Key West overflows with interesting sights and things to do for the whole family — all within roughly a square mile of Old Town. Though in season it may seem like you're seeing more tourists than residents, it's only because they tend to congregate around Mallory Square and Duval Street, the main thoroughfare.

While you can comfortably see all of Old Town in a day, you should allow at least two, slowing down to enjoy the atmosphere. Pick up a self-guided walking tour map from the Key West Welcome Center at 3840 North Roosevelt Boulevard (305-296-4444).

Once a seedy strip, mile-long Duval Street has been transformed into a manicured tourist center of beachwear shops and boutiques. At its northern end, you'll see examples of late nineteenth-century “conch houses.” Many now sport colorful paint jobs, having been transformed into six-figure winter vacation homes.

Several of these houses are worth a closer look. Of all of them, only two actually came from the Bahamas, then were assembled in Key West. These Bahama Houses each feature mahogany window sashes, broad verandas, and beaded siding. Ship's carpenters fitted many of these houses together with wooden pegs.

One of the best examples of peg construction is the three-story Audubon House. The revitalization movement in Key West got its start with its renovation, the first of the elegant Victorian houses to be restored. Though the house has Audubon's name, he never owned it or lived there, but only painted the trees in its yard. It belonged to a wrecker, Captain John H. Geiger, and his wife, who took in orphans from shipwrecks. Today, it houses a collection of works by Audubon. Admission is $10 per adult, $5 per child.

Key West was the home of inspiration for not only Audubon, but many other artists and writers, including the town's most notable celebrity, Ernest Hemingway. The first had a passion for preservation and the second a zest for living. And it's that combination that gives Key West its unique personality. It's no wonder that the island became a favored vacation retreat of many American presidents and European royalty.

About the only place that doesn't encourage you to spend your money on Duval Street, except for its modest $5 admission (only $1 for kids), is the Wrecker's Museum. Here, you can learn about the salvaging industry from the island's early days. The museum resides in Key West's oldest conch house, built in 1829, which once belonged to Captain Watlington, a wrecker who lived there in the 1830s. Its nine rooms contain period antiques, sea artifacts, ship models, and wrecker's documents. Be sure to notice the scale model conch-style dollhouse with a mural of early Key West in the dining room. (Open daily 10 A.M.–4 P.M., 305-294-9502)

To learn more about the Cuban community in Key West, stop in at the San Carlos Institute, otherwise known as “La Casa Cuba,” several blocks up the street. The original institute, established in 1871 with a $100,000 grant from the Cuban government, became the center of Cuban exile life. Exiled Cubans brought soil from Cuba's six provinces and spread it on the grounds, and also brought the cornerstone from the tomb of José Martí, the legendary campaigner for Cuban independence.

After the break-off of diplomatic ties with Cuba in 1961, the building became a movie theater, among other things. Today, after a million-dollar restoration, it once again presents opera in its auditorium, as well as exhibits detailing Cuban life in Key West.

During the early nineteenth century, the auction houses lining Mallory Square acted as distribution centers for salvaged goods. Today, the square is the touristy heart of Key West, lined with souvenir, T-shirt, and ice cream shops.

Take some time to explore Key West's Historic District, with its 3,100 structures covering 190 blocks. The architecture of these buildings tells the entire history of the island from the early nineteenth century to the present. A fine example is the 1838 Dr. Joseph Y. Porter House on Carolina Street, with its double verandas and Bahamian and Yankee influence.

With its history of salvaging, it's no wonder that the Keys have become known for buried treasure ever since Mel Fisher discovered the Santa Margarita and the Nuestra Señora de Atocha, two seventeenth-century Spanish galleons that sank during a hurricane in 1622, 40 miles southeast of Key West. You can see some of the $20 million in bounty Fisher brought up from the deep — jewel-studded crosses, bejeweled daggers, vases, cannon, gold bars, and more than 4,000 gleaming silver coins — in Mel Fisher's Maritime Museum, housed in an old naval storehouse on Greene Street.

This same naval storehouse was originally part of the Truman Annex, formerly part of the original U.S. Naval Base. You can still see some of the buildings from the base, such as the Romanesque Revival Customs House, established in 1822 to control piracy in Key West, now the home of the Key West Museum of Art and History after a nine-year, $9 million renovation.

Using the free walking guide, follow the markers and explore the Annex for yourself. In 1986, a developer from Maine bought the 103-acre Annex at auction and has built upscale condominiums, houses, and a hotel.

