For a full week or longer vacation, we always prefer to rent a home or condo. We stayed at Regatta in November for a week, and can enthusiastically recommend it. Our Unit 403 was between the lagoon pool and canal. The spacious balcony provided a great view of the canal area facing north, which avoided any direct sun shining onto the balcony. The pool was beautiful, clean and never crowded (although it was off season). We had 3 bedrooms, a full open kitchen, and 3 flat screen TV's (although they were not hooked up to an HDTV feed), Internet access was high speed cable, and hopefully the owner will add wireless soon. Every unit has assigned parking, so there should never be a problem finding a spot.
Regatta is about 3 blocks from Vanderbilt beach, which is a nice walk. At the beach a vendor rents chairs and sells drinks and snacks. A convenience store was being readied to open halfway between the condo and beach. There is a Japanese restaurant and seafood shack in walking distance.
Tip: Pick up a Paradise Coast coupon book at a visitors center. There are discounts for several good restaurants, and a 2 for 1 chair rental coupon for the Vanderbilt Beach concession.
