St. Augustine Grand Villas Golf Resort

[Tigerdave Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Tigerdave]

My wife and I are thinking about going here for our 10 year anniversity next year and I wanted to see if someone could help me out with a few questions i have? How is the golf and how much at the resort? What to do besides golf? And just overall what you thought of the place?
We are new owners and have only been to Big Cedar a few times this year but next year feel like we should get out and check some of the other resort out that Bluegreen offers. Thanks and happy vacations....

[vintner Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close vintner]

I can't tell you about the golf, other than when we were there, we looked out our window to a very nice course.

However, I can answer other questions.
Our unit had an A/C problem so water that was collected by the condenser leaked in the unit and the carpet was wet. Staff was good about cleaning it up, but we were not able to move. Even the sales staff was less agressive and not too difficult to deal with.

If you like the history aspect of the area, it is very good. This is the site of the oldest town in the USA and as such, a lot of events had happened there over the years. Ghost tour was great, my first and I got good streaks on my camera. Yes, I am sure they were real ghosts. The old fort is really interesting. The whole history of the area is amazing. The 'fountain of youth' is there, and I can assure you, it doesn't work.

There are good restaurants in the area, but parking is difficult in the down town area. Buy your tickets for the train/tram, and ride it once to see the town, then do your hop on/hop off of the train.

You can golf anywhere, but you will never see history like this anywhere else. And don't tell my history teacher wife I said that. I don't want her to know I do listen sometimes.

[rapmarks Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close rapmarks]

Great historical area.
We were avid golfers at the time, but we did not choose to spend the $125 to 150 apiece to golf in what was the off season and extremely hot.
When we booked through RCI, we were sent a floor plan by Bluegreen, with a lovely spacious L shaped unit. When we arrived, we had a long narrow unit, the kitchen being against a wall with absolutely no counter space. . the balcony had two chairs, but if you were to sit in them, there would be no room for your legs, the chairs abutted the balcony rail. they refused to move us, even though there were never more than 4 cars in the parking lot, they were full. WE called RCI and they moved us to a beachfront resort, which was older, but we enjoyed it much more.
Both resorts are quite a drive to Old Town, but Bluegreen is way out.

[Fsmith Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Fsmith]

The times we have been there, the rooms are very nice with a large screened balcony. My experience with RCI exchanges is you get the least desirable rooms and BG won't change the room even if the resort is empty. I would call the resort to see what the green fees are. WGV is about 10 minutes from the trolley station. we have loved our visit to St Augustine.

[Tigerdave Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Tigerdave]

I also was wondering how close the resort is to the beach?
$125 a round for golf, ouch... Then they make you rush thru in 3.5 hours?? This may not be the place for me.

[vintner Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close vintner]

I also was wondering how close the resort is to the beach?

No where near the beach. You would need to drive several miles (okay, maybe 10-15 minutes) to get to the beach, but it is a nice beach. Beach is nice, but there is no way I would go in the water. I have seen the things that was swimming in there. When we were there, it was full of small rays. Really neat to watch, but I am not going in there.

[chriskre Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close chriskre]

I stayed in this resort about 3 years ago. Rented from an owner.

I don't play golf so can't really answer the golf angle but, the resort is very nice. It's nowhere near the beach though. It's actually just off the highway in an upscale western residential area of St. Augustine. The resort is in a mixed use area with a little town center with a Publix and a hotel nearby.

Since St. Augustine isn't that big of a city, it's an easy commute to the historic area. I really didn't mine staying a little further out because the historic area has some kitchy motels, so I felt this was much nicer.

The resort has an arrangement with a local beach club and they give you a day pass to use the facilities. It's a very nice beach club but it was quite a drive from the resort. I agree that the beach wasn't very appealing to me. I'm used to clearer water.

The resort itself has a beautiful zero entry pool and a nice hot tub. I was there over 4th of July and they put on a spectacular fireworks display for the area residents. It was so nice. They did a barbeque and gave free hotdogs and hamburgers. The staff is very friendly.

I don't remember being approached or hassled to attend any TS presentation so that was nice. The rooms were decorated in golf motif colors.

I'd go back to this resort again without hesitation if I was visiting the St. Augustine or Jacksonville area again. I think it's good value for the points.

[tennisWalt Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close tennisWalt]

I Really Like St Augustine Beach In March and April

No where near the beach. You would need to drive several miles (okay, maybe 10-15 minutes) to get to the beach, but it is a nice beach. Beach is nice, but there is no way I would go in the water. I have seen the things that was swimming in there. When we were there, it was full of small rays. Really neat to watch, but I am not going in there.

I think it is more like 30 minutes to 45 minutes to St Augustine Beach from St. Augustine Grand Villas Golf Resort. In fact, according to Mapquest the distance from the Grand Villas to The Beach Club is 25 minutes and they have 34 minutes as the drive time. But I don't think you could make it in that time with the traffic around St Augustine.

There are several timeshare resorts right on St Augustine Beach with cheaper Golf Courses within 15 to 30 minutes away. I own at The Beach Club of St Augustine Beach and spend 3 weeks in March and April there every year. Walking on the Beach, 10 clay tennis courts just behind The Beach Club, St Augustine Old Town, good Food, and good weather. There is nothing more I need in a vacation.

The beach is hard enough that you can walk it, ride a bike on it, or even drive your car on it.

Check out my slide show of St Augustine Beach.

Walt

Slideshow of pictures, photos, and videos, from webshots

[rapmarks Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close rapmarks]

I have always wondered. There are two separate buildings managed by Bluegreen here. Does one building have the larger one bedroom units and the other smaller units? I traded through RCI, but one or two weeks before checkin Bluegreen sent me the check in information and a floor plan. It was a beautiful floorplan,a spacious unit, but they didn't put us in that unit. I think we got a lockout.. Noone I have ever talked to got a small unit. i was so careful to book a full kitchen unit, usually the difference between a lock out and a full one bedroom.

Everyone is saying it was a quick drive to old town. I thought I had a faulty memory and mapquested it. It says about 15 miles, 24 minutes.

[whiteheadfisher Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close whiteheadfisher]

Daytona Seabreeze

One of the best things about World of Golf Village is the fact that the Daytona Seabreeze is only about an hours drive to the south. Much better beach and as a Bluegreen owner you have full day use of the facilities. World of Golf Village was one of the most comfortable resorts we have stayed in since we bought in 2005. We like the history of the area also.

[ssw27054 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close ssw27054]

We just got back from WGV and have no complaints. Our room was nice and the kids loved the pool. We went to Vilano Beach (I think that was the name), and I don't think it took us more than 20 minutes to get there. No complaints about the water or beach, only a handful of people (seemed like we had our own 1 mile stretch of beach to ourselves) and the water was clear...we did not see a single stingray or fish for that matter. It is not an action packed destination, but we enjoyed walking around town and relaxing at the pool and beach. I don't recommend the old jail tour, it doesn't cost much, but not anything fascinating about the tour.