Where have you stayed in Key West? Like? Dislike?

[Beastlover]

DH and I have our 15 wedding anniversary in Oct. We will be at WDW with our friends and our kids before that, and when they leave to go home, we will stay in FL for 4 extra days alone!!

I am looking for a nice place to stay for 3 of those nites, as our last nite we are staying at the Contemp/Tower room, before we take off on the 25th. I want to be on/close to the beach but yet be able to walk to Duval St. for the shops/entertainment.

I have found LaMer and Dewey house, which look very neat. Anybody have experience here, or anywhere else??

Do tell!!

 

[tkd lisa]

Never stayed in Key West, but wanted to point you to a reference. There's a regular over on the cruise board who is a native Conch (born and raised in Key West). Her name is Shirley Nelson Brown, and she runs The Perfect Gift, who provide gift baskets to the DCL ships. She is always willing to provide Key West info. Her user name is snelsonbrown. If you send her a stamped, self addressed envelope she has a packet of info she'll send.

Have a great trip.

 

[vernon]

I stayed here http://marriott.com/property/propertyPage.mi?marshaCode=EYWCK in December last year. It's right by the beach (just across the street) and they run a free shuttle bus into the main restaurant and bar areas (about 2 miles away).

I think you may find it difficult to get both beach and restaurants in walking distance so you may have to compromise a little. One thing that's worth remembering is that parking is very limited near Duval, most of the hotels would charge for it. Where as if you stay nearer the beach like the Courtyard parking is free and you can use their free shuttle when you want to go in to eat/drink. It had a great pool area as well.

Personally I'd rather travel a little into the "active" party area and know when I go back to my quieter hotel area I'm not going to have my sleep disturbed by people who can stay up a little later than me partying, but I can see the attraction of being able to stumble home to bed LOL . I got the hotel through hotwire.com so it was "pot luck" on the hotel, but it is a very nice all suite hotel. The unit we had was a one bedroom, which had a huge kingsize bed in a separate bedroom and a livingroom with a pull out sofabed.

 

[Bob NC]

We stayed here......
Ocean Key House

The address is Zero Duval Street. Right on the water with Sunset Pier, (Bar & Restaurant on the pier). It's right next to Mallory Square and in the middle of everything.

 

[coach4448]

One of my favorites in Key West is the Marquesa Hotel & Café Marquesa. The rooms there are great, we usually get the poolside standard, but have also stayed in one of the deluxe rooms which have a living area.

They are located one block off Duval. I've never found a problem with noise there. The cafe is wonderful, but a bit pricey.
I think the location is great. Can walk to most everywhere. They also offer free parking, which is a plus in Key West!

The other place we have stayed is the Ocean Key Resort. The Caribbean/Junior Suites are nice. I would ask for a ocean view balcony.

The best "beach" area, in our opinion, was at Fort Zachary (not even a 5 minute bike ride from the hotel). To us, Smathers, Higg and Dog Beaches were just "ok", nothing spectacular and we did not stay there for more than a couple of hours total. Key West doesn't have great beaches.

 

[Peter Pirate]

From someone who lives in the Keys I can say that accomodations vary greatly and many are nice in different ways.

Of the places mentioned so far, I think the Marquesa is the most unique (but it's not on the water if that's important to you).

I personally would stay at the Pier House.

 

[mickeyboat]

There is a cruise board regular snelsonbrown who is originally from Key West. She has Key West information packets that I bet she would share with you. Send her a PM.

Denae

 

[daannzzz]

I stayed at the Sheraton Suites which is right across the street from a nice tropical beach(Smathers Beach?). The hotel was decent and the suite was nice sized. It had a bedroom with a king bed, a large bathroom with a jacuzzi tub and a living room with a TV, table, microwave and minibar. I also had a balconey overlooking the pool. I had a very nice dinner in the deserted restaurant.The drawback of the Sheraton Suites is also part of its asset. The beautiful beach that it is across the street from is quite a ways from Duval street where all the action is. If you don't mind taking the Sheraton Shuttle or driving over there than you might like it. Since I am not the type to lay on the beach or at the pool, my next trip I will try something closer to Duval St.

 

[Beastlover]

Hi everyone!! I have been at work all day, and I don't post while there. Anyway, I have been checking in all day, and I am taking your suggestions, and checking out these other places!!
Thanks for the info!!

 

[adamak]

I was very disappointed with my Key West 2 years ago. The B&B we stayed at is OK, I think it's Heron House. Very friendly. However, the temp was record breaking low that week and every water activitie was shut down. And there is really nothing else to do. The stores were all the same, selling the same T shirt, like strip mall. The food is OK, and there were just too many drunk frat boys around. Beaches were not pretty. Highly overrated.

Probably just me. I'm sure you'll have a much better time with nicer weather.

 

[luvflorida]

We spent a week in Key West a few years ago. I can't remember the name of the place we stayed at, but I could probably find it somewhere. It was actually a condo/townhouse type of place, living room, dining room, kitchen downstairs, two bedrooms, two bathrooms upstairs. There was a private deck with a hot tub right off the living room, and a small balcony off the master bedroom upstairs. It was very nicely decorated with a lot of paintings of Key West on the walls, and they were for sale if you really had to have one.

We were right off DuVal Street, (opposite end from Mallory Square), and enjoyed walking the length of DuVal Street. We absolutely loved Key West! However, we didn't go there for the beaches. Key West isn't really known for their beaches, and we knew that ahead of time. Although, there was a program on the travel channel last week and they listed the top ten beaches in Florida and Smathers Beach in Key West was one of them. Well, we couldn't really see the appeal.

We had a good time eating at the many restaurants in Key West and visiting the Hemingway House, Mallory Square, and taking a cattamaran to Garden Key.