We have visited springs in Florida multiple times. We stay at the state park and tent camp, and for only $20 a night, you can't beat it! Our first trip was years ago to Blue Spring State Park, in Orange City. We camped at the state park and enjoyed the springs at the park as well as day trips to Daytona Beach, Sea World and a glass bottom boat ride at Silver Springs State Park. This trip was our first taste of what the Florida Springs have to offer. The state park at Blue Spring was just beautiful. Wildlife was plentiful, there were playgrounds and picnic tables. There is access to a really long paved bike trail system called Spring to Spring trail as well. The spring run at Blue Spring is long enough to tube, so we did that often. This park is within an hour drive of most of Orlando's major attractions as well as the beach. So this particular state park is good for a home base if you want to visit the Orlando are some. Here are a few pictures from Blue Spring as well as the glass bottom boat tour at Silver Springs.
The boardwalk to the spring head to put the tubes in, just gorgeous.
Great snorkeling at the spring head.
Fish everywhere, and we even saw a mama and baby manatee!
We enjoying floating down the spring run here.
The bike trail you can hit from the state park
The campsites at Blue Spring State Park
Sea World was a big hit!
Visiting Daytona Beach
The glass bottom boat tour at Silver Springs was fun!
The next spring trip we took was to Rainbow Springs State Park in Dunnellon, Florida. This park sits on the Rainbow River and allows for a 4 to 5 hour tube float (or kayak). There is a little spot to swim from the campground or you can drive down the road a bit and swim in the actual spring head. We tubed the river from start to finish one day. We ate dinner at a fun little restaurant right on the river called Swampy's with outdoor seating. We did not branch out and visit any other area's on this trip. We stayed in the area of park. I would like to go back and see what else this area has to offer.
This is at the spring head, where there is a big swimming area.
They have a big platform to jump off. There is no shallow area at the spring head.
This is the little swimming area at our campsite. You could put your tubes in here to float or kayaks. Our kids enjoying swimming in this are every day.
Tubing the Rainbow River
Another pic of the swimming area at the campground
Spring head jumping!
'The float down the river was beautiful
The grass all in the water made for wonderful snorkeling. The kids put their mask on as we tubed to check for fish !
We had small tent sites at the state park, but there some areas with more seclusion and shade.
When we got done floating we had dinner at Swampy's (as you can see in the picture on the river)
The next time we camped at Manatee Springs State Park in Chiefland, FL. Only about a 4.5 hour drive. This is one of the most beautiful areas in all of Florida if you ask me. While at Manatee Springs we visited lots of the surrounding areas as well. The actual state park itself is very nice. They offer a playground, pavilions and very nice camping areas. There is no phone service at this park, but they do have a little concession stand (open daily at the head spring) that has WiFi available at all times. This was our first trip here (we have been back since). This trip we stayed in the Magnolia 2 camping area, but after staying in the Hickory loop, we decided we liked the hickory sites better! We swim and tube a short run at the head spring here. There is a nice area for swimming and lots of boardwalks for viewing wildlife. The park is covered in deer, squirrels and vert intelligent raccoons (who can unzip tents.. so leave ALL food in your car at ALL times!) This trip we visited some other spring areas and had an amazing time. We spent one day at Wiki Wachee Springs State Park which is pretty commercialized and had real life underwater mermaids who performed, a water slide, a river cruise and much more! The kids loved this place and we spent most of the day there. It is about an hour drive from Manatee and well worth the money and drive. We stopped on the way home for seafood at The Upper Deck, which was right on the river. The next day we took a paddling trip down the Ichetucknee River. We rented kayaks right at the Ichetucknee Springs State park. We had a good time paddling the river and checking out several spring runs along the way. After out kayak trip we swam at the head springs of the park, which are beautiful, and headed back to camp. We really enjoyed our trip here.. so much that we went back the next summer too!
The head spring at Manatee
This spring is just beautiful!
More head spring pics. You can put your tubes in here and tube a short distance down to the last stairs.
Watching the mermaid show at Weeki Wachee Springs!
The big swimming area
A river boat cruise is included in your admission and we had a great time!
The swimming area, at closing time.
Dinner on the deck at Upper Deck
It sits on the river and the kids enjoyed watching the boats.
Kennedy tubed the Ichetucknee and pulled her along beside me in the kayak.
Our little group when we first got on the river.
We stopped at each spring run and head spring to swim!
These crazies.. turned their yaks into sups!
Home of the rare and endangered Ichetucknee Silt Snail
The spring head are of Ichetucknee is probably one of the best swimming areas around. We stopped to swim here on the way out after kayaking.
