Hawks Cay Resort Review: Family Friendly Resort in the Keys

Location: Duck Key, Florida

When researching the best place for families to stay in the Florida Keys, one name kept coming back: Hawks Cay Resort. Hawks Cay Resort has been on our bucket list for a long time after hearing friends rave about it. We were finally able to experience it and wanted to write our full review.

Hawks Cay Resort

Hawks Cay is located on Duck Key, which is smack dab in the middle of the Keys. The nearest airport is Miami and then it is a two hour drive from there. We rented a minivan and car seats at the airport.

The Keys took a huge hit during Hurricane Irma in 2017 and caused a lot of damage. Even a year later, there were areas that they hadn’t even begun restoration work yet. We liked that our money was helping to support the community.

Our resort was suppose to re-open a month before we arrived, but just before we left, we received an email saying that the grand re-opening would be delayed by a month. Yikes. We had purchased 12 plane tickets and there was no turning back.

The majority of the resort wouldn’t even be open while we were there. It was nobody’s fault, everyone just had to make do with the situation. In the end in turned out to be a blessing, because it forced us to go explore and not just sit by the pool all day.

Hawks Cay Resort really took care of us. We were upgraded to a beautiful four bedroom villa in the Sanctuary Village. We couldn’t have been happier with the accommodation.

On this family trip, we were celebrating my mother’s 80th birthday. When we checked in to the room, they had the cutest surprise for her. They had written Happy Birthday with flower petals on her bed. It made her feel so special.

Our villa was beautiful and spacious. All 12 of us were very comfortable. My mother had a downstairs bedroom so she didn’t have to bother with stairs.

There was a large living room with an open floor plan that was connected to the kitchen. This was our main gathering area, as we could all spend time together here as a family.

We could walk out of a slider to a patio where we had our own private splash pool. It was heaven for the kids.

I lucked out with the upstairs master which had a king size bed and a huge walk out deck. I had a private bathroom and walk in closet down a long hallway, which is where I set up the crib for the baby. There was an upstairs washer/ dryer, a second bathroom and two other bedrooms.

Hawks Cay Resort has five pools on the property including an awesome pirate ship splash pool area.

Coral Cay Activities and Adventure is the kids club. Kids can play video games, do arts and crafts and participate in different games. Outside is sand volleyball, basketball and miniature golf. It is a place that has so much to do, everybody would be entertained through an entire vacation without even leaving the property. One day they had a pirate show and a real mermaid!

One of the main reasons that I booked the resort was for was the salt water lagoon. Sadly, it had not re-opened when we were there so we were not able to enjoy it.

Basically, it is a protected part of the ocean with a sandy beach around it. I loved that the kids could swim in the ocean safely. It looks really amazing and I hope we can go back again to check it out.

There are a variety of restaurants on the property that range from modern steakhouses to pool side tiki bars. There is a coffee bar and you can even order box lunches to go.

We ate at the Angler and Ale which had a casual, beachy feel and a waterfront location. The food was great, but one of the benefits of renting a villa was that we had our own kitchen and could cook our own meals to save money.

The other really great thing about Hawks Cay is the variety of accommodations they have. You can book anything from a hotel room to a large villa, which makes it a great place for a family vacation. My brother considered joining us, so he could have just grabbed a hotel room and still been close to our villa.

The Keys are long and skinny, so there is a lot of driving involved even once you are there. To drive from end to end (Key Largo to Key West) would take 2 hours. The location of Hawks Cay was great because we could visit all of the attractions up and down the keys without having to drive too far.

We had an amazing time, despite a few bumps in the road. We were glad we were staying for the week, because travel days were strenuous, especially for the little kids.

The entire resort is now completely open with brand new renovations. The kids had so much fun and I am sure we will back to Hawks Cay in the near future.

Click here to start planning your next vacation. As you can see from this review, we wholeheartedly agree that Hawks Cay Resort is the best place for families to stay in the Florida Keys.

Have you stayed at Hawks Cay? Where do you think the best place for families to stay in the Florida Keys is? Tell me in the comments below!

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