As I mentioned in this blog post, Brian and I took the opportunity to grab a night away in Key West during our week with our boys in the Keys. (Thank you for the babysitting Mom & Dad!) We stay in Cudjoe Key, and Key West is just a 20 mile drive from there, so we typically do a day date or a dinner date, but this time, we were lucky enough to be able to spend a full 24 hours by ourselves in the town we love! Brian and I got married in Key West almost 16 years ago, so it will always be a special place to us.
(I would have inserted a cute wedding picture here but we got married before digital photography was a thing and apparently I never scanned any wedding photos!) Oh wait… I found one someone posted on Facebook A LONG time ago!
We got married at the Casa Marina and it was a great wedding! Okay, so I somehow got off topic, haha. For this quick 24 hours in Key West, Brian and I hadn’t booked a hotel, so I scoured the internet for a good deal on a place to stay. I stumbled upon Hotel Tonight… has anyone else ever used this site? It’s awesome! I had browsed the site the night before we were going to stay and there were some decent deals, but then I looked again on the day we were going to stay and there were even better deals! So my point is, wait until the very last minute and you can score a great place at an amazing rate! At least, that was my experience.
We booked at Merlin Guest House, which has a wonderful location a couple blocks from Duval Street (the south end), but still far enough away from the craziness that it is peaceful and quiet. Merlin Guest House is a boutique style inn composed of 22 rooms in a courtyard setting with a sweet little pool in the middle. The whole compound is fenced and surrounded by lush tropical foliage, making it feel private and secluded, even though you are just a couple minutes walk from all the bars, restaurants, and shops on Duval Street.
We hung out in the pool for a bit before we cleaned ourselves up and headed out. We were starving, and there was a place I wanted to try for Happy Hour – Blue Macaw Island Eats & Bar. It opened a couple years ago in the spot that was formerly the Bahama Village Market on the corner of Whitehead and Petronia Streets. The Bahama Village Market sat empty for years and looked just plain sad, but the Blue Macaw moved in and it’s perfect for that spot. It’s a colorful, open air restaurant with plenty of shade and fans to make it tolerable for a summer afternoon snack. They have a full live music schedule, and on the Monday afternoon we visited, the singer/guitar player was fantastic. Plus, the happy hour food was delicious!
Actually, I’ve gotten ahead of myself. I wanted to show you pics of our charming room at Merlin Guest House. We were so happy with the room for the price we paid! Seriously peeps, check out Hotel Tonight, it’s my new favorite discovery!
Our room at Merlin Guest House had a king size bed, separate sitting area, and a cute little porch overlooking the pool. It was just perfect – I loved the open ceiling and the wood floors.
The bathroom was updated, but the shower was not. It was totally fine, nice and clean, but could use some new tile and a glass door rather than a curtain. That’s my only suggestion, otherwise the room was great! It had a mini fridge and a Keurig, what more do you need?!
So after some happy hour food at the Blue Macaw, we went to the White Tarpon for my favorite drink, the Key Lime Martini! The White Tarpon is one of my favorite bars in Key West – it’s never crazy, usually not crowded, perfect spot for people watching, they have really good oysters, and sometimes they have live music. The White Tarpon used to be just a quaint little bar with a market/deli/wine store attached, but recently they eliminated the market/deli part and now it offers more seating both indoors and out. It’s right on the harbor where the fishing and charter boats dock.
After the White Tarpon, we wanted to hear some fun live music, so we went to the dependable, tried and true, always entertaining Irish Kevins. Irish Kevins in right on Duval Street, so it has a tendency to get rowdy and packed, but it was nice and low-key on this night. We stayed for a bit, then wandered back out and landed at another long time favorite, Captain Tony’s Saloon. Brian and I were reminiscing about the one time we were there (pre-kids) and Captain Tony himself was bellied up to the bar. He was old and attached to an oxygen tank, but there he was, still enjoying life and live music in Key West at the bar he started so many years ago. Pretty cool. There is always great live music at Captain Tony’s, and this night was no exception.
After a little time at Captain Tony’s we decided to call it a night, but not without stopping at Mattheessen’s for a giant half pound chocolate chip cookie. Brian tried to convince me that we each needed our own cookie that night, but no dice, I was not going to let that happen… those cookies are GINORMOUS! Mmmmm, nothing better than a late night chocolate chip cookie to finish a perfect day!
We woke up the next morning and enjoyed breakfast at our hotel. Breakfast is included with the room rate at Merlin Guest House, and it’s a nice set up. Coffee, juice, breads, cereals, pastries, fruit, eggs, yogurt, etc. are all arranged outside under the pergola with seating under the shade of the palms.
It’s really nice that Merlin Guest House doesn’t charge a resort fee as many of the other inns and hotels in Key West do. It really doesn’t make sense, since most of them are not even true “resorts”. The only additional charge at Merlin Guest House is for parking, but it is not mandatory. You are welcome to find street parking if you prefer. We paid $20 to park in their private lot, and they let us keep our car there even after we checked out in the morning. You really don’t need a car in Key West, so it was nice to park in their secure lot and forget about it.
I have so many favorite shops in Key West, but I’ll save those and more bar/restaurant recommendations for another post. In the meantime, enjoy a couple pics of some of Key West’s most famous residents…
We loved our stay at Merlin Guest House and our quick 24 hours in Key West! Always looking forward to our next visit!
