, with the island doing the set dressing. Our pick is the Key West Ghost and Mysteries Guided Tour, 4.5 stars across 1,117 reviews, from $33: where Robert the Doll lived, the Von Cosel case, the windows at La Concha, and dowsing rods in your hands with a guide who explains how to work them. It is also the one tour on this page our own booking data records a sale on so far this year, back on July 3. Its listing welcomes strollers, asks for a moderate level of fitness, and cancels free up to 24 hours before the start. It does not list wheelchair access.
Verdict: the default pick, and the one we would book first.
Book the Key West ghost and mysteries walk
The trolley trades on-foot intimacy for a seat and for coverage. The pick is the Key West Ghosts and Gravestones Trolley Tour, one hour from $38.85, the most reviewed and the most expensive of the four at 4.4 stars across 1,361 reviews. Its page runs it as the Trolley of the Doomed with a gravedigger narrating, which tells you the register before you board. Three honest notes from the listing: it states the tour "may not be suitable for children under 13" and that "an adult must accompany children under 10", it warns about loud noises, and bookings are confirmed within 48 hours subject to availability. It does not list wheelchair access.
Verdict: the coverage play, and the seat, bought at the highest price in our table.
Book the Key West ghost trolley
A pub crawl trades some story time for bar time, a fair trade on this island. The pick is the Key West Haunted Pub Crawl and Ghost Tour with Free T-Shirt from Key West Promotions: two hours from $32.20, 4.5 stars across 605 reviews, working the eeriest bars in Old Town, which its own listing describes as two haunted mansions and a repurposed morgue. Two things that listing settles up front: "Minimum age is 21 years; photo ID required", and wheelchair access, which it lists alongside strollers. That second line is worth noting, because it makes this the only one of the four compared tours to pair bar stops with a wheelchair listing.
Verdict: the best format for a party of adults, and the one bar route here that also lists wheelchair access.
Book the haunted pub crawl in Key West
The Ghosts of Key West Walking Tour is the cheapest way onto this material: 90 minutes from $29.99 with Ghost City Tours of Key West, working the historic core from St. Paul's Episcopal Church to the Audubon House and Tropical Gardens. It lists wheelchair access and strollers. Read its numbers before you commit, though: 4.3 stars across 139 reviews, the lowest rating and the thinnest record in our table, so you are buying the price and the access rather than a crowd verdict.
Verdict: the value pick, honestly priced and honestly rated.
Book the lowest-priced ghost walk in Key West
On accessibility, Key West runs opposite to instinct. Two of the four compared tours list wheelchair access on Viator, and they are the pub crawl and The Ghosts of Key West walk. The two that do not are the Ghost and Mysteries walk and the Ghosts and Gravestones trolley, which means the one route with a seat on it is also one of the two without a wheelchair listing. Strollers are welcome on the Ghost and Mysteries walk, the pub crawl, and The Ghosts of Key West walk, per those listings, and the Ghost and Mysteries listing asks for a moderate level of fitness. The trolley adds a caution that has nothing to do with mobility: its listing warns about loud noises on the route.
The island's haunted lodging list is long enough that guides argue about the order. Marrero's Guest Mansion is among the best known, a bed and breakfast said to be visited by the spirits of its former residents, and the Porter Mansion carries reported apparitions of its own. We keep the longer versions in our guide to haunted Key West; the short version is that on Bone Island, checking in does not always mean checking out.
If you would rather sleep inside Old Town than a drive from it, three properties put the meeting points within a walk. Old Town Manor is an adults-only bed and breakfast beside the Duval Street nightlife, less than a mile from the Southernmost Point, with a courtyard, a garden, and a daily breakfast. Courtney's Place Historic Cottages and Inns is a one-minute walk from Duval, with cottages that add a full kitchen and free on-site parking, which counts for more here than it sounds. The Orchid Key Inn sits on Duval itself, adults only, a three-minute walk from the Historic Lighthouse, with a heated pool and a daily happy hour. All three carry booking cards in the list above.
The full rundown, the oceanfront resorts and the marina side of Stock Island included, lives in our guide to where to stay in Key West.
Two tracks work, and Key West splits them unusually cleanly, because the listings do the splitting for you. The all-ages track books one of the two walks: the Ghost and Mysteries route at $33 or The Ghosts of Key West at $29.99, both 90 minutes, and neither publishes an age restriction. Put dinner on Duval first and the night still ends at a sensible hour. Daylight plans live in our guide to things to do in Key West.
The adults track is written into the other two listings. The pub crawl sets a minimum age of 21 and asks for photo ID, and the trolley's page states it "may not be suitable for children under 13" and that "an adult must accompany children under 10". So a party of grown-ups has two options the walks cannot match: bar stops on the crawl, or an hour off your feet with a gravedigger doing the talking.
