Vacation House Rental Guide

For those of you in the process of planning a trip to Cape Cod this year, you might want to consider renting a house instead of finding yourself holed up in a hotel. Let’s talk about some of the benefits of house rental versus hotel.

Cape Cod is as good as it gets. I mean, if you have your heart set on Cape Cod, you might as well go all the way and enjoy it properly. You would have your own house, which means instead of trying to cram your family into a small hotel room, you would have a full kitchen and however many bedrooms you need, all in a home-away-from-home setting.

I perused some of the available homes on the internet. I fell in love with some of these houses, and if you’ll just take a quick peek at the offerings, you will too. Many of the houses have their own private beach! Can you picture yourself at sunrise, taking a few steps out your back door, and watching the sun come up before you even have breakfast? And breakfast, by the way, could consist of bacon and eggs, or whatever the little woman cooks up to delight your senses, instead of the old continental stale doughnut routine at any given hotel. (If you’re the little woman, then you demand your little man get up and cook the grits).

Some of the house rentals I saw had wood burning fireplaces, a deck with panoramic views, a woodland in your backyard, a garden gazebo, and a secluded beach with a charming little path leading to it. But don’t say I didn’t warn you – if you look, you will like it, and you will decide you simply must have it.

The choice is yours…you can stuff your family into a cheap hotel room, and spend your money on all the tourist trap thrills, or you can invest your hard earned money into the real deal – Cape Cod at its finest.

Sometimes you just don’t have much choice of when you get your vacation time, so if it’s winter time, and you’re thinking warm weather, the only answer is Florida. And the only way to maximize that vacation time in Florida, is renting a vacation house.

I escaped regularly from the northern mountains in the winter to thaw out, and have enjoyed most parts of Florida from the Panhandle to Key West. I have found that even for a brief weekend visit, renting a vacation house has given me the flexibility to enjoy the area while still feeling at home.

I have also found that vacation rental houses can be as varied as a houseboat on a lake in central Florida, to a beautiful home in the Keys. The houseboat was a total pleasure with the freedom to roam the lake and meet new people, yet have the security of being in my own place and only unpacking once, not to mention the privacy. The vacation home in the Keys providing all the peace and quiet I was looking for, with relaxing views of water, colorful landscaping and peaceful quiet.

My best decision ever, though, was to rent a vacation home on the west coast of Florida for a month, which allowed friends and family to work in a visit to see me around their vacation schedules. The house was perfect as a home-base for the whole crowd to explore close-by tourist attractions, test out restaurants, hit the shopping malls, or just stay “home” and visit with each other, renewing memories and sharing good times.

I don’t know about you, but any time at the beach is simply never enough. I’ve been for an hour, a day, a week, and even a month, yet still I want to stay longer. My best times, hands down, have been when I rented a vacation house for a week or more.

There’s the usual benefits of being able to cook my own food, or planning side trips around the weather. But my favorite is being close to the waves, because after all, that’s what the beach is all about. Renting a house right along the ocean is a guarantee, to me at least, of wide-open windows for sound sleeping nights and fresh-eyed, wide awake mornings. From a vacation home I can settle in, feel more relaxed about my surroundings, and enjoy all the beach has to offer.

Any beach visitors’ favorite way to while away the hours is shell hunting. Of course, you don’t want to think of it as exercise, or getting fresh air, or thinking of something besides work. Shell hunting holds the hope constant that you just might find that most unusual thing, that special memento of the trip. And the hours to hunt those shells are best taken from a long stay in a seaside cottage you’ve rented for the time.

Of course, if family time is the reason for visiting the beach, what better way than renting a vacation home so everyone can spread out and enjoy whatever they like best. From reading on the porch, fishing from the shore, hunting for shells, taking pictures, playing games in the sunroom — when the whole gang is together, the times are always fun.

Whether you grew up in the mountains, or just visited, it’s a natural thing to be drawn back to them. There’s just something magical about seeing soaring peaks, almost-too-green trees, and crystal clear air. Now throw eye and soul pleasing seasonal changes — from snow to spring green, summer coolness or fall spectacular color — into the mix and you’ve got some great reasons to pay a visit again.

And if you’re going to pay a visit to the mountains, take that much deserved and needed vacation, then it’s going to be far more rewarding to rent a house and stay awhile.

With a vacation rental home as a base of operations, so to speak, you’ve got the flexibility to plan daily excursions around weather, allowing for Mother Nature’s mood so to speak, and yours as well. And there’s the added benefit of coming “home” to more than basic comforts than to a hotel room where you’re left with no choice but going back out again to eat.

There’s two somewhat opposing special benefits that most people find that truly drives their decision to rent a home in the mountains. One of those reasons is for quiet time or being alone, being one with nature, and filling the need to unwind, de-stress and refresh. The other, and quite the opposite, is to bring along the whole family with friends to create a real social atmosphere of renewing old times or creating new memories, and preferably all under one vacation house roof to maximize the benefit.

No matter what the reason, if you’re going to take that time in the mountains, the best way to go is renting a vacation home, with all the comforts, privacy and other benefits you want.