Key West Hotels with Ocean Views?
 

I'm looking for advice on which Key West hotels have nice ocean views and maybe a balcony. We've stayed at The Marquesa before and loved it. Thinking of pairing it with another spot that has the ocean views we're looking for and maybe an outdoor deck with restaurant. Would love any suggestions that you have. We're pretty flexible on budget since it would probably be a fairly short trip.

The Reach Resort is really nice.
http://www.reachresort.com/

Casa Marina

On the bay side, the Ocean Key Resort, the Pier House, and the Hyatt Resort and Marina. Of those three, I think the Ocean Key would be the nicest. If you opt for the Pier House, be specific about the room you request, because many face the parking lot.

Thanks for these great suggestions, everyone. Do you know if any of these have a tiny bit of beach?

Hi, thanks for providing me information about the Reach Resort.

Casa Marina and the Reach both have beaches. Casa Marina's is larger, the Reach's is the only natural beach in Key West. The beach at the Hyatt is teeny, the Ocean Key doesn't have a beach, the one at the Pier House isn't particularly large, but it's nice, and there's a restaurant next to it.

Thanks, I will definitely check these all out. Aren't some of them close to Mallory Square? I'd like to be able to walk to some restaurants if we could.


And I saw one other one that looked interesting - Southernmost on the Beach - what do you guys think of that one?

I appreciate all the help.

The "beach" is not easy or close walking to Mallory Square, but certainly doable -- at least from places like the Reach and Southernmost -- quite a long way from Casa Marina.

I'd prefer places more "in the thick of things" -- like The Pier House or the Hyatt which are right downtown and facing "the Gulf" rather than "the Ocean". But as Susan suggests, you give up a major beach there for the "convenience" of being right downtown. There are also a couple nice hotels (Westin?) on the water (not the beach) near Mallory Square, but I've always gone by and thought "those poor people thought they'd have a wonderful view and all they really do is face the huge cruise ships blocking their views".

The beach isn't a big priority, nice but not a requirement. The things I think we prioritize more are having a nice dock/pier where you can eat along the water and also being able to be close enough to walk to things.

I'd go either Hyatt or Pier House. (I find the Hyatt quieter). Walking distance to quite a number of waterfront dining experiences, and walk to virtually everything else.

Ooops, one of the topped posts made me think -- to avoid any confusion, I'm only referring to the Hyatt Resort and Marina on Front Street, not the other Hyatt timeshare places elsewhere.

Gotcha, thanks, it's all starting to make a little more sense. So are the Ocean Key Resort, the Pier House, and the Hyatt all right there together close enough to walk to things and have waterfront dining?

And Reach Resort, Casa Marina, and Southernmost are at the other end of the island?

If anyone has a link to a map of the hotels, that would be great too.

I used to have a really good map of Key West hotels, but it's apparently gone. Here's a link to another one. If you scroll over the hotel, it'll give you the name.

And to answer your question, Ocean Key is at the foot of Duval, next to it is the Pier House, and next to it is the Hyatt Resort and Marina.

Reach, Casa Marina, and other Southernmost properties are on the Atlantic at the other side of the island. I hope this link will work. I'm going to get another link to hotels...

On this map, you'll have to scroll out a little in order for the hotels on the bay side to appear. (Ocean Key Resort, Pier House, and Hyatt Resort and Marina). All these, by the way, are only steps from Mallory Square, and Ocean Key actually abuts the square.

Thank you so much, Susan. This will really help. I love the look of Ocean Key. Well, they all look pretty good!

Leaning towards Ocean Key or Pier House. I really like the location of those. Are they pretty comparable in terms of room quality and service? And do both of them have waterside dining?

The map is awesome and really helped.

Both Ocean Key and Pier House have waterside dining. Ocean Key not only has a fine dining restaurant (Hot Tin Roof), http://www.oceankey.com/key-west-restaurant.aspx
but another very popular, very casual restaurant, http://www.oceankey.com/key-west-sunset-pier.aspx

Pier House has the Harbour View Cafe (which we prefer at lunch, because for some strange reason we've always had better food and service than at night) http://www.pierhouse.com/Dining/
And the Beach Bar & Grille...very casual,and right next to the beach.

We haven't stayed at Ocean Key in quite a while, and it's undergone renovations since then, but if you could live without a beach, it'd probably be my first choice. We own timeshares at the Galleon (next door to the Hyatt) so we don't need to book rooms very often.

Let me add that all these hotels on Front Street are only steps away from LOTS of restaurants. Key West Bight is packed with them, and they're all very close to the hotels you're considering. And Duval ends at Ocean Key Resort.

I'm excited for you! Ocean Key is owned by Noble House, the group that also owns Little Palm Island, arguably one of the finest hotel/spas in the country. littlepalmisland.com If we ever win the lottery we might spend a couple of nights there :) And the Pier House is wonderful, too, especially if you can get one of their newer rooms.

