Photos: The Capitana Key West

In The Capitana’s nautical-themed lobby, we saw shelves filled with vintage lanterns and bronze diving helmets, along with a full-color painting of the same K.C. Scott mural from the hotel’s facade.

The hotel’s grab-and-go shop in the lobby, Sundry Market, sells snacks, sodas, ice cream, and pool and beach essentials like sunscreen, as well as souvenirs, including Capitana-branded apparel and accessories.

A guest-favorite design feature in The Capitana’s guest rooms are these desks telling the story of the Capitana shipwreck, which the hotel is named after. La Capitana or Capitana El Rubi Segundo was the flagship of Spain’s 1733 armada and carried the king’s treasure, but it became submerged during a hurricane. The ship was later discovered by a commercial fisherman offshore from the Keys in 1938.

The coastal chic guest rooms at The Capitana Key West feature crisp white linens and accents of blue, beige and gray. Whether you book a room with a king bed or two queens, every guest room offers a private balcony or terrace for gazing out at the Gulf of Mexico.

For guests’ convenience, standard guest rooms come with a microwave, a minifridge and a Nespresso machine – a step up from most hotels’ in-room coffee machines.

When we took a peek inside the guest room closet, we found luxurious robes, umbrellas for those inevitable rainy Florida days and even Capitana-branded ponchos.

There’s a hydration station on every guest floor with complimentary water bottles available 24 hours a day, as well as prepackaged bags of ice, replacing the typical noisy ice machines.

Sleeping up to seven guests, The Capitana’s two bedroom family suites feature a king bedroom, a queen-sized pull-out sofa and a bunk bed for the kids. These suites also offer a kitchen with a full-sized refrigerator, electric cooktop, cabinets stocked with dishes and silverware, and a dining room table seating four.

The Capitana offers 11 private cottages perfect for large families or extended stays. These two-story town houses come with a full kitchen, a living room, two bedrooms and one-and-a-half bathrooms, and a porch facing the peaceful mangrove-lined canal. Cottage guests also have access to their own pool area and grocery delivery service.

We visited the lengthy resort pool, which is long enough to swim laps. The oceanfront pool is quite spacious, so it remains peaceful and rarely gets crowded. The pool deck includes palm trees, sun loungers, hammocks and a hot tub, plus lawn games and a Tiki bar.

Guests can play life-size chess, billiards or a game of volleyball outdoors on the lawn, right by the pool.

The Capitana’s new beachside cabanas offer a shady spot for up to six guests on the sands of the hotel’s private beach. All cabanas come with 43-inch TVs and a stocked minifridge with complimentary sodas and water. They can be reserved for around $180 to $200 per day.

Grab a seat at McKee’s Tiki Bar and order a tropical cocktail or light bites like shrimp cocktails and conch fritters. Open from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., the pool bar and restaurant serves a light menu with appetizers, salads, sandwiches and wraps, plus a few heartier entree options starting at 5 p.m.

Guests can rent paddleboards, kayaks and bicycles from the watersports rental stand or book a private boat charter with Fun in the Sun Key West. Kayaks and paddleboards are perfect for exploring the surrounding mangroves and shallow waters, while bikes are a great way to get to Old Town and see most of Key West’s attractions. It’s about a 15-minute ride along the ocean on North Roosevelt Boulevard to get to the heart of town.