The Gardens Hotel

A 17-room adults-only Bahamian-style estate on a one-acre tropical garden, two blocks off Duval Street in Old Town Key West. Built 1875 as a private home, expanded over the next century, and turned into a small hotel in the 1990s. The Gardens is one of the few Key West properties where the garden itself is the central artifact — palms, frangipani, banyan trees, and a heated pool buried in the green.

It is the rare Old Town property that's quiet at night despite being in the middle of the bar-strip neighborhood.

The setting

The hotel sits on Angela Street, two blocks south of Duval and four blocks from the Old Town's harbor and Mallory Square. The historic district — wooden 1880s Conch houses, the Hemingway House two blocks west — surrounds the property. The drive from Key West International Airport is ten minutes; from Miami, three and a half hours through the Keys.

Old Town's noise stays on Duval. The Gardens' walled garden absorbs the rest.

The building

A 1875 Bahamian-style two-story clapboard estate house with deep porches, gingerbread bargeboard, and ironwork balconies. Outbuildings — a carriage house, a poolside cottage, a guesthouse — fill out the one-acre walled garden. The interior keeps original wood floors, beadboard ceilings, and the Bahamian-period proportions. Brass and velvet in some rooms; tropical-restrained rather than themed.

The rooms

Seventeen rooms across the main mansion and outbuildings. Categories include classic estate rooms (in the 1875 house), garden cottages with private patios, and the larger suites. Beds are kings or queens; bathrooms are tile, refreshed. Many rooms have private outdoor garden access. From-rates open around $595 in season — the cottage suites run higher.

Food & drink

There's no restaurant. A continental breakfast is served in the garden each morning. Wine is served in the Tasting Room on weekends. For dinner you walk five minutes to Duval or any of the Old Town side streets: Latitudes (on Sunset Key, requires a short ferry), Blue Heaven (the historic), 7 Fish, Santiago's Bodega, Little Pearl. The hotel keeps a current short list at the desk.

On the property

A heated outdoor swimming pool buried in the garden. A small spa with massage. A wine-and-tasting room. There's no gym in the resort sense.

• Adults-only
• Heated outdoor pool in walled garden
• Continental breakfast in the garden
• Wine tasting room
• Walking distance to Duval Street, Hemingway House
• Open year-round

Who it's for

• Couples doing Key West who want a quiet base off Duval
• Travelers who'd rather a small adult-property than a family-oriented resort
• Anyone for whom a one-acre walled tropical garden is the deciding factor
• Repeat Key West visitors graduating from the Casa Marina

Who it's not for

• Families with kids — adults-only
• Travelers who want a beach-front property — Key West has no beaches at the hotel front; Smathers Beach is a ten-minute drive
• Pet owners (no pets allowed)

Nearby

Hemingway House is two blocks west on Whitehead Street. Mallory Square — the sunset celebration — is four blocks north. The Truman Little White House is around the corner. For dinner: Blue Heaven is the long-running breakfast-and-dinner pick; Santiago's Bodega is the casual tapas dinner; Latitudes via the Sunset Key ferry is the once-a-trip white-tablecloth dinner. The Key West Cemetery and the Audubon House are short walks.