The Villages vacation rentals

The Villages is a 55+ master-planned community in Central Florida, spread across Lake, Sumter and Marion counties over roughly 57 square miles, with more than 150,000 residents. It is built around golf, with more than 50 courses, over 100 recreation centers and five town squares with live entertainment every evening, about 45 miles north-west of Orlando.

Yes, as visitors. The Villages is a 55+ community, and its deed restrictions let anyone under 19 stay for no more than 30 days in total in a calendar year, which covers a normal vacation. At the pools and recreation facilities, under-19s must be with a Villages resident or a guest aged 19 or over who holds a Guest ID card, and the family pools are the ones open to all ages.

Yes, with a Guest ID card, and we arrange those for our guests. The cards are issued by The Villages Community Development Districts to visitors who live outside Lake, Sumter and Marion counties, and the application has to come from a Villages resident. Each card lasts 30 days, and only the original is accepted at the pools and recreation centers, so keep it with you.

Yes. The championship courses publish a non-resident rate, and guests pay a green fee on both the championship and the nine-hole executive courses, plus a trail fee on the executive courses unless they walk. Golf cars and clubs can be rented at any of the country clubs, and tee times can be booked with the course on the day of play. Collared shirts are expected on the course.

From the Village of La Zamora in Lady Lake, where our home is, Walt Disney World is about 56 to 66 miles by road depending on the park, roughly an hour and a quarter to an hour and a half without traffic. Across The Villages as a whole it ranges from about 45 to 70 miles, with the southern end closest. Either way, Disney is a day trip rather than a daily drive.

From our home in the Village of La Zamora, Orlando Sanford (SFB) is the nearest at about 59 miles, and Orlando International (MCO) is about 66 miles; both take roughly an hour and twenty minutes by car without traffic. Tampa International (TPA) is about 94 miles away, closer to an hour and forty minutes.

The five town squares — Spanish Springs, Lake Sumter Landing, Brownwood, Sawgrass Grove and Eastport — host live entertainment every evening of the year, among their restaurants and shops. There are cinemas at Lake Sumter Landing and Brownwood, and performing arts venues including The Sharon in Spanish Springs. Hours change with the season.

No, a car works everywhere, but golf cars are how much of the community gets around: the developer counts roughly one and a half per home, and multi-modal paths, bridges and tunnels link the neighborhoods to the squares and recreation centers. Drivers need government photo ID, the limit is 20 mph, and golf cars may not use roads posted at 35 mph or more or enter roundabouts.

It depends on the neighborhood. Each has its own Declaration of Restrictions, and some of the newer ones only allow a home to be leased for a month or more. Our home is in the Village of La Zamora, in the older part of The Villages, where the deed restrictions set no minimum lease, so stays shorter than a month are allowed there.

Not in the usual sense. The roads through The Villages are public, so it is not a gated community, but there are more than 140 gate facilities at the neighborhood entrances, and 27 of them are staffed every day from 6am until midnight.

That depends on the home, so check its listing or ask us. Around the community, pets are not allowed in pool areas and only certified service animals are allowed in recreation centers, but there are dog parks, open to guests aged 13 and over, with 13 to 18 year olds accompanied by a resident or a guest aged 19 or over.