The Marquesa Hotel occupies a pair of Victorian houses on Fleming Street that were converted to hotel use with the particular care of an owner who understood what the buildings were before deciding what they should become. 27 rooms, two pools, a garden that produces the tropical density Key West's limestone soil actually supports, and Café Marquesa — which has maintained a reputation as the island's finest restaurant since 1990 with a consistency that the island's revolving food scene cannot diminish. The rooms are individually decorated and small by resort standards — the correct size for Key West, where the island is the experience and the hotel is the base. Historic architecture means uneven floors and ceiling heights that vary by room; this is a feature rather than a defect for the guest who chose a 1891 Victorian building for specific reasons. The twin pools are fed by a fountain and set in the garden; the night-blooming jasmine is not a marketing note, it is a fact that changes the experience of sitting outside after ten pm.
The Marquesa is the best anniversary hotel on the island for couples who measure romance in specifically KeyWest terms: a room in a Victorian that knows its history, the finest restaurant on the island steps away, and a garden that provides the privacy that the larger beachfront resorts cannot offer at any price point.
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