Key West Cottages in Chincoteague — A Family-Friendly Getaway
With three young boys, going on vacation can come with its own set of challenges. When my wife recommended that we travel to Virginia for vacation and try out the new Key West Cottages in Chincoteague Island, quietly inside, I thought she was absolutely out of her mind. But I knew she probably did more research than an investigator looking for the criminal in a murder case.
Looking at the map and route to Key West Cottages, the drive with the whole crew would only be a little over four hours as we trek from Pennsylvania through Delaware and Maryland until we reach the “state for lovers.” How bad could it be, right?
(Views of National Lampoon’s Vacation enter my mind)
Here’s the reality of what took place… The car ride down was a breeze, everyone was a fantastic traveler, and what we were left with was a great family experience. All that being said, being a writer and that my oldest son (who was nine at the time) also enjoys writing, I decided to make this our review of Key West Cottages and our experiences.
My wife brought a notebook and pens along, and it was my oldest son’s responsibility to write down a recap of what we did after each day to document our experience at Key West Cottages in Chincoteague Island.
Disclaimer: This article on Key West Cottages in Chincoteague Island is our experience and personal opinions. Key West Cottages did not ask us to write this article, and to this day, they may not have even seen this article. We paid full price for our stay, and it was not provided to us in exchange for a review of any kind.
The Full Key West Cottages Experience
Before we dive into things, if you want to learn more about Key West Cottages, click here to visit their website.
One thing that we noticed right off the bat was that everything at Key West Cottages looked brand new. The entire property was well-maintained, and everywhere you walked was incredibly clean and spotless. Of course, the entrepreneurial side of me had to start asking what made them choose the location and how long they had been in business.
We came to find out that they had basically just opened. In fact, they were only open for a couple of months before we showed up with our smiles. But let’s dive into some of the reasons you may want to consider adding this to your future vacation list.
Cottage Options
Depending on your family size, there’s a cottage for everyone. Whether you’re looking to sleep two or bring the whole gang and need sleeping arrangements for five, Key West Cottages can oblige.
While the cottages, themselves, are not very big, we had a family of five staying in a 611-square-foot poolside cottage, and it was not like we were all on top of each other. There was room to move around, and while small, the cottage was cozy and comfortable.
Everything in the cottage was brand new, big screen televisions (three of them), a refrigerator, microwave, stovetop, beautiful bathrooms, eye-catching décor, and a perfectly climate-controlled heating and a/c unit.
If you like to sit outside and relax, each cottage has a nice porch area and comfy seats you can park your butt in and let your stress simply leave your body as you look at the water from the bay or watch the events happening at the pool area.
Amenities
One of the most shocking things about Key West Cottages must be the amenities. Could they try to add more? Sure. For instance, I would love to see a small workout area that people could go to fit in a workout rather than needing to leave the Key Wet Cottages property (but are you really surprised that this is something I’m looking for, knowing what I write about on my website?).
Here are some of the amenities you can enjoy at Key West Cottages:
1. Outdoor Pool
The zero-entry pool is perfect for any family or individual who wants to relax and have some fun (or get in a workout during vacation). This was a fan-favorite of our kids as they love the two-tier pool where our littles can play in an area of the pool they can easily stand (one foot deep) in while our oldest could move into the deeper end (six feet deep) and work on his swimming skills.
They also provide pool toys for the kids and floating rafts for kids and adults to sit and lay in to lounge in the pool. You even have actual lounge chairs in the pool, along with a moveable slide in the pool.
And I will say, every morning, the pool cleaners were out there making everything from the pool deck to the chairs and tables shine to cleaning the bottom of the pool. They even provide you with towels at the pool so that you don’t need to take your own.
2. Beach Area
A fantastic amenity is that there is a beach/sand area on the bay side of the property. You don’t need to drive to the actual beach to put your feet in the sand if you don’t want to. Simply walk to the back edge of the property, and you’ll find tables and chairs you can sit in while soaking up the sun or watching the sunset from the sand.
The beach area also has firepits you can use free of charge, making the cool nights next to the water a little warmer and that much more magical.
3. Bicycles
If you enjoy riding a bike, you can borrow a complementary bicycle from Key West Cottages and ride anywhere and everywhere you want. With so much to see in the surrounding area, this is a great amenity that you would typically need to pay for elsewhere.
4. Fishing/Crabbing
If you love to fish or crab, as long as you have a license to do so (you can get one just a few blocks away if you didn’t have one), you can crab and fish right from your property. Bring your own gear or buy/rent some from the local bait and tackle store down the street from Key West Cottages.
5. Grills
If you want to make yourself a tasty treat on the grill, Key West Cottages has them available down at their beach on the property. Grab your steaks, hamburgers, chicken, or hot dogs, and head down to start grilling your grub for yourself or the entire family.
Things to Do
We did a bunch of things as a family during our time at Key West Cottages. But even while we didn’t get a chance to do everything on our list, the list of things you can do while there is long.
Below are some things you can plan during your trip and vacation.
