Orlando hotels collection

Hollowed by rain in a limestone that slowly dissolves, Orlando's lakes run into the dozens, and the city has taken shape around them. In the very centre, Lake Eola, a sinkhole the water has filled, rounds out beneath the palms; swans glide across it. Around Lake Cherokee, the streets are still paved in brick, between timber houses and cypresses. Further north, the Harry P. Leu Gardens shelter their camellias beneath oaks hung with Spanish moss, around a two-storey clapboard farmhouse. In summer a storm passes almost every afternoon, and by evening the water of the lakes still holds the warmth of the day.