The Curry House, once the home of William Curry, Florida's first millionaire, and now a luxurious bed and breakfast, shows the wealthier side of life in Key West with its solid mahogany paneling and Tiffany glass windows.

Surrounding the Key West Lighthouse are the narrow streets of the Bahama Village, a restored area of former cigar factories that's been turned into a neighborhood of restaurants, bars, and shops.

The biggest tourist draw in Key West has to be the Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum. However, tours of the house contain more fiction than fact. Even though Hemingway owned the house for 30 years, he lived there for only a third of that time with his wife Pauline.

Hemingway bought the house in 1931 for $8,000, which he received as a gift from Pauline's uncle. He took the rundown home of a nineteenth-century merchant and turned it into a luxurious retreat complete with servants and a swimming pool. Imagine Hemingway at his typewriter creating some of his most notable works, including the short story “The Snows of Kilimanjaro” and the novel For Whom the Bell Tolls.

After divorcing Pauline in 1940, he packed up his belongings and moved to Cuba with his new wife, journalist Martha Gellhorn. You'll need to take the half-hour guided tour to see the inside of the house, but you can wander through the garden on your own.

The East Martello Gallery and Museum, housed in an 1862 fortress that was built to protect the city's southern flank, is one of two Civil War lookout posts. You'll find an art gallery here, along with extensive exhibits on local history that include memorabilia from the island's sponge and cigar industries and from movies shot in Key West, including Sidney Pollack's Havana. The spiral staircase and vaulted ceilings of the fort's tower, plus the view from the top of it, make this a worthwhile visit.

The trapezoidal Fort Zachary Taylor is Key West's other Civil War post. Built in 1845 to defend what was then Florida's largest city, it has walls varying from 5 to 8 feet thick. Union forces controlled it throughout the Civil War. Today, it's a state historic site containing the largest collection of Civil War cannon in the country.

Though not your usual tourist attraction, be sure to visit the Key West Cemetery to see some of the unique tombstones. Because the island lies on a limestone bed, people have to be buried above ground in stone caskets, many of which have curious messages on them.

A grieving widow put “At Least I Know Where He's Sleeping Tonight” on her husband's tomb. Or the ultimate I-told-you-so found on another: “I Told You I Was Sick.” The most poignant, however, is the memorial to all those who died on the U.S.S. Maine, the battleship that the Spanish sunk in Havana Harbor in 1898, sparking the Spanish-American War.

For the Kids

You kids will love visiting the Key West Aquarium, built in 1934 as the first attraction in the Keys, where they can see marine life that lives in local waters — squirrel and porcupine fish and smaller sharks peer out from inside the tanks. For a great show, stop by at 11 A.M., 1, 3, and 4:30 P.M., when they feed the fish.

If you want to tire your kids out, take them to the 86-foot-tall Key West Lighthouse Museum. Built in 1848, it functioned as an active lighthouse for 121 years. After climbing the 88 steps to the observation platform and looking out over the island and ocean, they should be ready for a nap. And you probably will be, also. (Open daily, 305-294-0012)

Festivals and Seasonal Events

Give the residents of Key West an excuse to celebrate, and they'll hold a festival. There always seems to be something going on here. In addition to annual events, you'll find an art show, a house tour, or a food festival going on just about any time you visit.

• Old Island Days: From mid-January through May, the whole town celebrates the Bahamian heritage of the Keys with Bahamas Village night, sidewalk art shows, a flower show, local foods, theater performances, a conch-shell-blowing contest, house and garden tours, and more.

• Civil War Heritage Festival: Re-enactors set up camp at Fort Zachary Taylor State Park and participate in skirmishes and a mock sea battle in February.

• Hemingway Days: Held during the week around July 21, the anniversary of Hemingway's birth, this festival not only features a serious writer's workshop, short story competition, and conference, but a not-so-serious Hemingway Lookalike Contest, arm-wrestling competition, and a mock “running of the bulls.”

• Fantasy Fest: Hosted by the “Conch Republic” and culminating on Halloween, this wild Caribbean-style carnival features ten days of street fairs, costume balls, mask-making workshops, and costume competitions topped off by a wild Saturday night parade of floats and costumed dancers.

• Pirates in Paradise Festival: A November tradition in Key West, this festival features pirate-style escapades with Tall Ship Sea Battles, the Seaport Pirate Fest, children's activities, and art exhibits.

• Offshore Power Boat Race: In early to mid-November high-performance boats, drivers, and crews from around the world descend on Key West to determine the world offshore champion in four racing classes.