Anne's Beach
The verdict on Anne's Beach
- Who it suitsFamilies with small children and travellers who want a free, natural picnic stop with a mangrove boardwalk and gentle shallow water, rather than a wide swimming beach.
- Best spotA covered pavilion along the boardwalk for the picnic and shade, with the shallow flats out front for the children to wade and explore.
- One thing to knowThe water is very shallow and there are no shops or rentals, so come for a wade and a picnic and bring your own food, water and shade.
Published 5 June 2026. Last reviewed 5 June 2026
Anne's Beach is the kind of place that wins you over for what it is rather than what the brochures promise. It is a small free park on the ocean side of Islamorada, at mile marker 73.5 on Lower Matecumbe Key, and its charm is the mangrove boardwalk and the gentle shallow water rather than a wide sweep of sand. If you are driving the Keys and want a real, unfussy stop with the children, a picnic and a paddle, this is one of the best free pull offs on the whole highway.
The setting is the draw. A long boardwalk threads through the mangroves and coastal forest, linking the two parking lots and passing a string of covered pavilions with picnic tables, so you can claim a shaded spot, lay out lunch and step down to the water whenever you like. The water itself is warm and very shallow, the kind of calm flats where small children can wade and hunt for little fish and crabs in safety, which is exactly why families return to it. It feels natural and local rather than built up or commercial.
Be honest about the limits before you go. This is not a swimming beach in the deep sense, as the flats stay shallow a long way out and there is grass and soft mud in places, so water shoes help and you set your sights on a wade rather than a long swim. There are no shops, rentals or food on site, just restrooms and the pavilions, so bring your own water, food and shade. Seaweed can gather along the calm shoreline through the warm months, which is natural, so the dry season is cleanest.
Come to Anne's Beach for a free natural picnic and a gentle family wade in Islamorada. For a fuller family park nearby with a beach, a pool and a marina see Founders Park, for the best free town beach down the chain see Sombrero Beach in Marathon, and for the one great natural beach in the Keys see Bahia Honda State Park. For verified day options use our Florida Keys beach clubs directory.
Facilities at Anne's Beach
Anne's Beach has no beach clubs, rentals or food concessions, just the free park facilities, and we never invent venues, prices or status. It is a bring your own picnic beach, so anything beyond the boardwalk, pavilions and restrooms we list as to be confirmed or not present. For verified day options with service and rentals, use the Florida Keys beach clubs directory.
Boardwalk picnic pavilions
Covered pavilions with picnic tables line the boardwalk through the mangroves, free to use and a lovely shaded base for a family lunch by the water. They can fill on busy weekends and cannot be reserved, so arrive earlier to claim one, and we keep any changing details as to be confirmed.
Kayak and paddleboard launch
The calm shallow flats make a gentle launch for a kayak or paddleboard you bring yourself, with no on site rental, so plan to carry your own gear or hire it elsewhere in Islamorada. Operators and rates vary, so we list them as to be confirmed and point you to verified options rather than inventing any.
Anne's Beach, Islamorada, Florida Keys
Anne's Beach sits on the ocean side of the Overseas Highway at mile marker 73.5, on the southern end of Lower Matecumbe Key in Islamorada, in the Upper Keys. There are two small roadside parking lots, one at each end of the boardwalk, and they fill on busy weekends and holidays, so arrive earlier for a space and take care turning in and out on the highway. It is an easy, well signed stop on the drive between the mainland and the Lower Keys.
Pack as if there is nothing on site, because there is not, so bring your own water, food for the picnic, and shade, though the mangroves and pavilions give some natural cover. Water shoes help over the grass and soft mud in the shallows, and reef safe sunscreen and bug spray are both worth having near the mangroves. Keep a close watch on children in the shallow flats as there is no reliable lifeguard, and treat the calm and clarity as typical rather than guaranteed.
Plan a beach day near Anne's Beach
Send your details and we will help arrange a beach day, a paddle or a family outing near Anne's Beach and around Islamorada. We confirm current rates and availability with the operator before you commit. Nothing is charged here.
Anne's Beach FAQ
Is Anne's Beach worth stopping at in Islamorada?
Yes, it is one of the best free stops on the drive through Islamorada, a small natural beach with a mangrove boardwalk, picnic pavilions and shallow warm water that suits families and a relaxed lunch. It is not a wide swimming beach and the water is very shallow, so set your expectations for a gentle wade and a picnic rather than a long swim, and it does its job beautifully on those terms.
Is Anne's Beach free?
Yes, Anne's Beach is a free public park, open from sunrise to sunset, with two small parking lots and no entry fee, which makes it one of the best value beach stops in the Upper Keys. There are no rental concessions or staffed facilities beyond restrooms and the boardwalk pavilions, so bring what you need for the day, and treat it as a natural picnic beach rather than a serviced one.
Can you swim at Anne's Beach?
You can wade and float in the very shallow warm water, which is gentle and well suited to small children, but it is not a deep swimming beach, as the flats stay shallow a long way out and there is grass and soft mud in places. Water shoes help, the calm is typical rather than promised, and with no reliable lifeguard you should keep a close watch on children at all times.
What facilities are at Anne's Beach?
Anne's Beach has two parking lots linked by a long boardwalk through the mangroves, with several covered pavilions and picnic tables along the way and restroom facilities. There are no shops, rentals or food on site, so bring your own water, food and shade. The boardwalk and pavilions make it a lovely spot for a picnic in the coastal forest, with current details best confirmed locally.
Where is Anne's Beach?
Anne's Beach is at mile marker 73.5 on the ocean side of the Overseas Highway, on the southern end of Lower Matecumbe Key in Islamorada, in the Upper Florida Keys. There are two roadside parking lots, one at each end of the boardwalk, which fill on busy weekends, so arrive earlier for a space. It is an easy stop on the drive between the mainland and the Lower Keys.
Does Anne's Beach get seaweed?
It can, like all the ocean side beaches in the Keys, with sargassum drifting in mainly through the warm months, and because the water is so shallow and calm the weed can linger along the shoreline. This is natural and beyond anyone's control. The dry winter season tends to be the cleanest, and the mangrove setting and picnic pavilions are a draw whatever the shoreline is doing on the day.