The Marquesa Hotel
Four 1880s Bahamian-style cottages around a courtyard pool — 27 adults-only rooms in Old Town.
The Marquesa is four restored 1880s Bahamian-style cottages clustered around a courtyard pool in Old Town Key West, run as a 27-room adults-only hotel. White-clapboard porches, gingerbread trim, palms and bougainvillea in the courtyard, and a Caribbean Bistro on the property that's one of the longer-running serious restaurants in town. It's the rare Key West property that combines Old Town location with the kind of small-scale operation the larger waterfront resorts don't offer.
Key West is densely populated with conch-house B&Bs and a handful of larger waterfront hotels. The Marquesa sits in the small middle: more polished than the average B&B, more intimate than the resorts, and consistently in the local "best of" rotation for both rooms and food.
The setting
On Fleming Street in the heart of Old Town Key West, four blocks from Duval Street and three from Mallory Square. The walk to the Hemingway House, the Audubon House gardens, and the rest of the Old Town historic district is short. The beach at Higgs and Smathers is a ten-minute taxi or fifteen minutes by bicycle.
Old Town's character is the destination. Cars are mostly nuisance; bicycles and walking are how the locals move.
The building
Four restored Bahamian-clapboard cottages from the 1880s, painted in the muted historic-district palette, arranged around two courtyard pools. The renovation work has kept the period bones intact: original wood floors, period millwork, gingerbread trim on the porches, brass and velvet in the public-space interiors. The aesthetic is Neo-Victoriana with refined-Americana coastal overlays.
The compound feels considered — a property that's been carefully tended for several decades.
The rooms
Twenty-seven rooms across the four cottages. Categories climb from compact rooms (around $545 in season) up through suites with private patios opening onto the courtyards. Beds are kings, linens are heavy, bathrooms are full marble in the upper categories. Several rooms have private courtyard or pool views; some are tucked into the rear of the cottages for quieter sleep.
The hotel is adults-only — 18+.
Food & drink
Café Marquesa is on the property — contemporary Caribbean-American, regional fish, a serious wine list, open to non-guests. The restaurant has been operating since the 1980s and is a Key West dining institution. Reservations recommended in season.
On the property
A small adults-only compound with the right amenities.
- Two courtyard swimming pools
- Café Marquesa restaurant
- Concierge for charter boats and reservations
- Bicycles for guest use
- Adults-only (18+)
- Open year-round
Who it's for
- Couples doing a Key West weekend who'd rather have a courtyard than a beach
- Travelers who want walking distance to Old Town's bars, galleries, and historic houses
- Diners — Café Marquesa is the property's other main draw
- Repeat Key West visitors who've outgrown the conch-house B&Bs
Who it's not for
- Families with children — the hotel is adults-only
- Travelers who want beach-front rooms (Higgs Beach is ten minutes away)
- Anyone seeking a large resort with multiple bars and pools
Nearby
Walk three minutes to Duval Street's bars and shops. The Hemingway Home and Museum is six blocks east; the Audubon House and Tropical Gardens are five minutes' walk. Mallory Square — the sunset celebration at the western tip of Key West — is three blocks. The Truman Little White House is similar distance. For boats, the snorkel-and-sail charters leave from the harbor at Mallory and Caroline. Fort Zachary Taylor State Park (the swimming beach with the deeper water) is a fifteen-minute walk. For a longer day, Dry Tortugas National Park is a ferry from Key West Bight; Bahia Honda State Park is forty minutes north on the Overseas Highway.
