In the game
Rockstar hasn’t shown Bahia Honda, and nothing official points at it, so read this page as a travel idea. What the trailers do show is a Keys built out of bridges and water, with an old bridge running alongside the new one in the Seven Mile Bridge shot. The Leonida Keys look like they draw on the whole real chain, and if there’s a beach in the Lower Keys with an old bridge hanging over it, it’s this one.
Bahia Honda is the image that comes up when you search for a Florida Keys beach, and its broken bridge is the most distinctive silhouette south of Marathon. If the game’s beaches take anything from real places, this is on the mood board.
The real place
Bahia Honda is Spanish for deep bay, and the channel here is the deepest in the Keys, which is why Flagler’s engineers had to build a heavy steel truss bridge across it in 1912 rather than the concrete arches used elsewhere. When the railroad died, the road was laid on top of the trusses, an alarming arrangement that carried traffic until 1972. Sections were cut out of it after that, and what’s left stands over the beach like a ruin.
The park, on the island underneath, has three beaches: Calusa, on the bayside under the bridge, small and calm; Sandspur, on the ocean side, long and wild; and Loggerhead in between. The sand is natural, which in the Keys is rare (most beaches down here are trucked in). The detail a GTA fan will recognize is the view from the top of the old bridge, which you can walk up: the beach, the bridge, the two blues of water, the highway curving away. Frame it and it’s a loading screen.
Go there
Get there early. The park has a cap and closes the gate when the lots fill, which on winter weekends can be by mid-morning. Walk up the old bridge first, while it’s cool. Then swim at Calusa if it’s calm or Sandspur if you want space, and rent a kayak at the concession to paddle under the trusses.
The park runs snorkel trips to Looe Key, one of the best reefs in the Keys, from its marina in season; book ahead. There’s a small cafe by the marina, but bring your own food for a real lunch.
Big Pine Key, next door, is worth an hour: the National Key Deer Refuge protects a dog-sized subspecies of deer that wanders the roads, and the Blue Hole is an old quarry with gators in it. No Name Pub, hidden at the end of a back road, is a Keys institution with the ceiling papered in dollar bills.
One honest warning: sargassum. In some months, especially spring and summer, seaweed piles up on the ocean-side beaches and smells like it. Check recent photos before promising anyone a perfect beach day.
Nearby
- Seven Mile Bridge: ten minutes north; two of Flagler’s bridges in one afternoon.
- Key West and Duval Street: 45 minutes south, and this is the beach day to have before the bar night.
- The Overseas Highway: the park sits right on the road; you can’t miss the bridge from the car.
Updated September 12, 2026. Spotted an error? Tell us.