
Orlando: A guide to short-term rentals
Orlando is the home of Disney World and Universal Studios, but it’s also a city surrounded by hundreds of lakes. A short-term rental is the best way to explore all that the city has to offer.
Kasa's short-term rentals in Orlando
With short-term rentals in the city’s most exciting neighborhoods, Kasa offers comfortable and convenient accommodations no matter what brings you to Orlando or where you need to go.
Kasa's short-term rentals in Orlando
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4.73 Total rating: 4.73 based on 121 reviews.Kasa ChampionsGate Orlando
- Fitness center
- Business center
- Community room
- Outdoor pool
- BBQ
- Pets allowed
Looking for somewhere to stay close to Disney World that also offers comfortable, apartment-style living and exciting amenities? This property will allow you to live like a local in Davenport, FL while also getting to enjoy the tourism side of the Sunshine State a mere 10 minutes away!
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Discover Orlando
After booking your short-term rental in Orlando, here's everything you need to know for your trip.
Famous as the home of Walt Disney World, Orlando is Florida’s third-largest city after Miami and Tampa and one of the most-visited cities in the U.S. and the world. It sits 40 miles inland from the Atlantic coast in a region scattered with hundreds of lakes that surround the city on all sides. Before European colonization, the region was inhabited by the Timucua and later the Seminole peoples.
In the early nineteenth century, a treaty established a Seminole reservation that encompassed an area including present-day Orlando. However, the Indian Removal Act of 1830 subsequently forcibly relocated the Seminole to Oklahoma, resulting in the Second Seminole War. White settlement in the area followed thereafter. In the late nineteenth century, Orlando anchored Florida’s citrus industry, but the Great Freeze of 1894-5 ruined many local citrus groves, sending the industry elsewhere in the South.
Tourism to Orlando began to pick up in the early twentieth century, with visitors enjoying the region’s beautiful environments and excellent Sun Belt climate. Land prices began to rise, as part of a larger trend across the state, and development in downtown Orlando boomed. Despite Orlando’s inland location, hurricanes hampered development, as did the Great Depression. Then World War II changed the face of the city, as nearby air bases swelled with troops and their families.
But the biggest surge of interest in Orlando occurred two decades after the War ended when Walt Disney chose the city as the location of Disney World over Tampa, which was more at risk of hurricane damage because of its exposure to the Gulf Coast. The resort opened in 1971, and in the decades since then, the Orlando metropolitan area has ballooned with a focus on tourism from all around the country and the world. Other theme parks have chosen Orlando as their home as well, turning the city into a global entertainment capital, and there are great short-term rental options near it all.
Orlando is served by Orlando International Airport, a major international airport located just 6 miles from the city’s downtown. To get from the airport to downtown, you can take a bus, a shuttle, or a taxi.
However, renting a car is the easiest way to get around Orlando because of how spread out most of the city’s main attractions are. Disney World, for example, is about 20 miles southwest of downtown, and Universal Studios is 10 miles away along the same southwestern route. You can make these trips using public transportation, but we don’t recommend it because you may need to make multiple transfers.
If you’re staying in the International Drive area, a busy commercial stretch that includes popular theme parks, restaurants, shops, and the city’s convention center, you may want to get a pass for the I-Ride Trolley, which connects many of these bustling sites. Buses are always an option, but they’re not beloved. And taxis are available, but over the course of a trip, a rental car can end up being cheaper (and faster).
Walt Disney World is far and away the city’s top attraction. The resort includes multiple theme parks and water parks, as well as shopping, sports, a boardwalk, and more. Most visitors come for Magic Kingdom, with its real-life version of Cinderella’s Castle and chances to meet childhood-favorite Disney characters from dozens of classic movies.
But Disney World isn’t all that Orlando has to offer in the way of cinematic entertainment. Universal Studios is a giant all its own, now with a Harry Potter themed addition that includes Hogwarts Castle and other locations and thrills from the series.
If you want a break from the big two, but you’re still craving more theme park experiences, don’t worry: other theme parks and water parks abound in the Orlando metro area. Two favorites: SeaWorld and Discovery Cove, with their bounty of aquatic species. Another fun activity: take a day trip to the nearby Kennedy Space Center, about an hour from Orlando.
Known for its vibrant nightlife, downtown Orlando also has a host of restaurants to choose from, serving the millions of visitors who pass through the city center each year. Winter Garden, about 25 minutes west of downtown along Lake Apopka, is a foodie destination with plenty of local charm. Pay a visit to East End Market, a two-story gourmet food hall. The Milk District, just east of downtown, is an artsy neighborhood known for its casual fare and food trucks. College Park is another neighborhood known for its dining options. It’s a pretty area with lots of greenery, lake views, and trendy restaurants.
Orlando is surrounded by hundreds of lakes, and if you like the water, there’s tons to do outdoors. You can hike around the nearby lakes, like Lake Apopka, or rent a boat, kayak, or paddleboard. You can bird watch in one of the region’s many marshes. Or, if you’re interested in a beach day, take a day trip east or west to the Atlantic or Gulf Coasts. There’s no shortage of tours through local proprietors.
Lake Eola in downtown Orlando is actually a giant sinkhole (a common feature of the area’s marshland), and its deepest point is a whopping 80 feet.
The oldest tree in Orlando is in the appropriately named Big Tree Park, just north of downtown, and it’s thought to be as many as 400 years old.
In 1978, an Orlando resident named Joe Kittinger was the first person to cross the Atlantic Ocean alone in a gas balloon.