Tiki Bar
at Amara Cay

The Tiki Bar is the poolside heart of Amara Cay Resort at mile marker 80 on the ocean side of Islamorada, run today as one of three properties in the Islamorada Resort Collection with La Siesta and Three Waters. It reads exactly as the name promises, a thatched bar between the pool and the sea where you order a cocktail and a bowl of something and let the afternoon go slack. What sets it apart from a members only cabana is that it is open to anyone who wanders in.

That openness matters. You do not need a room key, locals are welcomed and the resort runs a Conch card for Keys residents, so a couple driving the islands can treat it as an easy stop rather than a gated resort bar.

By day the Tiki Bar belongs to the pool. Families drift in wet from the water, the blenders run, and the mood is bright and unfussy rather than romantic, classic Keys Americana with a paper umbrella in the glass. The kitchen matches it, keeping to staples done well, fish tacos, grilled jumbo shrimp, island bowls and a slice of real Key Lime Pie under the palms, with the daily happy hour from 4 to 6 where the value actually sits.

The right hour for two is later. Once the pool crowd thins toward the end of the afternoon, take that happy hour window, settle at a corner of the deck facing the flats, and on an early week night, before the Thursday to Saturday band, the volume stays low enough to hear each other while the water goes still in the fading light.

On sunset, be honest about the compass. Amara Cay sits on the Atlantic side of Islamorada, so the sun sets behind the resort over Florida Bay, not into the sea in front of your table. The famous Keys sunset belongs to the bayfront rooms down the road, so if that image is the whole point of the evening, book it there and keep the Tiki Bar for the calm morning swim and the after dinner drink.

The Keys are a place you go for the water more than the width of the sand. The shoreline at Amara Cay is a slim ribbon of calm, shallow flats, lovely for wading or a slow float but not the broad swimming beach a first timer pictures. For a proper beach walk with a car park and a boardwalk, the community strand at Founders Park is the local pick, and the hammock sand of Anne’s Beach rewards a short drive down the island.

Amara Cay sits on the Overseas Highway at mile marker 80, about an hour and a half south of Miami by car, an easy pull off on the way through the islands, with parking at the resort. Booking is light touch, since the Tiki Bar is a walk up bar for drinks and meals, and reservations only enter the picture for a poolside cabana or a private party, which the resort handles by phone.

Want a cabana held or a small celebration set up in advance? Tell us your date and party size below and we will ask Amara Cay directly, then report back with what they can offer and any cost, free of charge.