VacationSelector
The beach with its parasols and the boardwalk, Bethany Beach
Bethany BeachThe beach with its parasols and the boardwalk
Painted wooden houses under palms in Key West, Key West
Key WestPainted wooden houses under palms in Key West

Photos: Bethany Beach by Doug Olson, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Key West by Dominik Gryzbon, Pexels License.

Bethany Beach or Key West?

Our verdict in twelve categories, each scored against the same fixed benchmark cities, and the climate month by month, so you can choose for your trip.

Choose Bethany Beach for

  • families
  • day trips
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Bethany Beach’s own page.

Choose Key West for

  • nightlife
  • culture and sights
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Key West’s own page.

Scoreboard

Twelve categories on one fixed scale from 0 to 100. The shaded stretch is the gap between the two.

Beaches & swimming. Bethany Beach 72, Key West 60: Bethany Beach leads by 12 points.
Food & drink. Bethany Beach 35, Key West 45: Key West leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. Bethany Beach 10, Key West 40: Key West leads by 30 points.
Nightlife. Bethany Beach 12, Key West 62: Key West leads by 50 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bethany Beach 48, Key West 62: Key West leads by 14 points.
Day trips. Bethany Beach 45, Key West 28: Bethany Beach leads by 17 points.
Good for families. Bethany Beach 66, Key West 40: Bethany Beach leads by 26 points.
Getting around. Bethany Beach 33, Key West 62: Key West leads by 29 points.
Shopping & style. Bethany Beach 28, Key West 30: Key West leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Bethany Beach 30, Key West 15: Bethany Beach leads by 15 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bethany Beach 14, Key West 38: Key West leads by 24 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bethany Beach 33, Key West 40: Key West leads by 7 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Bethany Beach and Key West.

Your match

Pick a travel style or drag the sliders, and both match scores follow your weighting.

Bethany Beach
36match

Wins on families and day trips with your weighting.

Key West
Best match
44match

Wins on nightlife and culture and sights with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Bethany Beach in July

31 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
95 mmrain in the month
23 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Key West in July

32 °Cdaytime high
27 °Cnight-time low
84 mmrain in the month
30 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150JFMAMJJASOND
Bethany BeachKey West

Where the figures come from

Bethany Beach's temperatures are measured 45 km from the centre, at Salisbury / Quail Ridge.

Bethany Beach has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Key West's temperatures are measured 69 km from the centre, at Key West Airport.

Key West has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bethany Beach: 1991-2020 normals, Salisbury / Quail Ridge (44.9 km from centre). Key West: 1991-2020 normals, Key West Airport (69.1 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBethany BeachKey West
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC-5, UTC-4 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation3 m4 m
Main airportSalisbury Ocean City Wicomico Regional Airport (SBY)45 km from centre4 non-stop destinationsKey West International Airport (EYW)2 km from centre24 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days11 days

By the numbers

MeasureBethany BeachKey West
City population95426,444
People per km²3181,407
Museums within 10 km07
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C3 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Bethany Beach or Key West somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Structured data from Wikidata (CC0). Weather data by Meteostat. Meteorological data provided by NOAA, DWD and others. Rainfall where no rain gauge is within 25 km is from the TerraClimate 1991-2020 climatology (Abatzoglou et al. 2018, Scientific Data), read at the city. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. Non-stop route lists from the "Airlines and destinations" tables on English Wikipedia airport articles, by Wikipedia contributors, reused under CC BY-SA 4.0. Currency from the ISO 4217 register maintained by SIX, cross-checked against country data from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Price level from World Bank open data (PPP conversion factor for private consumption and official exchange rate), CC BY 4.0. Time zones from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0); clock offsets computed from the IANA time zone database. Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm.

Category scores are our editorial verdict under rubric v3, each placed against the same fixed benchmark cities; the climate figures are measured. How the scores are set. Snapshot generated 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.