Pegasus International Hotel

The Streamline Corner Nobody Expects in Key West

Key West is a town of clapboard and gingerbread trim, which is exactly why the Pegasus stops people on the pavement. It holds the corner of Duval and Southard in smooth Art Deco curves, all horizontal lines and rounded edges, the only hotel of that architecture in the downtown blocks. The location could hardly be more central: Duval runs past the door, the theatre and the courthouse are around the corner, and the whole of Old Town is within a fifteen-minute walk. Inside, the tone is unfussy. The interest of this address is the shell and the roof, not the lobby.

Why It Works

Two practical reasons carried it, on top of the building. The first is the roof: a heated pool and a jacuzzi three floors above Duval, which is the only civilised way to be this close to the street and still have somewhere to retreat at four in the afternoon. The second is parking. Secure off-street parking in this part of Key West is close to unobtainable, and anyone who has circled Southard with a hire car will understand what that is worth. Together they turn a central address into a workable one.

Why This Location

The 500 block of Duval is the hinge of Old Town, halfway between the Southernmost Point and Mallory Square, which means both are a walk rather than a decision. Southard runs west from the door into Bahama Village and its kitchens, and east towards the cemetery. The Hemingway Home, the Key West Lighthouse, the San Carlos Institute and the Custom House are each a few minutes on foot. The trade is noise: this is the busy stretch, and the evening carries. Ask for a room off the Duval side, and use the roof when the street gets loud.

Fast Facts

• Price: €€

• Vibe: Art Deco shell, plain rooms, unbeatably central

• Rooms: Renovated guestrooms and larger suites, all non-smoking, with refrigerators and microwaves

• Best For: First-time visitors who want to walk everywhere, travellers arriving by car, couples who prefer a rooftop to a garden

• Our Favorite Thing About the Hotel: The heated rooftop pool and jacuzzi, with the length of Duval laid out below

• Dining: Complimentary continental breakfast; everything else is on the doorstep, from the Bahama Village kitchens west of Southard to the Duval bars either side

• Amenities: Heated rooftop pool and jacuzzi, secured off-street parking at extra cost, in-room refrigerators and microwaves

• Attractions: Duval Street at the door, the Ernest Hemingway Home and the Key West Lighthouse a few minutes south, Mallory Square and the Custom House to the north, Bahama Village west along Southard

Rooms That Keep It Simple

The guestrooms have been renovated and are straightforward rather than designed: clean lines, a refrigerator and a microwave, enough space in the suites for a family to spread out. Nobody books here for the interiors, and the hotel does not pretend otherwise. What matters is which side the window faces. Duval-facing rooms carry the street; the quieter ones look away from it. Say which you want when you reserve, because in a hotel of this footprint that single choice decides how well you sleep.

The Roof, and What It Solves

The rooftop is the reason to pick this address over the guesthouses a few streets away. The pool is heated, the jacuzzi beside it, and the position puts you above the noise with a long view down Duval and out over the tin roofs of Old Town. It works in the middle of the afternoon when the street is at its hottest and again at dusk, and it is the rare Key West pool that does not sit in somebody’s shaded garden. For a hotel this central, it is a genuine luxury.

Before You Book

Reserve the parking space at the same time as the room if you are driving down the Overseas Highway. Ask for a room away from Duval unless you intend to be part of the evening. The hotel is entirely non-smoking. And set expectations correctly: this is a well-run, central, architecturally distinctive address rather than a resort, and the beach is a bicycle ride away at Higgs or Smathers.