has anyone stayed at Tropical Reef Resort in Islamorada. If you have please give me some feedback. We want to be on the ocean side of the keys in or near Islamorada without going any further south that mm 82 or so. We do not need fancy and prefer a kitchen to cook for lunch and breakfast and when we catch fish.

I have discounted Coconut Cove, Pelican Reef, Ragged Edge, and Star of the Sea as well as Breezy Palms for one reason or another. We want to fish and snorkle and will be bringing two kayaks to do both on a budget restricted trip first of May for 4-5 days. We have stayed at Chesapeake Resort before and loved it, but their rates have gone way up and we are $$ limited this trip. Any suggestions???

Thanks for your help!!

Since you're not looking for fancy, you're in luck. We stayed there 4 years ago and can't say we were overly impressed - like not at all. The kitchens were shared between 2 sets of rooms, the rooms themselves were kinda meager, and the hotel on the shoddy side. They were nice people, but unless they have done some renovations, I wouldn't go back.

Fish, Try the Cheeca Lodge or the Moorings. Both are nice properties.

I'm guessing that both Cheeca and the Moorings are also out of your price range. I drove by White Gate Court recently, couldn't really tell what it was like from the road, but I think they are reasonable and have gotten decent reviews from others. We tried to book there, but they didn't have availability.

Thanks for your help. The Moorings and
Cheeca Lodge are both out of our price range.
To the person who did stay at Tropical Reef, must all the villas share a kitchen? I know they have some rooms that connect if you want larger accomodations, but nothing was mentioned about sharing a kitchen. Is it clean? Is the beach decent for the keys? The location is good and the price is definitely right for us. Please let me know if you can.
Thanks again

I would call the place direct and see what room they are giving you. Also ask if the beach is a swimmimg beach or just something you can lay out on. Most motel beaches in that area are not swimming beaches.

How do you pronounce Islamorada?

Islamorada

eye - la - more - ah - da

I spent 2 hours in Worldwide Sportsman is Islamorada.


Islamorada.

(in my best schoolgirl spelling bee voice)

What I remember about the room is that it was small with a double or queen size bed, but the kitchen adjoined to the room beside us. Luckily there wasn't anybody renting that room so we had the kitchen to ourselves. The rooms were adequate and as clean as can be expected, nothing outstanding, but also nothing to make your skin crawl. It had a covered porch to sit out on, but most (if not all) the rooms aren't on the ocean, so there really wasn't much to watch. The beach was not big at all and not much sand on it. Just kind of ok, but at least it WAS a beach which is hard to find in the Keys. Are you stuck on Islamorada or do you particularly care where you land? We just got back from Key Largo on Saturday and of course it was wonderful!

If you have any more questions, feel free to e-mail me. I'd like to hear from you when you get back anyway, to see what you think of the hotel.

Thanks Karen!