Abstract: Over the years, China has made remarkable achievements in the protection of traditional villages. However, there are still some issues in the implementation process, such as mismatched protection concepts with the needs of the times, lack of vitality in protection and utilization methods, insufficient coordination among villages working independently, and difficulties in project implementation. In order to explore effective paths for the protection, utilization, inheritance, and development of traditional villages, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development have jointly organized a demonstration project for the centralized protection and utilization of traditional villages in counties since 2022. This article takes the planning for the centralized protection and utilization of traditional villages in Lanxi City, Zhejiang Province, as a case study. Through empirical analysis, it proposes four major planning approaches: exploring the overall value of traditional villages, optimizing the protection and utilization of traditional architectures, constructing a special framework for the contiguous protection and utilization of traditional villages, and considering the implementation path based on the county unit. It also summarizes experiences in traditional village protection, including matching the spirit of the times, paying attention to people's livelihood needs, promoting coordinated development, and exploring mechanism innovation. These form an effective mode of protecting and utilizing contiguous clusters of traditional villages in county areas to drive rural revitalization.