Planning a family vacation takes skill. Trying to find a destination that appeals to the smaller family members while still offering a true vacation to mom and dad can be a challenge. Thankfully families can take heart when planning a visit to Florida. Forget the theme parks and enjoy a tropical escape taylored to families at the Hawks Cay resort in the Florida Keys.
Rooms Fit for Families
Although you can stay in a traditional guest room located in the main building, the Hawks Cay Resort’s villas are what will appeal to families. The 2-bedroom, 2-bath Harbor Village villa offered our family of five plenty of room. Learn more about our experience staying within the Hawks Caye Villas.
Complex Offering Everything
Hawks Cay Resort sits right in the middle of the Florida Keys, giving you access to a variety of parks, beaches and villages to visit on the different islands; we ventured out ourselves to visit Key West, the southern most point of the United States. However, with its own collection of restaurants, recreation, and activities for families as well as just for the kids, you may never want to leave the resort property.
Resort map source: ResortAccess.com
Dining Options at the Hawks Cay Resort
The villa’s kitchen comes equipped with all the food preparation tools you will need, whether it’s just for making a light breakfast or a full course dinner. All you have to do is add groceries. Preparing your own breakfast, lunch or snacks can certainly cut down on holiday expenses and ensures your kids don’t waste food at the restaurants. However, you are on vacation and that probably means you don’t want to cook. Hawks Cay offers three main restaurants plus additional dining options. I think we tried almost all of them during our visit.
Relaxing at the Hawks Cay Resort’s Calmwater Spa
For mom, a vacation with the kids can sometimes be a little intense. The Clearwater Spa offers moms (and dads) a nice reprieve. Although I didn’t get a chance to experience the Calmwater Spa, I did visit the facilities. Located near the Indies pool and kid’s club, you could drop the kids off for a morning of fun while you treat yourself to a massage or manicure. The lounge with it’s wonderful seating, refreshing chilled towels, and fruit-infused water, evokes a sense of serenity as soon as you walk in. The tranquil lounge and the eucalyptus steam room alone are worth the visit, though they do offer an assortment of spa treatments.
Hawks Cay Can Keep You Busy
Our holidays tend to be more pool-time focused; however, Hawks Cay offers a lot of distraction for those more active family members. Within the Marina area of the resort you can book all sorts of active water fun: enjoy a fishing charter, play a game of tennis, go scuba diving, try kiteboarding, as well as a variety of other water spots, including the very James Bond like experience of the Sundance JetLev jet pack. Yup, you read that right; you can fly up into the air with a jet pack on. Maybe I’ll get the courage to try this on our next trip.
Hanging Out by the Pools
Although Hawks Cay does offer a lot to keep you busy, our family was pretty content to just hang out by the pools. The resort actually offers 5 pools (one being an adult only pool), plus an amazing saltwater lagoon. Learn more about the pools our family enjoyed most.
Keeping the Kids Busy
Family vacations are great for hanging out together but sometimes everyone needs their own space. Camp Hawk, scheduled activities and the dolphin area, offer kids time to hang with other kids while the parents can enjoy some time on their own. My kids loved the checking out the different distractions for kids at Hawk’s Cay Indies Club.
With all of its ammenities, Hawks Cay seems like a huge resort, however, its layout makes it easy enough to walk around to all the facilities. The pathways, sidewalks, boardwalks and bridges actually make the trip from the pool to your villa or anywhere else on the property, a delightful diversion. However, we all know that kids that start out with lots of energy in the morning can be running on empty by the time you are ready to head back to your room. To accommodate you, Hawks Cay has an internal shuttle system to travels the resort grounds throughout the day (and into the night) making stops at the various areas. We used this a few times. Riding in the open bus was just another adventure at Hawks Cay, especially if you were lucky enough to get a seat at the front with the driver.
When planning a family getaway to a sunny destination, Hawks Cay within the Florida Keys offers a tropical destination that will keep kids and parents entertained without having to venture off to foreign lands. We’re looking forward to the chance to head back.
Read more about Hawks Cay, including their villas, their great restaurants, the variety of pools, and the kids club and activities.
Thanks to the folks at Hawks Cay for inviting us to experience their resort.