Where to stay in the Florida Keys: the best islands and hotels

Key Largo is where the mainland lets go. It is the first and largest of the keys, about an hour's drive from Miami, and most people come for what's under the surface: John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park protects a long sweep of living reef just offshore, and dive and snorkel boats leave all day.

On land it is low-key, a long green island with resorts hidden down side roads on the calm Gulf side. The best of them are spread over acres of hardwood forest and waterfront, with their own marinas, small private beaches, spas and hammocks strung between the palms. Sunsets over the bay are the main evening event, and nobody seems to mind.

Islamorada, a string of small islands just over an hour south of Miami, bills itself as the sport-fishing capital of the world, and the marinas full of charter boats back that up. Even if you never pick up a rod, you get the benefit: seafood straight off the dock, and the Everglades backcountry on one side with the coral reef on the other.

This is also where the Keys do grown-up luxury. A handful of oceanfront resorts have private beaches, several pools and spas, including one of the most celebrated hotels in the islands. Smaller beachfront places have their own marinas, kayaks and villas. It's quiet after dark, which is rather the idea.

Marathon sits halfway down the chain, which makes it the natural base if you want to see both ends. It is a working town with a fishing-resort past, a marina with a landmark lighthouse and, at its western edge, the start of the Seven Mile Bridge, the most famous stretch of the whole drive.

Families do well here. Resorts tend to come with two or three pools, private beaches, bikes to borrow and tiki bars for the adults, and there's a beach-house style resort with spa treatments for when the children are finally asleep. Key West is close enough for a day trip, and far enough that you'll sleep.

Key West is closer to Havana than to Miami, and it behaves accordingly. Old Town is a few square miles of wooden houses with wraparound porches, bougainvillea, free-roaming roosters and bars that Hemingway would still recognise. Duval Street runs through the middle of it, loud and cheerful from lunchtime, and every evening a crowd gathers at Mallory Square to applaud the sun into the Gulf.

Stay in Old Town if you can: you can walk or cycle everywhere and never think about parking. The choice runs from a grand, historic beachfront resort on the Atlantic side to waterfront hotels by the harbour and garden bungalows on quiet lanes. Resorts on neighbouring Stock Island have more space and more pools, with shuttles to Duval Street.