Hotel with kitchenette in Keys?
 

Our family is planning a 6 day trip down through the Keys in July and are having trouble finding hotels with kitchenettes. We think this would be easier since we have two teens, boy and girl so sleeping arrangements have been tough also, we need 3 beds! We have looked at condos and they rent by the week and are mostly booked up. I would prefer middle keys as a base but am getting desperate. Any help from you knowledgeable fodorites would be great!!!!

You may want to try the Sunset Key Guest Cottages at Hilton Key West Resort.

Suggest you contact the Marathon CofC. Go to http://www.floridakeysmarathon.com . Marathon's centrally-located in the Keys. They have a visitor's center I've always found quite helpful. Tell them your requirements, and I'm sure they can give you some choices.

The City Island House in Key West has kitchens and some 2 bedroom w/ sofa bed in living room apartments. Nice location and pool.

Pines and Palms in Islamorada. Most hotel/motel/inns in Islamorada have either full kitchens or a kitchenette because it hosts so many people that are fishing.

We've stayed here and its a nice property. Only minimum 3 night stay. In the FAQ says you can sleep a maximum of 7. http://www.cocoplum.com/index.html

We just returned from a six day family vacation trip to the Keys!! We had a great time.

I also researched hotels to find a two-room set up with three beds. We finally settled on Hawk's Cay Resort for it's central location, "villa" accomodations (two bedrooms upstairs, one with a queen, one with two twins, full kitchen, living room, quite roomy), and family friendliness. This resort is designed for families and has a salt water lagoon in addition to swimming pools. Service was great. I suggest calling the hotel directly and asking for their "best rate"...and ask that again when they give you the rate--it went down the second time I asked.

The sleeping arrangements worked out well, and the unit was nicely decorated and spacious. We traveled around quite a bit (snorkeling trips, kayaking) so we didn't really cook much, but did use the fridge for breakfast foods. Kids appreciated not having to go out for breakfast. Hawk's Cay is a pretty complete resort--you could spent days just hanging out there, but the better water sport opportunities are off-site--snorkeling trips to the coral reefs and kayaking in the lower Keys.

There were other hotels/motels that I had read about with kitchenettes, but many had two queens, so didn't quite work. And many are right off the highway, so it depends on what you are looking for. I did notice Palms and Pines, and that looked nice from the street--might be worth investigating and probably less expensive than HCR. Also check out Palmer's Resort on Big Pine. I hear that is nice but not frilly. It is lower in the Keys--great for backcountry kayak trips.

We were going to the Dolphin Research Center (in Marathon) in addition to snorkeling/water activities up and down the Keys, so wanted a central location. Marathon had some good restaurants for families with teens (The Island), Sombrero Beach was lovely and close. We also drove to Key West, and it was a reasonable drive in a day.

One more note (in my opinion): I would not stay in Key West for the bulk of the time with kids, even teens. We spent one day (two would have been better, but with only six days....)and found it lovely and enjoyable but quite different from the rest of the Keys. And the feel at night is more adult-oriented.

Keys in general were beautiful, weather was fantastic...we really love Florida!

If you want to spend time in Key West, you might check out keywestinns.com. It lists lots of places that have kitchens and you can also check availability online.

You might consider The Islander in Islamorada (middle keys).

www.islanderfloridakeys.com

Thank you all for your great replys. Initially we had reserved a room in Key largo for 3 nights and a room in marathon for three nights but have since found a bungalow in Cujoe which is really a trailer park. We found it on Cyberrentals.com and was less money than the two hotels! At least with the two adult size kids we will have 2 bedrooms and be able to stretch out instead of all sleeping in the same room! I figure it will be a good base camp for our adventure. I couldnt believe how booked up and expensive condo rentals are throughout all the keys at this time of year. We do have a 3 day cruise to catch in Miami on Friday and I read a post that makes me paranoid to drive back up that day but we really have no choice. Again thanks for all your help, we leave on the 17th!! yippee!!