A 60-acre private island resort on Duck Key in the Middle Florida Keys — 420 rooms and stand-alone villas, five dining outlets including Jeremy Ford's Salt + Ash, and the only Keys resort with both Atlantic Ocean and Gulf access from the property line.
"The only entire-island resort in the Middle Keys — sixty acres of Duck Key, 420 rooms and villas, and Michelin-starred chef Jeremy Ford's most consequential restaurant outside Miami."
Hawks Cay Resort opened in 1959 as the Indies Inn, designed by architect Morris Lapidus — the same Lapidus who designed Miami Beach's Fontainebleau and Eden Roc, in their post-war Miami Modern moment. The resort was built on Duck Key, a 60-acre private island between Marathon and Islamorada accessed by a single causeway from the Overseas Highway, and was conceived from the outset as a self-contained island destination rather than a hotel along a highway. The property was rebranded as Hawks Cay in the late 1980s, suffered substantial damage in Hurricane Irma (2017), and reopened in 2018 following a $50 million property-wide rebuild that retained the Lapidus mid-century silhouette while bringing every soft and hard surface to a contemporary five-star standard.
The 420-key inventory is split across the Main Lodge (177 rooms in the original 1959 building, fully renovated in 2018) and 250 stand-alone villas in two-, three-, and four-bedroom configurations spread across the island's western and southern edges. The villa product is the most consequential family-vacation offering anywhere in the Keys — fully kitchened, multi-bathroom, with private docks on the deepwater canals — and the property frequently sees three-generation family bookings that would not fit anywhere else in the Middle Keys at scale. The Main Lodge rooms work for couples and smaller-party bookings, with the upper-floor Ocean View categories holding the property's best sunset positions over the Atlantic.
The 2024 opening of Salt + Ash — chef Jeremy Ford's first restaurant outside his Miami flagship Stubborn Seed (one Michelin star) — fundamentally changed Hawks Cay's dining proposition. Salt + Ash runs a wood-fire-driven coastal American menu with strong Keys seafood programs and one of the deepest natural-wine lists in Florida. Angler & Ale is the casual dock-side option (Keys catch, raw bar); Pilar Bar is the main pool bar; the Tiki Bar runs the Atlantic-side sunset shift; The Cafe handles all-day breakfast and grab-and-go. Calm Waters Spa — refreshed 2018 — covers full treatment menus; the saltwater dolphin lagoon at the Dolphin Connection (a separate operator on the property) is a legacy 1990s installation that runs daily encounter programs.
The resort's structural advantage is its 60-acre island scale combined with its dual-water access — the only Middle Keys resort with both Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico water lines from the property. For families the villa product is unmatched in the Keys; for business meetings the 21,000-square-foot conference inventory is the largest single block in the Middle Keys; and for couples the post-2018 renovation has brought the rooms to a standard that the property had not previously held. Hawks Cay's combination of scale, history, and dining is the structurally correct base for any meaningful Middle Keys week.
Hawks Cay is the structurally correct Keys family resort. The 250-villa product — two, three, and four bedrooms with full kitchens, multiple baths, and private canal docks — accommodates three-generation configurations that nothing else in the Middle Keys can hold. The kids' club, Coral Cay Adventure Club, runs ages 5–12; the dolphin encounters, the saltwater swimming lagoon, and the unlimited kayak/paddleboard program cover the older kids; and the Main Lodge has a dedicated teens' arcade.
The 21,000 square feet of conference and meeting space — the largest single block in the Middle Keys — combined with the 60-acre island scale and the dedicated business center makes Hawks Cay the only credible corporate-retreat venue between Miami and Key West. The property regularly hosts pharmaceutical, financial-services, and tech offsites; Salt + Ash and the Main Pool deck handle the working-dinner programming; the island's single-causeway access means the corporate group is genuinely off-grid for the duration.
Anniversary stays work because the 2018 rebuild brought every room and the Main Lodge envelope to a contemporary five-star standard, while the Lapidus 1959 silhouette gives the property a historical grounding that the newer Marathon competition lacks. Salt + Ash at dinner is the celebration room; the upper-floor Ocean View Main Lodge categories and the larger one-bedroom villas are the standard anniversary booking; Calm Waters Spa has a dedicated couples suite.
61 Hawks Cay Boulevard
Duck Key, FL 33050
United States
Mile Marker reference: Duck Key, Middle Keys; Miami International Airport approximately 1–2 hours by car
420 rooms and villas
From $278/night
WiFi: complimentary, high-speed throughout
4-Star
Check-in: 4:00 PM
Check-out: 11:00 AM
Founded 1959 (originally Indies Inn, Morris Lapidus design); rebranded Hawks Cay 1980s; rebuilt post-Hurricane Irma 2018; Salt + Ash opened 2024
Salt + Ash (Jeremy Ford) · Angler & Ale · Pilar & Tiki Bars · Calm Waters Spa · Dolphin Connection · Saltwater swimming lagoon · Six pools · 21,000 sq ft of meeting space · Marina with 85 slips
From $278/night for Main Lodge rooms; villas from approximately $850/night. Villa inventory books 4–6 months ahead for school holidays; Salt + Ash reservations book 2–3 weeks ahead.
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