I really feel guilty for completely ignoring the Westin, which is next to Ocean Key. I have no personal experience with it, other than thinking their gazpacho is the world's best. I don't hear much about the hotel other than a few complaints about cruise ships docking in front and blocking the view. In other words, I'm not a great source of info about the Westin. Well, okay, here's another thing I need to throw in. The Westin also manages the Cottages at Sunset Key, which is a luxury resort that's just 8 minutes by ferry from Key West. We've only been over there to eat dinner at Latitudes and have never seen the cottages, but years and years ago Oprah Winfrey had a big birthday bash there and brought all her friends in to celebrate with her :)http://www.westinsunsetkeycottages.com/

Whatever you decide I know you'll have fun! My travel experience has been that if someone wants to be happy, have fun, do interesting stuff, they'll do it every time! It's obvious from your inquisitive nature that you're in great shape :)

Thank you so much, Susan and everyone else for all this great info. I appreciate it so much. I'm sure I'll be back to ask about restaurants, tours, and all that good stuff. I know we'll love it no matter where we end up!

I just loved the rooms at the Hyatt, and there was a pretty decent view from the balcony. I think it was an upgraded room. We walked everywhere from there.

Thanks for that info., jayne. I really want to stay somewhere that allows us to walk everywhere.

I'm doing a separate post asking for advice on activities and providers. Would love any suggestions you guys have for those too.

It looks like we'll probably be driving down from Miami. Are there any neat stops along the way?

Good casual restaurants along the water on any of the Keys?

Also thinking we might want to do some sort of Everglades tour. Would we do that from Miami? Would love any recommendations you all have for that as well. I've read about Shark Valley - is the tram tour worth doing? Would we be likely to see some crocs?

WFIW it's nice to have an ocean view room at the Pier House but the Garden view rooms are a better value. The rooms themselves are similar but instead of overeloking the water, they overlook the garden and pool and usually several blooming plants. The lesser price makes them a better deal.

Pjk

We enjoyed a brief stop at Robbie's marina in Islamadora on the way to Key West from Miami. There were some craft/souvenir booths and shops, and you could buy food to feed the tarpon that hang out near the piers. www.robbies.com

jayne, I was just reading about Robbie's on another thread. That sounds like fun. Do they serve food for people too, or just for tarpon?

Thanks, Peter - I saw that Ocean Key is offering a $100 a day resort credit, although there may be some sort of catch.

Which ever you do...

If you stay at the Pier House, one afternoon just put on flip-flops and a wrap and walk across the street to the Tiki bar at the Ocean Key Resort and have a drink. They've started having life music and the view is nice.

If you stay at the Ocean Key, have lunch one day at the Pier House. The drinks are good but the food is better, and it's pleasant to sit just off the beach at the cafe.

Pjk

Haha, yeah, volcanogirl, they serve people food, too, appropriately at The Hungry Tarpon. We had just eaten breakfast at some recommended place along the way, so we didn't check it out. I bet would be good, though.

Thanks, jayne - good to know!

Peter, those both sound great to me. If you eat at the Pier House, can you use their beach, or is it guests only?

Thje beach is only for guests and the few people that still have social passes to the hotel. But if you have a drink at the bar or a meal theree, no one is going to hassel you about walking down to the water or around to see the grounds. And FWIW they have set aside a little bit of parking for people who drive to the hotel just to have a meal there.

Pjk

Sounds great. We'll definitely do it!

Thanks again for all the help, everyone. We ended up staying at the Ocean Key Resort, and it was wonderful! Since it was low season, they upgraded us to a beautiful suite with an ocean view and balcony, and we had a $100 per day resort credit, so that paid for most of our food and drinks. Their service was fantastic too, really friendly but not pretentious. The location was great; we could walk everywhere - we loved it!

Hi glad you enjoyed your stay at Ocean Key! I am also debating between Ocean Key and Pier House. Did you happen to walk over to PH and check it out at all? Just wondering what you thought of it. The $100/day credit is a nice bonus.

Yes, we walked over to see PH. They are right next door to each other, and we were curious to see other hotels. It looked really nice, and they have a small little sand beach there that looked nice too. It wasn't crowded when we were there. We really like that area since it's so convenient to everything. The credit offer was for low season. I think things are gearing up again with Fantasy Fest and high season coming. We would stay at OKR again in a heartbeat.

Thanks for the response, I just saw your pictures and read your review over on Trip Advisor! We have a waterfront room at Pier House already, but was thinking of switching to OKR, but the only room left with any kind of water view now is handicapped accessible (not that that is a big deal). Plus I just noticed the $100 credit is only good through Oct. and we are going in November :( I guess we will just stick with PH.

Yep, I think you get some pretty good deals going in low season. The same thing with tours. We had only six people one one of our snorkeling tours and eight people on our sunset cruise. If you get a chance to try OKR's restaurants, we really liked eating casual food and having drinks out on the Sunset Pier, and if you want fancy, Hot Tin Roof was really nice.

Yes, I'm sure we will walk over and check out the Sunset Pier and Hot Tin Roof looks really good. Glad you enjoyed your trip!

Thanks, Baron - hope you have a great time!

I just a booked a week at the Ocean Key Resort because of the balcony, ocean view and great reviews on service. We got a junior suite with balcony and ocean view for about $350.00 a night. So worth being at the end of Duval Street and Mallory Square---Can't wait to go over Thanksgiving----Good Luck