My husband and I (and various guests) stayed for 3 weeks at Coral Ridge Villa in February—a beautiful, temperate month to visit south Florida (we rarely used the zoned central A/C). We really enjoyed our time at the house. The photos and listing info tells the story: a clean, spacious, well-equipped home on a canal with a nice pool in a quiet, mid-century residential neighborhood. (There are some trains and airplanes you hear at times, but mostly just beautiful bird songs.)

House owner Gabriela and her house manager Martina were very sympathetic and helpful at the beginning of our stay, when we had to keep changing our arrival date due to an illness. After we left, Martina also found a computer cord we'd left behind and is mailing it to us, which is nice.

The house had several coffee makers including a Nespresso machine (and gourmet coffee capsules!) to welcome us. The front door and garage use a keypad to get in and out, which is a very handy system (no keys to carry or lose!). In the garage is the laundry set up and 3 Huffy bikes parked near the perfect beach gear—2 small chairs and boogie boards (we “donated” two beach paddles and rubber ball to the beach items, too).

Area info is all in the orientation notebook that comes with the house. If we had any questions, Martina (whom we never met) was only a text or phone call away. Tons of shopping (3 grocery stores only blocks away) and restaurants in the area (our favorite was tiny Casa Frida, with amazing Mexican food).

The cute beach town of Lauderdale-by-the-Sea is only 1 mile east, so we visited it a lot at the end of the day for one last shot of beach & beach dining. The main expressway going north and south, I-95, is only a few minutes drive west. During our three weeks, using one of Gabriela’s guidebooks on her bookshelf, we checked out various ocean towns, north and south—special favorites being Coconut Grove down in Miami and Delray Beach 30 minutes north. Mostly, we had a great time hanging out by the (unheated) salt-water pool on the shaded back patio, watching the birds, sunsets, and stars.

Small things we liked: large quantity of towels and bedding; great appliances (like fancy washer and dryer & quiet dishwasher). Small thing we wished was better: the limited TV channels available to watch on the large-screen TV (all the regular U.S. networks were there but not some basic cable stations like CNN).

All in all, a very positive experience, and we hope to come back to Coral Ridge Villa again.