Venetian Gardens — Attraction in Leesburg

We were in Leesburg to locate our dealership for service and wanted to make a day of it. Since the Venetian Gardens was listed as the #1 attraction in the city, we decided to spend time there. With a little imagination, you could imagine yourself in Venice Italy with its hundreds of bridges over the canals. I'm glad we decided to visit.

Located on the Lake Harris chain of lakes, the park is a top bass fishing destination. We parked near the restroom building (very clean) and first walked to Ski Beach which features sand volleyball courts, rentable pavilions, grills, boat ramps and boat dockage. Swings and benches dot the area for lovely views of Lake Harris.

The gardens are beautifully landscaped with several bridges leading from one island to the next - 7 in all and connected by flat, level walking trails bordering the lake. Some of the biggest water lilies we've seen fill the ponds. The area is a bird lover's paradise; many different kinds of waterfowl were 'tame' enough for us to get closeup pictures probably because of the number of people feeding them. There was a large congregation of white ibis gathered in the shade; some were taking a bath. We learned that the ibis often spends time in colonies of over 300 members. We saw two people feeding them. Signs warn against feeding and harassing alligators; we did not see any. No dogs are allowed.

If you want to spend quiet time among waterfowl, landscaped trails and lake views, Venetian Gardens/Ski Beach is the...

Venetian Gardens Park is an exceptional park to bring your kids, your dog, visitors and friends to! They have doggie stations, beautiful waterways and bridges. It is set along a beautiful lake that is very active with boating and kayaking. Nice, clean public restrooms scattered all around. Great playground equipment for both young and old. This is a fabulous park for huge gatherings with covered and uncovered picnic and grilling stations. They have a great new playground that is so colorful and well set up it would tempt any child or child at heart! Lots of shade trees and grass. All kinds of Florida birds gather here along with ducks. It has huge paved parking lots and boat launch area. There is even a bike trail nearby. One of the nice parks in Central Florida. Please like if you found this...

Coming back from Gainesville and hadn’t stopped in Leesburg for a while. Had a friend with me who I had been threatening to give a tour of my old stomping grounds. Venetian Gardens has really changed. I used to bring my son to fish off one of the bridges and my daughter to play in the park and feed the ducks. I brought another friend from Montana once. He laughed at the, “Do not feed alligators” signs. He thought it was for the tourist until he saw one about 15 feet from us then he wanted to leave. Haha The improvements look nice. Since I knew we’d be coming I brought lunch from Whole Foods to eat while we were there but the homeless men at the pavilion made that uncomfortable so we left. Leesburg has done a very good job with Venetian...