10 Most Haunted Hotels in Florida: Stay If You Dare
Florida sells itself on sunshine, theme parks, and sugar-white sand. But peel back the postcard and you’ll find one of the most haunted states in America — a peninsula layered with Spanish colonial forts, yellow fever epidemics, Prohibition-era gangsters, hurricane tragedies, and Gilded Age hotels built by railroad barons who wanted their names carved in marble forever.
Some of those hotels are still open. Some of their original guests, allegedly, never checked out.
If you’re the kind of traveler who reads the historical plaque before the room service menu, this list is for you. Below are the 10 most haunted hotels in Florida, why they’re haunted, and what guests report when the lights go out.
Why Is Florida So Haunted?
Florida’s ghost stories aren’t random. They cluster around three things:
- Age. St. Augustine, founded in 1565, is the oldest continuously occupied European settlement in the United States. Centuries of conflict, disease, and burial grounds left their mark.
- Boom-and-bust wealth. The 1920s Florida land boom produced spectacular hotels — and spectacular ruin. Several were converted into military hospitals during World War II, where thousands of wounded soldiers were treated and many died.
- Water. Shipwrecks, hurricanes, and drownings have shaped the coastline’s folklore for four centuries. Nearly every haunted Florida hotel sits within a mile of the sea.
Put those three ingredients together and you get the list below.
1. The Biltmore Hotel — Coral Gables
The undisputed heavyweight of haunted Florida hotels. Opened in 1926 with a 315-foot tower modeled on Seville’s Giralda, the Biltmore became a World War II military hospital and later a VA hospital before sitting abandoned for nearly two decades.
The star of its ghost lore is Thomas “Fatty” Walsh, a New York gangster shot dead during a card game in the tower in 1929. Guests and staff report elevators that stop on the 13th floor unbidden, cigar smoke drifting through empty hallways, and lights flickering in the Everglades Suite. Employees have also described the faint sounds of hospital gurneys rolling across the upper floors.
Best for: History buffs who want luxury with their chills — the golf course and 700,000-gallon pool are legendary in their own right.
2. Casa Monica Resort & Spa — St. Augustine
Built in 1888 and later owned by Henry Flagler, Casa Monica anchors the most haunted city in America. Its Moorish Revival towers overlook streets where ghost tours run nightly — and several of them stop right outside the front doors.
Guests report awoman in period dress walking the fourth-floor corridor, doors that unlock themselves, and a persistent cold spot near one of the tower suites. Staff have long spoken of a young girl heard laughing in the lobby after closing. Given that St. Augustine has been continuously inhabited since 1565 — and that the hotel sits blocks from Castillo de San Marcos, the Huguenot Cemetery, and the old city gates — the surprising thing would be if it weren’t haunted.
Best for: Travelers who want to pair a haunted stay with the city’s ghost trolley tours and lighthouse investigations.
3. The Don CeSar Hotel — St. Pete Beach
Locals call it the “Pink Palace.” Thomas Rowe built it in 1928 as a monument to a lost love — a Spanish opera singer named Lucinda whom his family forbade him from marrying. Rowe died in the lobby in 1940, and guests have reported seeing a man in a white suit and Panama hat strolling the grounds with a dark-haired woman on his arm, always disappearing near the fountain where he and Lucinda supposedly agreed to meet again.
Like the Biltmore, the Don CeSar served as a military hospital during World War II, adding another layer of residual energy to the building. Staff report unexplained footsteps on the fifth floor and elevator doors opening on empty landings.
Best for: Romantics. It’s arguably the most beautiful haunted hotel in the state, and the beach out front is exceptional.
4. The Vinoy Renaissance Hotel — St. Petersburg
Opened in 1925 and also pressed into military service in the 1940s, the Vinoy has a reputation among a very specific group of guests: professional baseball players. Visiting MLB teams staying at the hotel have reported so many disturbances that the stories have been covered by national sports media.
The most repeated account involves a man in a 1920s-era suit and top hat appearing in fifth-floor rooms, sometimes at the foot of the bed. Others describe televisions turning on, faucets running, and a heavy sensation of being watched in the older wing.
