Club Review : The Garden of Eden, Key West, Florida

The Garden of Eden is a clothing optional bar in Key West, Florida. While not actually a swingers club, the Garden of Eden has become the defacto meeting place for swingers in the Florida Keys, as there is not, to the best of my knowledge, an actual lifestyle club in Key West. Even though The Garden of Eden is not a swingers club, it provides an environment that is very welcoming to swingers, and could be worth a visit if you are in the Keys.

On to the review....

Facilities:

The Garden of Eden is part of a three story bar complex, with the Garden of Eden occupying the roof. Being that the weather in Key West is essentially always nice, the roof is the best spot on the building, and allows people who choose to take advantage of the "Clothing Optional" part of the bar to have the experience of being nude outside, while still maintaining privacy from the rest of the vanilla world

The layout of the Garden of Eden is simple. There is a medium sized covered bar, a covered DJ both, a small room for body painting, and an open air dance area. There are no lockers, so if you choose to get naked, or have a bag with you, there will not be a place to store your stuff while you are there. Since the Garden of Eden is not a swingers club, sex on premises is forbidden, and there are no private rooms or group play areas.

One major flaw with the layout of the Garden of Eden is that the restrooms are located in the Vanilla bar downstairs, and anyone who has chosen to take of their clothes will have to put them back on to use the facilities.



Location :

The Garden of Eden is located on Duval Street, directly in the middle of the tourist district of Key West. The Garden of Eden is within close walking distance to countless bars, restaurants, hotels, and tourist attractions. Like most of Key West, parking is essentially non existent, so plan on taking a cab or walking. Avoid using the bike taxi's that are found all over the tourist district, as they are very slow, and very expensive. Unfortunately Uber is not on the island of Key West, so you will need to use a traditional cab if you need transportation.


Clientele :

The clientele of the Garden of Eden differs from what you can find at most swingers club, primarily because the garden is not a swingers club. That being said, everyone at the Garden of Eden was very open and accepting of the lifestyle, even if they were not actually in it themselves. Most of the people in attendance were there as couples, with very few singles present. There were a few of the typical "creepy old single men" that virtually every lifestyle establishment has, but security was quick to escort them out of the bar the first time they crossed the line from kind of creepy to inappropriate. Most people in attendance where in their early 40's, although there were many people in their 20's, 30's, and 50's as well. The crowd was mostly Caucasian, with a small variety of other ethnicities mixed in. Everyone at the Garden of Eden was friendly and accepting, regardless of why they were at the bar.

We made the rounds, introducing ourselves to as many people as possible. What we found was that most of the people in attendance were not actual swingers, but virtually everyone was at least "swing curious". When we introduced ourselves as swingers, virtually everyone we talked to started asking lots of questions about the lifestyle, and expressed their interest in someday getting into the lifestyle themselves. One of the people we talked to was a local, who frequents the Garden of Eden. He summed the place up very effectively, saying that "The Garden of Eden is a place for people to first dip their toes into the lifestyle. For most of the people here, this is the first place they have had the opportunity to get naked in public, and it the first opportunity they have had to see other people naked in public. It's pretty easy to hook up here, as there are always other swingers here, but most of the people in attendance on any given night are taking their first steps into the world of the lifestyle, and are not ready to take the plunge into actual swapping yet". After talking to and observing the people at the Garden of Eden, I could not agree more.

Prices :

There was no cover charge the night that we visited The Garden of Eden. Drink prices where typical of most of the bars in Key West, although we both felt that the drinks were pretty week. Getting drunk at this bar could be an expensive proposition, but this is expected when you are in the heart of the tourist district.

Overall Impression :

We enjoyed our visit to the Garden of Eden. I would certainly recommend it anyone who is in Key West, and who is also in the lifestyle or is interested in the lifestyle. The Garden of Eden is not a place to go for all of your swinging needs, but it is a great place for someone who is curious about the lifestyle to first dip their toe into the water, and it is a great place for the experienced swinger to kick back and take their top off for a bit while they are on vacation.


Have you been to The Garden of Eden? Tell us your thoughts about it in the comments section!