White Sands Inn

Super great mom and pop hotel! It is just PERFECT!!!

Cozy small place. Friendly staff. Rachel runs the place and knows all the local spots to get a bite or listen to live music. Definitely a must stop and stay location on your way to The Keys!

We’ve stayed here several times over the years, just left the other day. Its had its ups and downs. Our room was pretty clean although not as clean as my home. Bed creaked. Décor needs some work. Shower dripped constantly. No hooks or extra bars for wet towels. Great view. Beach. Grounds needed work. Nice people. Pet friendly. Parking OK. Pool clean and comfortable. Rates about right for area. So if that’s what you’re for this is your place. I think I wanted a little bit more this time. Probably won’t be visiting keys soon again but might try a different place.

The reviews are mixed for White Sands Inn. The difficulty is reality meeting expectations. If you are looking for a Sheraton or Hilton, keep looking. If you are looking for a quaint motel from a bygone era you found it.
We stayed in room 6 (the palm room). Private entrance at the top of your own stairs, overlooks the ocean. Full kitchen and functional, the refrigerator came in handy.
Room was adequately clean, but I have high expectations in this area. The shower is small but does the job.
We stayed at the end of August and the beach was not what I would call a beach, opted for the pool instead. If you want a beach Sombrero Beach is only about 8 miles away.
Will we stay here again? I don’t know, we will probably try to stay in Key West next time.

I’ve stayed here before with 3 others and we had a nice time. The price was the best for a few nights stay. It’s pretty rustic, it’s not a resort and there’s no bellhop or anyone to wait on you hand and foot. It’s on island time. I don’t think I ever saw the people who run it, but when we booked it over the phone she was pretty nice. There’s nice shaded picnic tables in the back for a BBQ, a really nice pool, and hammocks to relax in.
It’s atlantic side so the wind blows up the seaweed and grass, so on lowtide it does stink a little but nothing too terrible, but during high tide it’s beautiful. The water is warm too on low tide, we walked out to the docks and waded in the water and saw lots of horseshoe crabs.
We didn’t have any maintenence problems or anything, I can see what other reviewers mean where the owners may have been difficult to get a hold of since we never saw them around-​but we liked the privacy. The whole inn probably has maybe 10 rooms, so theres not a lot of traffic and we almost always had the pools and hammocks to ourself-​simply peace and quiet.

I had the misfortune of booking a room at the White Sands Inn on a fluke. I was lured in by one of the 3 owners apparently from the Kentucky woods where they would say just. about anything you wanted to hear until they rang up your credit card. Now white sands, thry don’t tell you that you will have sand in the sheets of the bed you sleep in, there is sand all over the floor, yhey never cleaned once, the refrigerator didn’t work and their toilet overflowed. You had NO ONE to complain to and when you did they blamed it all on you. Real classy people bring thst it was Christmas time and these low life yokals didn’t care whose holiday they ruined. To top it all off my neighbors upstairs from me from Sweden found a Scorpion in their room. Please stay away from this shithole.
ZERO STARS

Charming little place. Right on the water. Definitely stay here if you don’t mind not having all the ridiculous amenities we’re all so accustomed to, but such an awesome place!!! Cute pool, too.

I really wanted to rate this Inn higher. We met and liked the owner and daughter and both were friendly but, as it turned out, absent most of the time. That was the good part. We stayed for 6 days and I thought it was unusual that I was asked to pay up-​front rather than at the end of our stay. (After reading some of the other reviews, I now know why.) The ice machine was inoperative the entire time and I thought it was odd when the owner said, «Gee, nobody’s ever asked about ice.» Right. The mattress in the king bed was hard as a rock and felt like a cheapo from Mattress Barn. The bed was not made up nor the sheets changed for the entire 6 days. The room was not cleaned for the entire 6 days. A walk to the end of the dock revealed a fish cleaning station and at low tide 40 – 50 fish carcasses right at the end of the steps to get to the mud flats. Disgusting. The crabs and birds cleaned out the carcasses in a couple of days. The best part of the entire stay was the pool which was surrounded by coconut palms and fan palms which made a pleasant sound in the constant ocean breeze. After our 1^st day, however, the promised towels daily at poolside disappeared, and for the remaining 5 days I had to skim debris off the pool every morning (fished out 2 crabs zipping along the bottom of the pool too.). The «For Sale» sign in the front of the Inn did not inspire confidence in this traveler nor was the 6 foot pile of tree debris in the front yard or the sewage smell when the wind wasn’t blowing or the garbage dump in the vacant property immediately to the north. I was wanting to make this a better review but there was just no way it’s possible. There’s no place like home, there’s no place like home, there’s no place like home…
PS — I published a similar review of this property on TripAdvisor and now the owner’s daughter is writing phony reviews to counter my review and their ineptitude. Really dumb and pathetic. Their time would be better spent fixing their issues and cleaning up their hotel.

I would definitely go back here again. We stopped based on the other reviewer’s review (didn’t see on the mobile app that there were two legitimate looking reviews that had been filtered) and wanted to try our luck at a less-​visited location.
We didn’t have a reservation. When we got there, nobody was at the check-​in desk, but there was a phone to call. The gal was super friendly, took our information over the phone (she was running an errand) and told us which room was available and the key was inside. We even got a discount for being a walk-​in customer! I think it was $ 89 for the night.
The room was very clean, spacious and had a large «mini-​fridge,» a microwave, coffee pot and cranked a/​c. There were even filled ice cube trays in the freezer.
The beds were surprisingly comfortable. They looked like they would be stiff, but it was great!
The tide was down so there was a bit of a stench from the rotting sea grass, but that’s nothing the hotel can do anything about. The water was pretty brown… I’m sure it’s fine, but I wouldn’t swim in it. Not to worry though because there is a pool! We didn’t go in the pool, but it looked nice and additional towels are available for it.
They had a large hammock in excellent condition hanging between two palm trees. We spent some time hanging out there and enjoying the cool breeze. The rooms have chairs outside and there is a bar area (they don’t serve anything, but you can hang out there) with a view of the water.

I think this is one of the gems regarding hotels/​rentals in the Keys. Some Keys motels/​rentals are a bit too «rustic» for my tastes, but you are paying for the setting, and being on the water is wonderful. The White Sands inn is one of the cleaner places in the Lower-​Middle Keys, and it’s on the Atlantic side right one the water. Since it’s really on the windward side, there will be a build up of seagrass that collects at the shore, but that’s the keys, and it’s normal.
My family and I have been coming to this area for three years, and have stayed twice on the White Sands property. The owners are present and very accommodating. Additionally, they have a nice well maintained pool.
Environment, if you like seagrass beds, Grassy Key is perfect, get your snorkeling gear and go at it, the water is shallow a full of sea life, great for a kid (horseshoe crabs, blue crabs, fish, etc.).
If you want to have a place to hang out for few days, and just relax, BBQ, and have fun — you found it.

We were so happy that we found this place for our first trip to the Florida Keys! We stayed in a suite with a kitchen and a porch where we were able to grill. It had a laid back island feel that we just loved. The owners and staff were all so friendly and helpful. It’s close to a few attractions such as the Dolphin Research Center and Curry Hammock State Park. It was an easy drive to grocery stores and close to Sombrero Beach. There were kayaks that we were able to take out at any time. One morning a small pod of dolphins swam by the beach, and while out on the kayaks, we saw a couple sting rays, and even a small hammer head shark! My husband and I will definitely go back.