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Key West in the fall was an excellent choice. The weather was amazing. The drive from Miami to The Keys (in a sexy car!) was relaxing and beautiful. The food was great and the company even better.
Time with the hubs without our three young kids is rare, but we make it a point to travel kid-free a handful of times throughout the year. It’s so so good for our marriage, and part of the big reason why we still like each other after nearly 14 years of marriage. Even if you don’t like your spouse very much right now (we’ve all been there), we think you could benefit from some time together away from the kids!
Stuck on what to pack for your kid-free getaway?! Here’s a link to our favorite items to bring.
Here is what we think you’ll want to know before you plan your kid-free getaway to Key West, Florida.
ACCOMMODATION
If you are traveling to Key West without the kids, something that might be on the top of your list for accommodation is a quiet luxury hotel. We had the best experience at the quiet, luxury boutique hotel, The Perry Hotel Key West. The service was amazing, the room was comfortable, and we loved the relaxing atmosphere of the property.
The Perry Hotel is located in the Stock Island Marina Village, which is about a 10 minute drive to the main area of Key West. If you fly directly into Key West and/or don’t have a rental car, the hotel offers a complimentary shuttle bus that runs regularly to town!
The hubs and I participated in an f45 bootcamp on Saturday morning, which we loved! Yes, we are a couple that exercises while on holiday. It’s such a great way to start the day and gives you SO much energy. If you visit Key West when the bootcamp isn’t running, make sure to check out the f45 training facility. It’s located on the hotel grounds and is included with your resort fee.
Another fun thing the hotel offered was a tour and tastings at the on-site distillery, Key West Distilling. The Perry Hotel has a partnership with the distillery and serves their spirits in the hotel bars. (At the time of publishing, the distillery is closed. They are hoping to re-open soon!)
THINGS TO DO
There is such a wide variety of things to do in Key West on land and sea. There are allllll the ocean related activities like sailing, kayaking, SUP, whale watching, snorkeling, glass bottom boat tours, and SCUBA. There is lots to do on land too, like bicycle tours, exploring the National Park, museums, shopping, and so much more.
Since we were visiting without the kids, we wanted to have a super low-key weekend.
Here is what we recommend:
We think you’ll enjoy walking and/or driving the Duval Street strip. There are so many shops and restaurants on this street. This is THE place for people watching. There are people out all day and into the wee hours of the morning. Some of the bars don’t close until 4am! Maybe if we were still in our 20s, we might have been up for the 4am challenge. 4am is well past these mid-30’s bedtime, thank you very much.
A little tip if you ever want to visit Key West with your little munchkins, we do not recommend brining them in late October – Duval Street is NOT family friendly around Halloween. We saw so many things we would like to unsee. Lord, please erase these images from our brains. And Halloween men and women of Duval Street, please cover yo-selves up!
You should totally spend an afternoon at Key West’s Smather’s Beach. This soft-sand beach starts at Mile Marker 0 and is about a half a mile long. Plenty of room to spread out, if you need some time apart. 😉
White Street Pier (Edward B. Knight Pier) is fun to walk down. It’s apparently also known as the unfinished road to Cuba, which is maybe why the pier is so wide?? It was a relaxing walk with beautiful views. There were several people flying kites and fishing off the pier. I got the feeling that I was going to be apart of a flash dance mob at any minute. Sadly, my dreams of this still haven’t come true.
There are chickens/roosters everywhere! You cannot go a few minutes in Key West without seeing one.
You HAVE to visit the Southernmost Point Buoy. If you didn’t get a picture with the buoy, did you even visit Key West?! This point marks the Southernmost point in the Continental United States. It’s also a hop, skip, and a jump (aka 90 miles) to Cuba from this point! People line up all throughout the day to get a photo next to the buoy. There was a line when we went around sunset, but it moved quickly.
If you are a fan of all things key lime, visit Kermit’s Key West Key Lime Shoppe.
If you are a coffee lover, like my hubs, Cuban Coffee Queen is the place to go! They have three locations in Key West. The hubs brought several bags of coffee grounds home and is nearly to the end of his supply. I’m thinking we will need to plan another trip to Key West soon, you know, for the coffee. Yes, they have an online shop and ship their coffee, but we don’t need to tell the hubs that now do we?
One event Key West is well known for is their nightly sunset celebrations at Mallory Square. Watching the sunset with your main squeeze is a must-do while on a kid-free getaway. Mallory Square is claimed to be the best place to watch the sunset in Key West! Besides watching the sun dip below the horizon, there are food vendors, street performers and artists throughout the square.
WHERE TO EAT
We ate most of our meals at The Perry Hotel because the food was ah-ma-zing there. All of the restaurants were great, but our favorite was Matt’s Stock Island. Their seafood is fresh-caught everyday.
We ate two meals in Key West away from the hotel. One was at the family-run Mo’s Restaurant. Mo’s was a pleasant surprise. Don’t judge a book by it’s cover! We were a little hesitant when we visited because we were the only people in the restaurant. After the first bite of our meal though, I was wondering why the heck more people weren’t enjoying this goodness! Mo’s specializes in Caribbean, Creole, and Haitian food. The black beans and rice were the BEST and the Caribbean Roasted Chicken was yummo.
The second meal we had in Key West was at the Seaside Cafe at The Mansion. I picked this spot for the location. You’re so close to the water – like don’t accidentally laugh so hard and fall out of your chair because you’ll be in the ocean – close to the water. They have five or so oceanfront tables, so we got there for an early dinner (around 5pm) to grab one of those coveted tables. The Spring Mix & Strawberry Salad…wow. I don’t have the proper words to express how much I loved this salad. It was that good. The Wood-Fired Caprese Sandwich came in as a close second to the salad. It was delish!
Our server made for an interesting and hilarious dining experience. After our second interaction with him, I may or may not have googled if weed was legal in Key West. Yikes. I think we asked 5 or 6 times for something before giving up and asking another very present/sober server. Each interaction with our server was more entertaining than the last, and made for a fun memory!
Whatever you do while visiting Key West, I hope you are able to relax with your man and forget about the kids! And by forget about the kids, I mean regularly look at pictures of them because you miss them so much.
Related posts:
The Perry Hotel Key West: A Compete Guide
5 Reasons Why You Need To Book That Kid-Free Vacay ASAP
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