Key Largo Cottages

Keys vacation for the family!! We’ve been here for a week; part family vacation with 2 14 year old kids and the other part was to get our next ASA sailing 103 certification. You can’t beet this place!! Cute cottages with great staff. The ability to have a sailboat during your visit, get your sailing certifications on site, kayaks, canoes, snorkeling, etc. A tiki hut to watch beautiful sunsets and walking distance from Snooks restaurant!! This is definitely a repeat place for vacations!!

Let me start with saying that we are used to backpacking, staying in campgrounds, overnighting on boats, and lodging in youth hostels, so we are not easily put out by a place that’s a little rough around the edges. My criticism of KLSC has less to do with the condition of the lodging and more to do with its deceptive marketing regarding its boating amenities. If you are a sailor looking forward to the use of your own dedicated sailboat for the duration of your stay, you will be very disappointed. And your wallet will be quite a bit thinner. I wish we had read all the TripAdvisor reviews dating back to 2010. They are still pertinent and revealing. Here are the pros and cons: Pros: decent location; individual cabins of varying sizes; nice waterfront with boat ramps, docks, and easy water access; friendly and helpful staff; lots of water toys including a Hobie Cat (which functioned well), a Sunfish, a canoe, a rowboat, several SUPs, kayaks, and snorkeling gear; walkable (to the extent that Key Largo is a pedestrian environment) to some stores and restaurants. Cons: entrance to the facility is through an actual junk yard (as opposed to a typical Keys junky area); the grounds and rooms are pretty crude, with building materials and contents likely sourced from said junk yard; the kitchen in our unit was not suitable for cooking in, but was primarily a source for water, some bowls, utensils, and a dorm room fridge; the water toys are not all in good condition, e.g., the canoe lacked paddles so we made it work with SUP paddles; the docks are severely weathered; you have to have the boats back by 5:30, even if sunset is much later; you have to take a test and pay $35 to sail in the water just past the ICW since it’s inside the Everglades National Park; the sail boats are functional, but very worn out and barely maintained. Their bottoms have significant marine growth which greatly diminished their speed and handling, making them almost painful to sail. That was the biggest disappointment, as the use of a sailboat is what makes KLSC unique. Unfortunately, it’s also what makes it a bit of a scam. The nightly rate, plus cleaning fee and taxes, is not as expensive as many places in Key Largo. But given the below average condition of the rooms and the amenities, it’s no bargain. Buyer Beware.