The Gardens Hotel ★★★★

An Acre of Botanical Garden, One Block Off Duval

Key West has two registers. One is Duval Street after dark, loud and unembarrassed. The other is the lane one block over, where frame houses sit behind picket fences and the light arrives through poinciana rather than neon. The Gardens Hotel belongs firmly to the second. It holds the corner of Angela and Simonton, on ground that was once the largest private estate on the island, where Peggy Mills spent decades assembling a botanical garden of tropical species across more than an acre. The house, the outbuildings and the planting are all still standing. The hotel was built into the garden rather than on top of it.

Why It Works

What decided it was the plan of the place. Rooms are not stacked in a block, they are distributed through the grounds, in the old mansion, along the courtyard fountains, above the pool in the carriage house, and one of them lifted into the canopy. You walk through planting to get to bed. Add a breakfast that comes with the room, a self serve wine gallery in place of a bar queue, parking on site where that is close to a luxury, and a sixteen and over policy that keeps the evenings the way the garden wants them. Condé Nast Traveler has placed it among its top small hotels, and the reason is legible on arrival.

Why This Location

Angela Street sits one block from Duval, which is exactly the right distance: everything is walkable, nothing is audible. Old Town spreads out from the door, with the Hemingway Home and its cats a few streets west, the Key West Lighthouse across from it, Mallory Square and its sunset crowd a short walk north and the Southernmost Point marker a similar walk south. Bahama Village and its kitchens lie just behind. The car can stay parked for the whole stay, which is the point of sleeping in Old Town.

Fast Facts

• Price: Premium

• Vibe: Botanical, hidden, adult, tropical Old Town

• Rooms: Historic rooms in the Peggy Mills mansion, garden and courtyard rooms with verandahs, a treetop room, and the carriage house above the pool

• Best For: Couples, honeymooners, travellers who want Key West at low volume

• Our Favorite Thing About the Hotel: The treetop room, the only one up in the canopy and reached by its own stair

• Dining: Complimentary breakfast each morning, and the d’vine Wine Gallery for self poured wine by the glass

• Amenities: Heated pool, more than an acre of botanical garden, private verandahs, marble bathrooms, parking on site, guests aged sixteen and over

• Attractions: Duval Street, Hemingway Home, Key West Lighthouse, Mallory Square, Bahama Village

Rooms Scattered Through the Planting

There is no single category to book here, and that is the pleasure of it. Historic rooms sit on the mansion’s second floor with queen beds and a shared balcony over the garden. Garden rooms occupy the quietest corner of the grounds, king beds, private verandahs, marble bathrooms with a deep tub. Courtyard rooms line the fountains and trade the tub for a walk in rain shower. The carriage house sits above the pool. The treetop room stands apart, a single vaulted ceiling under the canopy. Choose by how much seclusion you want rather than by floor area.

The Pool, the Wine Gallery and the Quiet

The pool is heated and sits in the middle of the planting rather than off to one side, which means shade for most of the day and no sense of being on display. The wine gallery runs on the honour of a self serve system: choose a glass, pour it, take it back out into the garden. Breakfast comes with the room. There is no restaurant, and after two days on Duval that starts to read as a feature rather than an omission, since the town’s kitchens are a short walk in any direction.

What to Know Before You Book

Come with the right expectations. This is a garden hotel made of historic buildings, so rooms differ from one another and the oldest carry the character of their age. Children under sixteen are not accommodated. Afternoon rain is real for much of the year, and the garden is at its best early and late. Reserve the parking space when you reserve the room, because Old Town has very little of it.