Venice or Englewood (Sarasota, North Port: house, neighborhood, places to live)

[pgans]

I have done a lot of research on Venice and love it.
How does Englewood compare for one who wants to enjoy retirement sitting by my pool or walking on the beach? Maybe once in a while appease the wife with a shopping trip.

[Peter the Brit]

No choice Engelwood is characterful but lacks infrastucture whilst Ven ice is also characterful and has a small twon infrastructure.
I prefer Manasota beache but it is a short ride from Venice.

[loves2read]

Englewood is more old time FL--little retail/commercial/entertainment from what I have seen on my trips down--
Venice has a nicer downtown with some restaurants/shopping and also more retail/commercial in the area on and off the Island...but not too commercialized
I would not call Venice upscale but it is definitely more so that Englewood

[imagardener]

Huge differences between the two.

Venice has MANY more restaurants of all calibre.
Venice has 10 times as many retail shops.
They both have great beaches but Venice has the jetty too.
Venice has a neat Saturday market downtown with veggies, handmade items and more.
Venice is cultural, Englewood is Old Florida (the motto: Englewood is a drinking village with a fishing problem).

But Englewood is #2 nationally on tripadvisors rising star list.
Your wife will love Venice.

[movin-on-up!]

if your main goal is just to relax (pool and beach)- either should be great. but if you would like more options- restaurants cultural etc etc- then pick venice. remember that they are not far from each other. like 20 mins? good luck. both have great beaches. come on down and visit and check em both out. i imagine englewood would be less expensive (?) but venice has great deals right now too.

[SoFLGal]

Englewood was just voted on of the best places to live. It has a very laid back lifestyle and is popular tourist destination in the winter. It's very sleepy in the summer. You have several nice beaches and many places to launch boats or fish. Englewood is not an incorporated city like Venice so it relies on county services for fire, ambulance, police, etc. Actually, Englewood straddles two counties, Charlotte and Sarasota, so it depends upon where you live which county you are in.

This is a more scattered population where Venice is more densely packed into a small area. Both populations are mainly retirees, but most very active in golf, tennis, fishing, boating or the arts.

[Big House]

Originally Posted by SoFLGal

Englewood was just voted on of the best places to live. It has a very laid back lifestyle and is popular tourist destination in the winter. It's very sleepy in the summer. You have several nice beaches and many places to launch boats or fish. Englewood is not an incorporated city like Venice so it relies on county services for fire, ambulance, police, etc. Actually, Englewood straddles two counties, Charlotte and Sarasota, so it depends upon where you live which county you are in.

This is a more scattered population where Venice is more densely packed into a small area. Both populations are mainly retirees, but most very active in golf, tennis, fishing, boating or the arts.

There she is! SoFLGal, Welcome back.
Good information on Englewood.

[WAwannabe]

We are staying at the in-laws in Englewood right now and we just bought in Venice.. Both are nice areas. Englewood is sleepy right now but like the Oracle(SoFLGal) says - in the winter there are more people.. We bought in Venice for it's location and there are a few more shops and places to eat, however I'm learning pretty quickly that the distances between areas here are relatively small so it's not far to hop from one place to the next..

[GPH]

My husband and I also like venice and englewood and have been looking at properties in both areas. We are in our early 40's and would like to find a vacation/future retirement place of our own. The age of the residents do concern us, we want to socialize and have some people our own age around. I like Sarasota but it seems very busy. I would like to be able to walk to bars/restaurants etc., and I believe englewood has a small downtown area. How is that neighborhood? Is it called olde englewood? We are also considering a town called new smyrna beach on the east coast, south of daytona beach, it also has a downtown area that we like. Not sure where we will end up, any and all ideas welcome.

[pattymelt2]

We just bought a house in North Port are there any beaches that are handicap accessable