Key West, Florida
Ghost Tours in Key West
After dark the island changes register. Gas lamps throw long shadows down Duval, the shutters on the old conch houses stop looking quaint, and the cemetery sits quietly in the middle of town. The Key West ghost tours on this page take you through that version of the island — the one the daytime crowd never meets.
Start here
Four different ways to spend a dark evening
Almost every ghost tour in Key West falls into one of four shapes, and choosing between them matters more than choosing between operators. A trolley tour keeps you seated, covers ground a walker cannot, and includes an after-hours stop inside a museum. Walking tours are slower, closer and more atmospheric — you stand on the pavement outside the house while the story is told.
Haunted pub crawls are a genuinely different night out. The ghosts are the theme, but the format is drinking and walking between bars with a guide, and two of the three exclude under-21s outright. Then there are the indoor, ticketed experiences: a seated encounter with Robert the Doll inside a Civil War fort, and an after-hours investigation of a preserved 1907 firehouse.
The grid below is ordered so you can compare within a category rather than across all 9 at once. Where a tour has a published rating, we show it. Where it does not, we say so rather than leaving a gap you might read as a low score.
Compare
Compare the best Key West ghost tours
Work down the list by format first. If you want ground covered, take the trolley. If you want atmosphere, walk. If you want a bar in your hand, take a crawl. If you want to be indoors with the door locked behind you, take one of the two ticketed nights.
Top pickKey West Ghost Tours: Southernmost Shadows and Ghosts
Operated by US Ghost Adventures
- Hear eerie tales surrounding the historic Curry Mansion after dark.
- Discover ghostly legends tied to the mysterious Casa Antigua.
- Uncover chilling stories from the haunted Old Town Manor.
Key West: Ghosts of Key West Walking Tour
Operated by Ghost City Tours
- Visit Key West's most famous haunted locations
- Learn about Robert the Doll, and visit the spooky La Concha Hotel
- See the Hemingway House, Artist House, and more with your expert guide
The Dark Side of Key West Adults Only Walking Tour
Operated by Ghost City Tours
- Delve into the darker side of Key West's most haunted sites
- Learn about true historic events from your guide
- See the Hemingway House, the Artist House, and more
Key West Spirits & Spirits Haunted Pub Crawl
Operated by US Ghost Adventures
- Sip cocktails at Sunset Pier while ghostly shipwreck tales haunt the night.
- Hear eerie legends outside Curry Mansion Inn on this haunted pub crawl.
- Uncover haunted aviation tales at First Flight Brewery after dark tonight.
Key West: Ghost Tour at Civil War Fort with Robert the Doll
Operated by Sloan's Key West Ghost Tours
- Feel a chill run down your spine as you encounter Robert the Doll
- Explore the haunted Fort East Martello on a guided ghost tour
- Learn about the dark history of the Civil War-era citadel
Key West: Haunted Firehouse Tour and Ghost Hunt
Operated by Sloan's Key West Ghost Tours
- Feel a chill down your spine as you explore a haunted firehouse museum
- Investigate cold cases and ghostly encounters with real ghost-hunting tools
- Listen to chilling tales of tragedy and spirits on a 45-minute audio tour
Why book here
Why book Key West ghost tours here
We read every listing, check what each ticket actually includes and what each operator publishes, and put all 9 side by side so the choice takes minutes instead of an evening of open tabs.
Every operator
Every bookable tour, one page
9 ghost tours from 5 operators, compared on the same terms.
Honest ratings
Including the awkward ones
We publish the low ratings and the recurring complaints alongside the praise.
Real history
Sourced, and labelled
Our guides separate documented fact from folklore instead of blurring the two.
Flexible booking
Free cancellation
Every tour listed here can be cancelled up to 24 hours ahead for a full refund.
Off the trolley,
into the museum
The Trolley of the Doomed rolls past the island's most notorious addresses, then stops and takes you inside the Shipwreck Treasures Museum after the doors have closed.
Read before you book
Know the story before someone tells it to you badly
A ghost tour is only as good as the history underneath it, and Key West's history is genuinely strange without any embellishment at all. A hurricane really did disinter the island's graves in 1846. A radiology technician really did keep a young woman's body for seven years. The doll really does receive letters.
The pages below cover the stories the tours are built on. Every claim is marked as documented, folklore, legend, reported or disputed, so you can see which is which.
Ghosts & Gravestones Trolley
The seated option
Covers the most ground, and stops inside a museum after closing.
See the trolley tourHaunted Pub Crawls
Three compared
Which of the three crawls suits your group, your budget and your feet.
