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Ocean Key Resort & Spa

Located where Duval Street meets the Gulf of Mexico at Sunset Pier in Key West, this quiet hotel is adjacent to Mallory Square in historic Old Town Key West, providing guests a sanctuary, attentive service and a front row seat to the show that is the sunset. 

The deck at the LIQUID Pool-Bar-Lounge faces west, affording OKR guests guaranteed seats (with food and full bar service) while tourists and locals line up on the boardwalk below at Sunset Pier to wait for the green flash just as the sun dips below the horizon. It’s a lively crowd, tourists juggling cocktails and phones, waiting for the elusive sunset selfie, in focus and Instagram-ready. Staying at the Ocean Key puts you squarely in the frame, with the advantages of an on-site award winning restaurant (“Best Waterfront Dining, Wine Spectator’s Award of Excellence- Hot Tin Roof 2018 & 2019) and suites with balconies overlooking the Gulf.

You can also watch the sunset from your table at the Hot Tin Roof restaurant (Tennessee Williams visited Key West often) where the attentive staff will adjust the wide plantation blinds so your view is optimal and memorable. The decor is refined old Florida and the menu is all about seafood, Caribbean influences and freshness. Ask to be seated in a banquette. It’s very Hollywood. 

Book the Javanese Royal Treatment at SpaTerre (also tucked away on the property) with a Balinese massage, rice and turmeric scrub followed by a rub of warm yogurt. After a jasmine scented shower, sink onto a flower petal bath. Wander back to your room, throw open the French doors and take a nap. The guest rooms and suites have tubs (some jetted), bright decor with just the right amount of turquoise accents and private balconies.

The concierge will book sunset cruises, rental bikes, snorkel trips at the reef, guided kayak eco-tours through the mangrove islands, trips to observe wild dolphins in their natural habitat or diving on a sunken wreck.   Fishing the flats and shallows, sight fishing for permit, tarpon or bone fish, heading out to the deeper waters of the backcountry staying just inside of the reef, on the hunt for snapper, grouper or possibly even tuna is all possible. Tour the The Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum where he lived and wrote for ten years (writing 70 percent of his works) or meander through The Key West Butterfly and Nature Conservatory. 

Key West has a unique vibe, cheery Midwesterners searching for that long lost shaker of salt shopping and drinking their way down Duval Street while carefully coiffed retirees enjoy the palmy balmy weather. 

Staying at Ocean Key Resort & Spa gives you the opportunity to join the parade or sit on the sidelines to watch, making the scene your own. 

OceanKey.com

800.328.9815