How to Be Totally Chill in the Florida Heat

Sometimes the best getaway is the one that doesn't require an airport.

After a stressful week at the office, Amy and I pointed the car south on a Friday afternoon. Two and a half hours later, we were in Key Largo, pulling into Bungalows Key Largo for a long weekend and our first experience at an all-inclusive resort.

We've driven this stretch of the Overseas Highway countless times. Northbound and southbound US 1 separate here, with shops and businesses occupying the broad strip between them. Yet turn off the highway and within minutes all of that seems to disappear.

The pavement gives way to sandy walkways winding beneath mature palms and ferns. Sunlight slips through the canopy. Individual bungalows appear between the tropical foliage, bicycles waiting outside. Golf carts quietly make their way along the paths.

It felt a little like summer camp.

Except this is summer camp for adults who want to be indulged.

There are 166 individual bungalows scattered throughout the property, each comfortably appointed with an indoor shower, a private outdoor shower and an outdoor soaking tub. Ours had its own porch and enough privacy that despite being part of a resort, it felt very much like our own little corner of the Keys.

We spent that first Friday afternoon settling in and exploring. Bungalows is made for wandering. Around one turn there might be a restaurant, around another a bar, a pool or an unexpected opening onto Florida Bay. The grounds are beautifully maintained, yet the mature palms, oversized ferns and thick tropical vegetation give the property the feeling that it has been there much longer than it has.

By evening, we had gotten our bearings, had dinner and wandered back along the softly lit pathways to our bungalow. This was when that private outdoor tub really came into its own. Under a dark Keys sky, with the stars overhead and the rest of the resort tucked behind the tropical foliage, it was the perfect ending to our first night.

The next morning, we slept in.

That would become something of a habit.

The Zen Pool

We remembered seeing the Zen Pool while exploring the day before and decided to start our day there.

As it turned out, that's where we remained.

Framed by dense tropical foliage, the pool is lined on both sides with private canopied daybeds, large enough for two and partially enclosed by flowing curtains. At one end of the pool, an enormous carved stone head rises from the tropical greenery. At the other, tucked behind a canopy of oversized ferns, is the hot tub.

We settled into one of the daybeds, ordered a couple of cocktails and quickly discovered there was very little reason to leave.

There is another pool closer to the beach and Florida Bay. It is larger, busier and more social, and both pool areas offer full food and beverage service.

Before long, our days settled into an easy routine. We slept in, then made our way back to the Zen Pool, where soft music drifted beneath enormous ferns and the warm salt water made even getting out of the pool seem optional. Our canopied daybed waited just a few steps away, food and cocktails arrived whenever we wanted them, and every so often an iguana would make an appearance, adding a little unexpected excitement to an otherwise wonderfully uneventful afternoon. The hot tub offered yet another reason to linger, and hours seemed to pass without our paying much attention to them.

There was no reason to hurry.

In fact, we had dinner reservations each evening and moved them later every night, simply because we weren't ready to give up the afternoon and start getting dressed for dinner.

Dining & Cocktails

We never made it to the spa. By then, relaxation was one thing we clearly did not need help with.

Our first all-inclusive experience also changed some of our preconceived ideas about what all-inclusive actually means. The price initially gave us some pause, but once we were there, the value became much easier to understand. Meals, drinks, poolside food and beverage service, entertainment and many of the activities are included. More importantly, we never had the sense that quantity was being substituted for quality.

Dining was a good example. Fish Tales, the main restaurant, serves breakfast, lunch and dinner from a menu. Sea Señor is the outdoor Mexican option, while Hemingway's is an upstairs bar that provides a change of atmosphere in the evening. If leaving your daybed for lunch seems unnecessarily ambitious, food can simply come to you. Bungalow service is available as well.

Bogey & Bacall's, the steak and seafood restaurant, deserves particular mention. We're not going to recount individual meals, but the quality there could compete with any number of very good stand-alone steak and seafood restaurants.

The cocktails were equally impressive—and certainly plentiful.

What made all of this work was the staff. Everywhere we went, they were professional, well trained and remarkably well versed in the resort. Service was attentive without becoming intrusive, whether we were at dinner, beside the pool or simply asking a question along one of the pathways.

Even the smallest touches seemed considered. Each night at turndown, the next day's calendar of activities appeared in our bungalow along with either biscotti or Key lime cookies.

Late afternoon usually drew us toward the waterfront and the tiki bar, where live music was part of the day rather than an occasional event. At different times we heard guitarists, saxophonists and a DJ.

Sunset

And then came sunset.

Sunsets in the Keys are an event.

As late afternoon gave way to evening, people began gathering along the waterfront, cocktails in hand, waiting for the nightly show. From Bungalows, the view stretches west across Florida Bay, where the sun became a brilliant orange ball slowly dropping toward the water. We watched it touch the horizon and gradually disappear, leaving behind a sky streaked with brilliant shades of orange, red and purple.

We were fortunate enough to have a spectacular sunset all three nights.

And there was music. A guitarist played nearby as we watched, moving from Pink Floyd and David Bowie to Jimmy Buffett. The warm breeze came off the bay, and for those few minutes everyone seemed focused on the same thing happening across the water.

After dark, the resort took on a different feel. Moonlight shimmered across Florida Bay while the sandy pathways glowed softly beneath the canopy of palms and enormous ferns. The warm night air carried that unmistakable balmy Keys breeze as we made our way back toward our bungalow.

It was a walk you didn't want to hurry. The moonlight on the bay, the palms overhead and the softly lit paths made getting back to the bungalow worth taking your time.

We arrived Friday afternoon and left Monday morning. During those three days, neither of us ever seriously considered leaving the property.

That may be the best compliment we can give Bungalows Key Largo.

The weekend wasn't about seeing how much we could fit into three days. Quite the opposite. We slept late. We lingered at the pool. We moved dinner reservations because we weren't ready to get out of our daybeds. We watched the sun disappear into Florida Bay and took the long way back to our bungalow simply because the walk was too beautiful to rush.

Monday morning arrived far sooner than we wanted it to.

For a place only two and a half hours from home, Bungalows Key Largo had managed to make the rest of the world feel considerably farther away.

Every destination has a story. Every memorable getaway leaves an impression. Our hope is simply to share the experiences that make us smile and inspire us to explore.

— Ira Pearlstine and Amy Smith