Compare the crawlsRobert the Doll Ghost Tour
Indoors, seated
A half-hour in a room with the most photographed doll in America.
See the fort tourWho Robert the Doll Is
The full story
The documented history, the letters, and the origin story that falls apart.
Read the guideHaunted Places in Key West
Twelve addresses
What actually happened at each address, and what the tours add afterwards.
Read the guideRatings
What travellers actually say
These are our summaries of the verified reviews each operator has collected, including the criticism. We do not publish guest testimonials of our own, so nothing below is a quote.
4.8
Key West: Haunted Pub Crawl Walking Tour
Operated by Ghost City Tours · rating published on GetYourGuide
The highest-rated ghost experience in Key West in any format, and the reviews are unusually consistent about why: guides who are funny as well as informed, on an evening guests describe as enjoyable rather than frightening.
Worth knowing: Nothing recurring. Set your expectations for a walking tour that visits bars rather than a bar crawl with a ghost theme, and you will get what the reviews describe.
4.3
Key West: Ghosts & Gravestones Guided Trolley Tour
Operated by Historic Tours of America · rating published on GetYourGuide
Reviewers reliably credit the double act — a costumed host working the trolley while the driver plays along — and describe the evening as entertaining rather than frightening.
Worth knowing: It is performance rather than lecture, and the audience participation is central to it. Guests who want a straight history tour are better served by one of the walking tours.
4.3
The Dark Side of Key West Adults Only Walking Tour
Operated by Ghost City Tours · rating published on GetYourGuide
Guides carry the reviews here: guests describe them as engaged, enthusiastic and thoroughly across every stop, and the true-crime framing lands with the adults-only audience it is built for.
Worth knowing: The evening is built on real criminal cases rather than jump scares. If you want to be frightened rather than unsettled, this is not the one.
4.3
Key West: Bone Island Haunted Pub Crawl
Operated by Key West Promotions Inc · rating published on GetYourGuide
Guides carry this one: guests describe them as friendly, informed and good company, and the pace leaves room for conversation along the way.
Worth knowing: The four-star reviews are the useful ones. One guest came for a pub crawl and felt they got a history lesson instead, and the same review flagged a lot of walking and noted that not all of the route was wheelchair accessible.
3.5
Key West: Ghosts of Key West Walking Tour
Operated by Ghost City Tours · rating published on GetYourGuide
Reviews here are polarised. At its best, guests rate the guiding and the depth of local history among the best they have had on a ghost tour anywhere.
Worth knowing: It is also the lowest-rated tour on this site, and the low scores are not about ghosts. The complaint is that the evening did not match the listing — in one case badly enough that a large family group left partway through. Guide quality appears to vary more here.
Four of the nine tours listed here have no published rating yet. That usually means a newer listing rather than a worse tour — we would rather tell you the score is missing than leave you to guess at a blank.
Questions
Before you book a ghost tour in Key West
If it is your first evening on the island, the Ghosts & Gravestones trolley covers the most ground and includes an after-hours stop inside a museum. If you would rather stand on the actual pavement outside the actual house, take one of the walking tours instead — they are slower, closer and considerably more atmospheric.
The trolley is seated, covers a wider circuit including the cemetery, and stops inside the Shipwreck Treasures Museum after hours. The walking tours stay in Old Town and cover roughly a mile on foot, stopping outside houses the trolley can only drive past. The trolley is not recommended for children under 13.
Most do. Several operators state plainly that the tour runs rain or shine and ask you to dress for the evening's weather. Check the individual listing before you travel in a storm, and note that every tour on this page can be cancelled up to 24 hours in advance for a full refund.
It depends entirely on the tour. The trolley tour is not recommended for under-13s and requires an adult. The two indoor experiences at the fort and the firehouse are not suitable for children under 10. Two of the three haunted pub crawls exclude under-21s outright and the third still needs ID for the bars. One walking tour welcomes children aged 0-6 free of charge.
No. All three crawls exclude food and drink from the ticket price — you buy your own as you go. Two of the three are restricted to guests aged 21 and over, and you will need photo ID to enter the bars. Ghost City Tours asks guests from outside the United States to carry a passport rather than a driving licence.
Robert lives at the Fort East Martello Museum, which is run by the Key West Art & Historical Society and open during normal museum hours. One tour on this page is built around him specifically: a guided walk through the Civil War fort followed by a seated half-hour in the room with him, with an optional investigation afterwards.
Nine tours. One island. One dark evening.
9 ghost tours, from $24, free cancellation on every one.