We recently returned from a trip to Florida, which as can be expected in April, was significantly warmer than Chicagoland. It was a busy trip, we stayed in six different cities in nine nights. Every place we stayed was nice enough for us to feel comfortable there, and in a good enough area for us to wander in the neighborhood. In each case, my minimum requirement was space for two people and free parking; where available, I also searched for breakfast included. (Links are through Hotels.com because that’s where I booked through.)
Key West: Wicker Guesthouse – we described this room as “comically small”; as you can almost see from the photo, there was just enough room at each side of the bed for someone to walk. While short on space, this was perfectly located for exploring downtown Key West – on Duval Street, a couple blocks from the Hemingway House. They have two pools, a continental breakfast, and were happy to let us park past checkout time. The hotel emailed a couple days before our trip to see when we expected to arrive, and included information on some of the Key West attractions. Of course, the size of this room became the running joke as we compared other hotel rooms throughout the trip.
Florida City: Quality Inn – this Quality Inn room, including an upgrade from two full to two queen beds, felt huge after the room in Key West. But that’s not why I picked it! Florida City is at the edge of the Everglades National Park, a must-see area of South Florida. We drove up from Key West, unpacked, and bought dinner from the nearby Gator Grill. (Food and attractions will be separate posts.) Every hotel we stayed at had a pool; we didn’t make it into this one. Their breakfast was a “hot” continental, which means a couple warm dishes (eggs, sausage, etc.) and a waffle maker were provided.
Miami Beach: Castle Beach Suites – this section of Miami Beach is strange in that restaurants are buried in buildings (apartments, hotels… or a combination of both). This was a “rental apartment,” with check-in at the building’s security desk, and parking through a consistently backlogged valet service. The apartment itself was nice, but with no information about the surrounding area. We never tried their food – we found a lovely restaurant hidden in the building next door, and went looking for breakfast well before they opened in the morning. We skipped their sizable pool in favor of walking out the back gate to the beach. The first time we retrieved our car from the valet took 15 minutes; the second time had a humongous line and took us almost an hour.
Cocoa Beach: Beachside Hotel & Suites – hands down, this was our favorite hotel of the trip. Our room included a sitting room, kitchenette, and bedroom, with separate doors to the parking lot and patio. Their shallow pool has a lazy river – with tubes provided; the pool bar includes reasonable dinner options; their hot continental breakfast includes a good variety; and the beach is only a block away. After our day’s outing, we unpacked, spent some time in the pool, ate dinner, then spent some more time in the pool.
Orlando: Park Royal Orlando – technically, this hotel is in Kissimmee, but that’s close enough to count as Orlando. We were pretty wiped out by the time we checked in, having spent all day at Gatorland, and just wanted to find food in walking distance before we crashed. The room itself was quite nice, the pool looked lovely, and they even have a tennis court. The lobby staff directed us to a lovely Mexican restaurant for dinner, and we wandered the same direction the next morning to get breakfast at IHop before flying home.
Six cities… five hotels… oh, you noticed that? Yeah, we stayed with a friend one night. No worries, that city will make it onto the food post.