Best for: Skeptics. When athletes who fly private and sleep in a different city every night single out one hotel, it gets your attention.
5. The Island Hotel — Cedar Key
A tiny, tabby-walled inn built in 1859 on Florida’s remote Gulf coast, the Island Hotel may have the highest ghost-per-square-foot ratio in the state. Local lore counts at least ten distinct spirits, including a former owner named Bessie Gibbs who is said to rearrange furniture and open doors, a Confederate soldier, and a hotel employee murdered over a gambling debt.
Room 28 and Room 29 draw the most reports: whistling with no source, cold gusts in a building with no central air, and the sound of someone walking the upstairs hall at night. The hotel leans into it — staff will happily tell you which room to request.
Best for: Serious paranormal enthusiasts who don’t need a spa. Cedar Key is delightfully off the grid.
6. The Lakeside Inn — Mount Dora
Central Florida’s oldest continuously operating hotel, the Lakeside Inn opened in 1883 and hosted President Calvin Coolidge in 1930. Its wide porches and rocking chairs are the definition of Old Florida charm — which makes the ghost stories land a little harder.
Guests describe a woman in white on the veranda, phantom piano music from the parlor, and doors in the Gables building opening and closing on their own. Staff have reported hearing their names called in empty rooms.
Best for: A quiet weekend. Mount Dora’s antique shops and lakefront are worth the trip regardless.
7. The Seven Sisters Inn — Ocala
A pair of Queen Anne Victorian houses built in 1888, the Seven Sisters Inn has been investigated by multiple paranormal television crews and is frequently named one of the most haunted bed-and-breakfasts in the Southeast.
Reported activity is unusually varied: a little girl named Sylvia heard giggling in hallways, a woman in a wedding dress on the staircase, phantom cooking smells from the kitchen at 3 a.m., and objects moved between rooms. Because the property is small, guests tend to experience things collectively rather than alone — which is either reassuring or much worse, depending on your temperament.
Best for: Group trips and small-scale investigations, where everyone gets a story to take home.
8. The Florida House Inn — Fernandina Beach, Amelia Island
Florida’s oldest surviving hotel, opened in 1857, the Florida House Inn hosted Ulysses S. Grant, the Carnegies, the Rockefellers, and — during Fernandina’s rowdier decades — plenty of sailors, smugglers, and shipping magnates.
The most-reported presence is a young girl seen on the staircase and in the upstairs hall, along with a man in a dark coat glimpsed in the pub. Guests also describe the smell of pipe tobacco in non-smoking rooms and the sensation of someone sitting on the edge of the bed. Amelia Island’s history of pirates, eight different flags of sovereignty, and yellow fever outbreaks gives the property plenty of material to work with.
Best for: Travelers who want a walkable historic district, oyster bars, and a genuinely old building.
9. The Casa Marina Hotel — Jacksonville Beach
Opened in 1925 during the Florida land boom, the Casa Marina hosted Al Capone and Jean Harlow, then served as officers’ quarters during World War II. It sat vacant for years before restoration — a common thread among Florida’s most active properties.
Staff and guests report a woman in 1920s clothing on the rooftop terrace, footsteps on the third floor, and voices in the penthouse when it’s unoccupied. Several employees have described equipment turning itself on in the kitchen after close.
Best for: A Jazz Age atmosphere with the Atlantic across the street.
10. Marrero’s Guest Mansion — Key West
Built in 1889 by cigar magnate Francisco Marrero for his wife Enriquetta, this Old Town mansion carries one of Florida’s best-documented ghost legends. After Marrero’s death, his first wife successfully claimed the estate, and Enriquetta was evicted with her children. She reportedly swore she would never leave the house.
Guests report the scent of her perfume, a woman’s figure in Room 18, lights and fans operating on their own, and personal items relocated overnight. Key West — with its yellow fever cemeteries, shipwreck salvagers, and Robert the Doll a few blocks away at the East Martello Museum — is the perfect backdrop.
Best for: Anyone building a full haunted Key West itinerary.