- Boat Tours
- Horseback Riding
- NASA
- Beaches
- Hiking
- Exploring
- Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge
- Assateague Lighthouse
- Captain Timothy Hill House
- Downtown Park
- Iron Pony Adventure Park
- Maui Jacks Waterpark
- Memorial Park
- Museum of Chincoteague Island
- Brianna’s Kindness Park
- Shopping
- Restaurants/Food Trucks
- Ice Cream Parlors
- Farmer’s Market
The above is just a short list of the many things you can do and enjoy at Key West Cottages. You truly need to be there to fully experience everything Chincoteague Island has to offer. Even just walking from coffee shop to coffee shop is fun by trying all the different brews of coffee that each place makes.
Our Most Memorable Key West Cottages Takeaways
There were so many unforgettable memories built on this vacation at Key West Cottages. Below are some of our family favorites.
The Pool
After being in the spectacular Key West Cottages pool, our kids are now begging us to put a pool in at our house. The cleanliness of the pool and pool deck was mind-blowing, and they even have an outdoor shower where you can rinse off before or after you hit the pool if you wish.
Our kids loved the slide in the pool and the freedom they had to roam around the pool safely. Best of all, the pool was never really full to the point that you needed to worry about your kids bothering people or being unable to swim due to the pool being near capacity.
But even if you weren’t swimming, the chairs, tables, and loungers were incredibly comfortable to where you could sit in the sun and watch your kids play in the pool.
The Beach
The beach of choice at Key West Cottages is by far Assateague Beach. While you have to drive there and either pay for a daily or weekly pass to enter onto the island, it’s definitely worth it. My kids had so much fun sightseeing on Assateague Island, and then the beach completely blew them away.
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Our kids did everything from building sandcastles, playing in the water, watching the waves, and I even got my oldest out with me to do some body surfing — which he really enjoyed after I showed him what to do. From that point on, every day he asked if we could go to the beach and body surf the waves with me.
I was a little weary of our twins, being that they were only four and might get knocked over by the waves. They braved the water and stood on the edge and allowed the little waves to run up and hit their legs. Then they had fun waiting for a wave and then ran away screaming and laughing as the water chased them up the beach.
Boat Tour
Another thing we did while down at Key West Cottages (which we were worried the twins, who are four, wouldn’t enjoy) was a boat tour. We were concerned that the twins would get bored and then start getting crazy like little four-year-olds do. But to our surprise, they loved the boat tour through Chincoteague Island.
We booked a private cruise just for the five of us through Daisey’s Island Cruises. They took us over to see the wild horses, showed us some historic spots, island hotspots, and then we went dolphin watching. We even got to see a bald eagle. Everyone loved the boat tour, and our captain was very knowledgeable and answered every question we had. If you enjoy being on the water, I highly recommend you take a tour by Daisey’s Island Cruises.
The Food
While the Key West Cottages property is astonishingly beautiful, we can’t lie and say the highlight wasn’t the food. If you want to go on vacation and not come home a few pounds heavier, then this area may not be where you want to be. If temptation always gets the best of you, every ounce of your will is going to be tested. Why? Because the restaurants, food trucks, and stands just off the Key West Cottages property on Maddox Boulevard are out of this world — and that’s no exaggeration.
What’s even better is that we were able to walk to the grocery store to get food and walk downtown to grab a coffee or something to munch on, but then you have restaurants all over the place and food trucks with savory treats that’ll send your taste buds into outer space.
We ate at Ropewalk and the food and service there was excellent. That was the only “sit-down” restaurant we went to just because there were so many other places that looked good that you simply walked up, placed your order, and took the food with you or sat outside to eat.
My wife is a huge fan of acai bowls, and she got two delicious bowls when we stayed at Key West Cottages from Sandy Pony Donuts. I’ll consider it a wildcard as the location is known for making some insanely delicious donuts but their acai bowls are out of this world.
It should be noted that if you go to Sandy Pony Donuts and don’t get their donuts, you’re doing it all wrong, and you’ll regret it. They have some of the most mouth-watering donuts and flavors there (along with the big acai bowls as pictured above). We tried donuts from other places down in Chincoteague Island, and nothing else came close to Sandy Pony Donuts.
But now for the family favorite — ice cream! I’m not a big ice cream eater, but even I had to give in and get some at each place we stopped, and I have zero regrets.
The two big ice cream places everyone recommended to us are Island Creamery and Mr. Whippy. Island Creamery is hard-served, homemade ice cream, and Mr. Whippy is soft-serve ice cream.
You also have a little food truck called BYOC (build your own cookie), where you can get ice cream on top of a soft, freshly made cookie. The combination of warm and incredibly soft cookies with ice cream on top is hard to beat, but we did have a winner out of the bunch.
Mr. Whippy definitely has great ice cream and treats like donuts, a variety of hot, iced, and frozen coffee, and BYOC is unique and definitely yummy, but the real winner of the bunch was by far Island Creamery.
After just the first bite of your order from Island Creamery, you’re already thinking about getting back in line for more (it’s that good). In fact, they won “The Best Ice Cream Place in America” in July 2023, and after eating there, it’s easy to understand why.
Book a Trip to Key West Cottages
Whether you head to Key West Cottages for a getaway or for business and need a nice place to stay, Key West Cottages gets my vote. I was able to run my businesses during my stay as if I had never left and without missing a beat. Then when I decided to shut things down and shift into daddy mode, we explored and shoved as many experiences as we could in the time we had.
Travel there alone or with family and friends, you won’t regret your stay at Key West Cottages in Chincoteague Island, VA.
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