These are pictures from Manatee Spring State Park. The boardwalk there goes all the way out to the river where you can look out on this awesome dock. The kids enjoyed doing this every night at dusk and taking a dip in the spring.
The deer here love people and people food (unfortunately). They will let you get really close.
This summer, we took another trip to Manatee Springs State Park to camp. We stayed all week, 5 days and we had a blast!! We continued to explore the areas around Chiefland and we are still in awe of the beauty! We stayed in the Hickory camping area and loved it. We had huge sites that were very close to the spring head. The first day, we set up camp and enjoyed a dip in the head spring. Day 2 we visited Fanning Spring, which is only a few miles up the river and about a 20 min drive. We really enjoyed Fanning, it was so beautiful! We swam a few hours and had a picnic lunch during a little rain shower and then headed out to the gulf to check out Cedar Key. This little beach town is so charming! We walked along the shore and enjoyed the view. The kids found shells and crabs. There was an awesome playground there as well. We walked into town for dinner on the deck and some souvenir t shirts. When we headed back out, we were able to photograph some gorgeous Rosetta Spoonbills! They are the most beautiful pink color! Day 3 was spent kayaking the Crystal River/Kings Bay area. We kayaked to 3 Sister's Springs, which was beyond gorgeous and swam. We used Hunter Springs Kayaking company who took care of dropping the kayaks off at the water and picking them up. We had lunch at Hunter Spring Park (where we launched the kayaks from) and the kids enjoyed swimming.
Day 4 we decided to check out a place called Ginnie Springs. This is not a state park and is privately owned. It is located on the Sante Fe River. There are 7 spring runs off of the river here and you can tube down the river and into each of the springs. When we first arrived, the line to get in was insane and we got a little concerned... then when we park and got out of the car we got even more concerned. It was so busy! But we decided to just go ahead and put our tubes in and see how it went. Shortly after getting on the river we immediately fell in love with this place! It was full of young hippie campers, people with fun free spirits and we ended up having a blast. The float was perfect and the springs were GORGEOUS! We enjoyed a picnic lunch, they had tons of tables. Tammie and I didn't want to leave, but the teens were pooped. Overall a really cool experience and we decided we would definitely be back. Our last day, Day 5. Since we were heading home we didn't have much time. But Tammie and I decided to do a paddle up the river first thing before we left. We rented kayaks from the state park and paddled up Manatee Springs run and into the Suwannee River. It was a beautiful paddle up the Suwannee River exploring the banks. On the paddle back we encountered quite the alligator! It was super cool to see but also a little scary. It was an awesome trip and we can't wait to go back next summer to explore some more.
The deer will come right into your campsite!
The spiders here are HUGE, like amazon huge!
This is boat ramp at the park where you can put in kayaks.
Hooper liked to catch fish here.
This is Fanning Springs, just down the road. Such a beautiful swimming hole!
They had docks on each side to jump off or lay out on.
Our trip over to Cedar Key. There is a beach, but the water is pretty murky here.
Awesome playground at Cedar Key
Our dinner at Steamers. We overlooked the water on a balcony and enjoyed watching the kayaks travel back and forth to the islands. We decide to try kayaking to the islands next trip for the day.
The little business area of Cedar Key was entirely on the water!
The pink Rosetta birds!
Swimming at Manatee Springs when we got back.
Day 3, Kings Bay and the Crystal River. This is Hunter Springs where we put in kayaks to head to Three Sisters. The kids enjoyed the swimming area here!
Loading up the kayaks, we rented the clear bottom kayaks.
You have to paddle through the bay, which is a little tough in the wind, but it wasn't bad!
Paddling into Three Sisters was like entering another world. It was so beautiful!
We docked the kayaks and starting swimming!
It was over our heads pretty much everywhere
We stopped for ice cream in Crystal River before we headed back
The campground is shaded and just beautiful.
Day 4: Ginnie Spring.
Tubing down the Sante Fe, the river was dark black. As you got close to the springs the water would be light brown and then a beautiful blue!
This was the beautiful, shallow Dogwood Spring.
The color of the water in Dogwood was gorgeous!
These were taken at Devil Spring, which has a deep cave system and allow for scuba diving.
Back at Ginnie Springs, where there were more people.
The rest of the pictures were taken on our 2 hour paddle from Manatee Springs in the run and up the Suwannee River. It was a beautiful paddle!
Turtles everywhere!
If you look closely you will see mullet. There were 100's of them in the run.
The spring run spills out into the Suwannee. The river is about 1/4 miles wide through here.
Our little alligator friend 😱
Mullet everywhere!
If you had a question that I didn't answer on this blog post, please feel free to messasge me! I can't wait until we return to central Florida to see more springs and the wildlife around them!