Tips for Booking a Haunted Hotel Stay
Request the specific room. Most of these properties know exactly which rooms generate reports. Call the front desk directly and ask — they’re used to the question.
Travel in the off-season. September through early November brings lower rates, fewer crowds, and better odds of a quiet, empty hallway at 2 a.m.
Bring a backup light source. Not for the ghosts. For the century-old wiring.
Book refundable rates when you can. If you’re nervous, flexibility helps. And if a room is too active, most of these hotels will move you without argument.
Stack a ghost tour with your stay. St. Augustine, Key West, and Mount Dora all run excellent nightly walking tours that add context to what you’re sleeping inside.
Which Haunted Florida Hotel Should You Choose?
| If you want… | Book |
|---|---|
| Luxury + the most famous ghost | The Biltmore, Coral Gables |
| The oldest city in America | Casa Monica, St. Augustine |
| A beachfront icon | The Don CeSar, St. Pete Beach |
| Maximum reported activity | The Island Hotel, Cedar Key |
| A small, intimate B&B | Seven Sisters Inn, Ocala |
| Old Florida quiet | Lakeside Inn, Mount Dora |
| A full Key West ghost trip | Marrero’s Guest Mansion |
Ready to Book? A Quick Note From Us
We spend a lot of time researching these properties, their histories, their room-by-region reputations, and the honest guest reviews behind the legends, and we’d love to help you actually book the trip.
Full transparency: we’re affiliate partners with Marriott, Hilton, IHG, and Expedia. Several of the hotels on this list fall under those brands and booking platforms, and when you reserve through the links on our site, we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. You pay the same rate you’d find anywhere else — the price on your confirmation doesn’t change by a single cent.
What does change is that those commissions are the only reason we can keep doing this: driving to Cedar Key to see Room 28 for ourselves, digging through county archives and old newspaper microfilm, and updating this guide every season instead of copying the same recycled ghost stories everyone else publishes.
So if this article helped you narrow things down, the single most useful thing you can do is start your search through our booking links before you reserve:
- Marriott — the natural choice for the Vinoy Renaissance in St. Petersburg and other Marriott-family historic properties
- Hilton — worth checking for Curio and Tapestry Collection stays, which is where a surprising number of restored, century-old Florida hotels live
- IHG — strong on boutique and historic-district properties along both coasts
- Expedia — the best option for the independents on this list, like the Island Hotel, Seven Sisters Inn, and Marrero’s Guest Mansion, which don’t belong to a major chain
A practical tip: check the brand site and Expedia before you commit. Chain loyalty programs often win on points, free breakfast, and elite perks, while Expedia frequently wins on package pricing when you’re bundling a flight or rental car — and you’ll need a car for most of these destinations. Either way, if you begin from our links, you get the same rate and we get to keep the lights on. Fair trade.
One last thing: if you do stay somewhere on this list and something happens — a door, a whistle, a figure at the foot of the bed — come back and tell us. Reader accounts are how this guide grows, and half the properties on it earned their spot because a guest took the time to write it down.
Sleep well. Or don’t.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the most haunted hotel in Florida? The Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables is the most widely cited, thanks to the Fatty Walsh legend and its years as a military and VA hospital. For sheer volume of reported activity relative to its size, though, the Island Hotel in Cedar Key is the enthusiasts’ pick.
Is St. Augustine really the most haunted city in America? It’s one of the most commonly named, and the reasoning is sound: founded in 1565, it has more than 450 years of conflict, epidemics, and burials layered under a very small historic downtown.
Can you request a haunted room? Usually, yes. Smaller inns like the Island Hotel and Seven Sisters Inn openly discuss which rooms have reputations. Larger chain hotels are more discreet, but front desk staff will often point you in the right direction if you ask politely.
When is the best time to visit haunted hotels in Florida? Late September through November offers cooler weather, lower rates, and Halloween-season ghost tours. Note that Florida’s hurricane season runs through November 30, so refundable rates are wise.
Are these hotels family-friendly? Most are, though a few of the smaller bed-and-breakfasts have minimum age requirements. Check before booking if you’re traveling with young children.
