Mission Inn

Mission Inn Resort & Club is a 1,100-acre luxury golf and lake community tucked into the rolling hills of Lake County, Florida — a rare landscape on the otherwise flat peninsula. Anchored by a Spanish Colonial-style resort whose roots trace back to 1917, the community has grown into one of Central Florida's most distinctive destinations for retirement-aged buyers, second-home owners, and full-time residents who want resort living without leaving home. The residential heart of the community is Las Colinas, a gated, master-planned neighborhood of villa, club, fairway, and estate homes that wind along the Las Colinas golf course and the surrounding hardwood ridges. Floor plans range from manageable 1,700-square-foot single-level villas to expansive 4,800+ square-foot estates with three to five bedrooms and two to four-and-a-half baths. The newest section, launched in 2021 in partnership with Park Square Homes, brings fresh contemporary floor plans (1,987–2,639 sq ft on the Villa and Club homesites, plus golf-front lots) to a community that already had decades of curb appeal — earlier homes were built by Kevco Builders and a mix of custom builders. Beyond Las Colinas, the broader Mission Inn footprint includes older Howey-area homes dating back to the 1960s, giving longtime locals and newer buyers a shared sense of place. Life at Mission Inn is built around its two championship 18-hole golf courses. El Campeón, dating to 1917, is one of Florida's oldest and most celebrated courses, with elevation changes more reminiscent of the Carolinas and tree-lined fairways carved through native hills. Las Colinas, opened in 1992, is the resort's modern counterpart — open and strategic, with water features, doglegs, and panoramic views from elevated tees. Membership tiers give residents access to either or both, plus the full social side of the club. Racquet sports run unusually deep here. The resort is ranked among World Tennis Magazine's 'Top 25 Resorts,' with six Har-Tru green clay courts, a Laykold all-weather hard court, four pickleball courts, and four beach tennis courts — a rare amenity in inland Florida. The 55-slip Lake Harris marina puts boating, paddling, and fishing minutes from the front door on the Harris Chain of Lakes, which connects through locks into a wider network of seven lakes for serious boaters. Other amenities include a resort pool, fitness center, full-service spa, three restaurants, a lounge, miles of biking and hiking trails, and one of the only on-site skeet, trap, and sporting clays operations in the region. The atmosphere blends quiet, leafy residential streets with the energy of a working resort. Hotel guests bring constant activity to the dining rooms, golf courses, and event spaces, while the gated Las Colinas neighborhood retains the privacy of a traditional country-club enclave. Howey-in-the-Hills is a small lakefront town of about 1,600 people; Tavares (the Lake County seat) sits 8 miles north across Little Lake Harris, Leesburg is a short drive west with hospitals and big-box shopping, and the antique-shop-and-restaurant district of downtown Mount Dora is roughly 20 minutes east. Orlando is 40–45 minutes by car, and The Villages is about 30 minutes north — making Mission Inn an easy base for big-city culture, day trips to the theme parks, or quick visits to family in Florida's largest 55+ destination. For prospective buyers, Mission Inn occupies a particular niche: it isn't a deed-restricted 55+ community, but its golf, lake, and resort orientation has long attracted retirees and semi-retirees looking for a more refined, country-club lifestyle than the typical Florida active-adult community offers. The on-site hotel makes it easy to spend a few nights and try the place on for size before buying.