Can You Smoke in Key West? Beaches, Bars, and Vaping

Yes, you can smoke in Key West in plenty of places, but the map is narrower than most visitors expect. Outdoor smoking is legal on public streets and sidewalks, including all of Duval Street. It is banned on every city-owned and county-owned beach and park. Indoors, Florida’s Clean Indoor Air Act shuts down smoking in nearly every enclosed workplace, with a real-world exception for stand-alone bars that matters more in Key West than almost anywhere else in the state.

Streets, Sidewalks, and Duval

Florida law reserves most smoking regulation to the state and lets local governments add outdoor restrictions only on public beaches and public parks they own.¹ Everything else outdoors stays under state control, and the state has not banned outdoor smoking on streets or sidewalks.

So walking down Duval with a lit cigarette is legal. Sitting on a public bench and smoking is legal. Standing on any sidewalk in the city and smoking is legal. The beach-and-park bans get most of the attention, and a lot of visitors assume they cover all outdoor space. They don’t.

Beaches and Parks Are Off-Limits

Key West prohibits smoking and vaping on all city-owned beaches and parks under Chapter 26 of its Code of Ordinances, covering cigarettes, pipes, vaping devices, and other lighted tobacco products.² Monroe County has a parallel ban on its own parks and beaches, with fines of up to $100 for a first violation and up to $500 for later ones.³ Between the two, essentially every public beach and park around Key West is a no-smoking zone.

Unfiltered Cigars Are Different

State law expressly blocks local governments from banning unfiltered cigars on beaches and parks, even where every other tobacco product is prohibited.¹ Monroe County’s ordinance mirrors this by carving unfiltered cigars out of its ban.³ A filtered cigarillo on the sand can get you fined; a traditional unfiltered cigar is protected.

Fort Zachary Taylor

Fort Zach is a state park, not a city or county park, so the local beach bans do not reach it. Florida’s state park system permits smoking in outdoor areas that are not specifically posted as no-smoking zones.⁴ That makes it one of the few beaches in Key West where a cigarette is legal, provided you are not in a signed restricted area.

Indoors: Almost Everywhere Is No-Smoking

The Florida Clean Indoor Air Act makes it illegal to smoke or vape in any enclosed indoor workplace.⁵ Restaurants, shops, offices, government buildings, hotel lobbies, and almost every other indoor space a visitor walks into fall under that ban.

The statutory exceptions are narrow:⁶

Stand-alone bars where food is no more than 10 percent of gross revenue.
Guest rooms a hotel has specifically designated for smoking.
Retail tobacco and vape shops.
Airport customs smoking rooms.

Bars: The One Indoor Exception That Matters Here

A bar qualifies for the indoor smoking exemption only if it is licensed premises devoted predominantly to serving alcohol, with food sales making up no more than 10 percent of gross revenue.⁷ That threshold is strict, and plenty of bars that serve food don’t meet it.

A rough rule of thumb: if the place has a full food menu, smoking inside is probably prohibited. Drinks-only spots and bars that stick to minimal snacks may qualify. If you are not sure, ask the bartender before lighting up.

Hotels and Vacation Rentals

Hotels may designate individual guest rooms as smoking rooms, and smoking is legal in those rooms.⁶ Most Key West hotels are entirely non-smoking now, so designated smoking rooms are hard to find. Smoke in a non-smoking room and the hotel can charge a cleaning fee under your reservation agreement and remove you from the property under state lodging law.⁸

Vacation rentals are private residences and fall outside the Clean Indoor Air Act. Whether you can smoke in a condo or house you have rented depends entirely on the owner’s rules and your rental agreement.

Vaping

Florida treats vaping the same as smoking indoors. The Clean Indoor Air Act specifically covers “vapor-generating electronic devices,” so vaping is banned in all the same enclosed workplaces and under all the same exceptions.⁵ Key West’s beach and park ordinances explicitly include vaping too.² You must be 21 to buy tobacco or vaping products in Florida.⁹

Marijuana Is Not Included

Recreational marijuana is illegal throughout Florida, Key West included. Under state law, possessing up to 20 grams of cannabis is a first-degree misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in jail and a fine of up to $1,000.¹⁰¹¹

In 2015, Key West made possession of under 20 grams a noncriminal civil offense at the local level, carrying a $100 fine instead of arrest.¹² This is enforcement discretion, not legalization. A Key West officer can still charge you under state law, and any amount over 20 grams is a felony.

Florida’s medical marijuana program allows qualified patients to use cannabis, including in smokable form when a physician authorizes it. Public consumption of smokable medical marijuana is still a first-degree misdemeanor, and the prohibited locations include any public place, public transportation, vehicles, boats, aircraft, schools, and workplaces where the employer has not permitted it.¹³ A medical card does not let you smoke cannabis on Duval, on the beach, or in a rental car.

1
Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 386.209 – Regulation of Smoking Preempted to State
2
City of Key West, FL. Ordinance Amending Chapter 26 – Prohibiting Smoking and Vaping on Beaches and Parks
3
Monroe County, FL. Code of Ordinances Chapter 18 – Parks and Recreation – Section 18-4
4
Florida State Parks. Frequently Asked Questions
5
The 2025 Florida Statutes. Florida Statutes 386.204 – Prohibition
6
The 2025 Florida Statutes. Florida Statutes 386.2045 – Exceptions
7
The 2025 Florida Statutes. Florida Statutes 386.203 – Definitions
8
Florida Legislature. Florida Statutes 509.141 – Refusal of Admission and Ejection of Undesirable Guests
9
The 2025 Florida Statutes. Florida Statutes 569.31 – Definitions
10
The 2025 Florida Statutes. Florida Statutes 775.082 – Penalties
11
The 2025 Florida Statutes. Florida Statutes 775.083 – Fines
12
City of Key West, FL. Ordinance Amending Chapter 42 – Civil Penalties for Possession of Cannabis
13
Florida House of Representatives. Florida Statutes 381.986 – Medical Use of Marijuana