Welcome to this hub and our overview of The Villages retirement community in Central Florida. If you are not familiar with The Villages, hopefully that will change after exploring this Hub.

Background:

The Villages is an active adult (55 and over) community located in central Florida. The Villages is located about 60 miles northwest of Orlando, and spans parts of three counties: Lake, Marion, and Sumter. The Villages is the creation of central Florida’s well-known Schwartz family, and continues to be run by the family today.

The Villages is a golf cart community, meaning golf carts can be safely and legally driven on special trails built especially for carts and along most of the roads 24 hours a day. This is a huge draw for residents. Being able to drive your golf cart to the grocery store, the post office, to dinner, even the hospital.

One of the biggest draws of The Villages is the many amenities available to the residents (affectionately known as “Villagers”). From the many golf courses, recreational facilities, restaurants, movie theaters, shopping and other lifestyle options, there’s always something to do in The Villages.

Golf in The Villages:

There are now 26 Executive courses in The Villages. Yes, you read that right...26! These nine-hole courses are mostly par 3's with a few par 4's and the rare par 5 sprinkled in for fun.

These courses are free for residents to play...if you live in The Villages, you're in! You'll pay no greens fees and if you want to walk the course it’s free. But, there is a small fee for golf cart rental. You can also use your own cart and pay a trail fee either daily, semi-annually, or annually.

In addition to the 26 Executive Courses there are 9 Championship courses in The Villages...most have 27 holes. Residents of The Villages are automatically members of these courses as well, but unfortunately they are not free to play.

Things To Do:

The Villages Recreation Department organizes and runs hundreds of activities and events throughout the week. You’ve of course got your swimming pools (family pools, sport pools for aerobics or laps) and parks, lakes for fishing, softball and sport fields, recreation centers throughout The Villages with things like tennis courts, shuffleboard, bocce, horseshoes, billiard tables and more.

Then you’ve got lots of organized entertainment in the town squares (Spanish Springs and Lake Sumter Landing) like live music and dancing almost every night of the year. The town squares also house restaurants and shopping galore. Plus there are two movie theaters to choose from, Rialto Theatre and Old Mill Playhouse that show all of todays current big hit movies.

Depending on the night, there are also classic car shows, festivals, parades...you name it!

Schedule a Visit:

The Villages offers a “visitation” program where you can go and visit The Villages, stay in one of the home there, and really experience what its like to live in The Villages. While it’s not free, the rates are much better than getting a local hotel room, even a budget hotel at that.

If you would rather just get a hotel room do a google search for "The Waterfront Inn at The Villages". This is one of the nicer hotels in the area.