Meeting points sit on the individual listings rather than in one shared corner of Old Town, so read yours the day before rather than the hour of. Book earlier than feels necessary too. Evening groups here are small, and being early costs nothing, because all four compared tours cancel free up to 24 hours before start time. The one timing catch is the trolley, where confirmation can take 48 hours, so book that one further ahead than the rest.
If you are driving in, park once and stay parked. The city's Old Town Parking Garage sits at 301 Grinnell Street, at the corner of Caroline and Grinnell, with 300 spaces on a first come first serve basis, open 24 hours except during evacuations, at a $6.00 hourly rate and a $48.00 daily rate plus tax, per the City of Key West. The same page sets a height restriction of 7 feet 2 inches, which rules out a tall van, and it adds one detail worth knowing on a tour night: payment at the garage grants free access to the city bus routes for you and everyone in your vehicle, within Key West.
After dark, without exception. The Ghost and Mysteries walk, the pub crawl, and The Ghosts of Key West walk all run evening departures, and the Ghosts and Gravestones trolley runs at night. Not one of the four offers a daytime option. Lengths run from one hour on the trolley to two hours on the pub crawl, with both walks at 90 minutes. For exact clock times, the booking page for your date is the authority.
Earlier than feels necessary, and it costs nothing to be early: all four compared tours offer free cancellation up to 24 hours before start time, four out of four, a clean sweep of the table. The catch is confirmation rather than cancellation. The Ghosts and Gravestones trolley is confirmed within 48 hours subject to availability, so that is not the one to book for tonight.
Start with what the listings actually say, because only two of the four publish an age line. The Ghosts and Gravestones trolley states the tour "may not be suitable for children under 13" and that "an adult must accompany children under 10", and the same listing warns about loud noises. The pub crawl is blunter: "Minimum age is 21 years; photo ID required". The two walking routes, Ghost and Mysteries and The Ghosts of Key West, publish no age restriction at all, which is not the same as a promise that the material is gentle, so read the description for your group before you book. Strollers are welcome on both walks and on the pub crawl, per those listings.
Plan on $29.99 to $38.85 per person. As of the July 29, 2026 check on Viator, The Ghosts of Key West starts at $29.99, the pub crawl at $32.20, the Ghost and Mysteries walk at $33, and the Ghosts and Gravestones trolley tops the range at $38.85. For party math: a family of four on the $29.99 walk runs about $120 before fees, two adults on the pub crawl come to $64.40 with drinks bought at the stops rather than included, and two on the trolley come to $77.70. And if you want the crowd's verdict on the whole field, the four compared tours carry more than 3,200 reviews between them.
None of the four listings we checked publishes a weather policy, so the booking page for your date is the place to ask. What the terms do cover is a forecast changing your mind: all four compared tours are free to cancel up to 24 hours before start time, so a bad radar picture the day before costs you nothing.
Mostly no. The two compared walks are exterior storytelling, told from the lanes in front of the addresses, and the trolley never lets you out at all. The exception is the pub crawl, whose stops are bars: its own listing describes them as two haunted mansions and a repurposed morgue. The City Cemetery is the case people ask about, and the answer is a clock. The city lists the cemetery's hours as 7 a.m. to sunset, daily, per its cemetery page, so an after-dark route works the fence line rather than the grounds, and the free self-guided map at the front entrance is a daylight errand.
It is often ranked among the most haunted cities in the country, and the density is the striking part: a famous haunted doll inside an unfinished Civil War fort, a bar built over a morgue, a lighthouse district with stories of its own, and a nineteen-acre cemetery that exists because a hurricane in 1846 unearthed the burying ground before it. All of it inside one walkable old town.
A century-old doll with a reputation for punishing disrespect, and the island's best-known paranormal story. He now sits in Fort East Martello, which the Key West Art and Historical Society opened as its first museum in 1950 inside a fort the Army began in 1862 and abandoned unfinished, per the Society's own history of the fort. Several tours cover where he lived and what visitors report after meeting him; the details are better heard on the street at night.
Two share it. The Ghost and Mysteries walk and the pub crawl both hold 4.5 stars, across 1,117 and 605 reviews. The deepest record belongs to the Ghosts and Gravestones trolley at 4.4 across 1,361, the most reviewed of the four and the most expensive. The lowest number gets printed too: The Ghosts of Key West sits at 4.3 across 139 reviews, and it is still the cheapest way onto this material.
The review record says yes, without a standout. The four compared tours sit in a narrow band, 4.3 to 4.5 stars, and carry more than 3,200 reviews between them, so nothing here is a gamble and nothing here is a landslide. That makes format the deciding factor rather than brand: pick the classic walk, the seat on the trolley, the bar route, or the cheapest walk, and let the island do the rest.
Read our ranked list of the best ghost tours in Key West, then browse haunted Key West, things to do in Key West, and where to stay in Key West, or see everything we cover in Florida.
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