The Perry Hotel Key West

There’s not much new happening on Key West proper, mostly because the island’s most promising real estate rarely changes hands. But if you’re willing to expand your definition of Key West just the tiniest bit — incorporating Stock Island, so close to Key West’s eastern shore that you could literally throw a stone from one to the other — you’ll find something that’s not just new, but impressively well-crafted as well. The Perry Hotel was recognized right out of the gate as one of Architectural Digest’s best-designed new hotels, and while they’re certainly not wrong about that, the architecture and design are only part of what makes the Perry special.

It’s built on the site of a working marina, which is one of the first things you’d ask for if you were designing a Florida Keys hotel from scratch. And alongside its raw-concrete and industrial-salvage architecture it features paintings and sculptures by some well-known local artists, as well as a pair of restaurants serving what they call American Coastal Comfort Food, in which fresh local seafood naturally takes a starring role. Meanwhile 100 stylish, unpretentiously luxe rooms and suites look out over the poolside or the marina from balconies or wraparound porches. With all of Key West at your feet, and with more or less anything you can do on water right at your fingertips, you just might find Stock Island is as far as you need to go.