The Gardens Hotel

An Acre of Botanical Garden Behind an Old Town Gate

Walk south off Duval Street, turn onto Angela, and the noise stops at a gate. Behind it is the work of one woman. Peggy Mills bought the 1880s house here in 1930 and spent the next five decades turning the grounds into a botanical garden, planting orchids and tropical trees, laying brick walkways around fountains, a gazebo and a row of antique Cuban clay jars called tinajones. It became the largest private estate on the island, opened to visitors in 1968, and has been run as a hotel since the 1990s. The Bahamian-style buildings stand where they always stood. The garden, more than an acre of it, is still the reason to come.

Why It Works

Key West is a small island and most of its lodging is squeezed onto narrow lots, which is what makes this property unusual: an acre of garden for roughly twenty rooms, so the ratio of green to guest is unlike anything else in Old Town. The second reason is the register. This is a house that was lived in and gardened for fifty years before it took guests, and the detail shows in the plantings, the fountains and the shade. The third is the policy set: sixteen and over, no resort fee, breakfast made to order rather than laid out in trays. Quiet is treated as the product.

Why This Location

Angela Street meets Simonton one block back from Duval, which is the useful distance in Key West: close enough to walk to the bars and galleries in three or four minutes, far enough that the noise does not follow you home. The Hemingway Home and the Key West Lighthouse are a seven or eight minute walk west along Whitehead. Mallory Square and the sunset celebration sit about fifteen minutes north. The Southernmost Point, the beaches at Fort Zachary Taylor and the Custom House museum are all reachable on foot, and the island is flat enough that nobody needs a car. Parking is on site for those who drive down the Overseas Highway, which is rare this deep in Old Town.

Fast Facts

• Price: Luxury

• Vibe: Botanical, hushed, grown-up, heritage

• Rooms: About twenty rooms, suites and cottages across Bahamian-style buildings; some cottages have private pools

• Best For: Couples, garden and architecture travellers, repeat visitors to Key West who want quiet

• Our Favorite Thing About the Hotel: The tinajones, huge antique clay jars brought from Cuba, set along the brick paths Peggy Mills laid herself

• Dining: Made-to-order breakfast included; the d'Vine Wine Gallery and its thirty-six vintages, open in the evening; poolside bar

• Amenities: Two heated pools, over an acre of botanical garden, on-site parking, pets welcome in the cottages, guests sixteen and over only

• Attractions: Duval Street (one block), Hemingway Home and Museum (about eight minutes on foot), Key West Lighthouse (about eight minutes), Mallory Square (about fifteen minutes), Fort Zachary Taylor Historic State Park

Rooms Scattered Among the Bahamian Houses

Accommodation is spread across several buildings rather than a single block, so no two stays are quite alike. Rooms and suites run to hardwood floors, plantation beds and marble bathrooms, and most open onto a veranda or a stretch of garden. The cottages are the ones to ask about: built at the back of the property, with king or queen bedrooms and private pools, and they are the only units that take pets. The master suite is the largest, with curated artwork and the most generous bathroom. What the whole set shares is the outlook. Whichever building you land in, the garden is the view.

Wine, Piano and Sunday Jazz in the Garden

The d'Vine Wine Gallery is a self-serve wine room with thirty-six vintages, open in the evening to guests and to the public, which means the hotel keeps a small local following rather than the sealed-off feel of a resort. A pianist plays from five to seven. On Sunday afternoons the jazz moves into the garden and the gazebo earns its keep. The two heated pools stay usable through the winter, and the poolside bar covers the gap between the beach and dinner. None of it is loud. The evening here is closer to a private house that likes company than to a programme of entertainment.