VISIT THE BEST FLORIDA SPRINGS

Find All The Best Florida State Parks Here

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Alexander Spring Recreation Area

Alexander Springs is the only first magnitude spring within the Ocala National Forest, yet it is easy to explore and enjoy.

 

Blue Grotto Dive Resort

Blue Grotto is primarily a SCUBA diving destination, featuring a large clear water cavern located in a sinkhole (karst window).

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Blue Spring

Blue Spring is the largest spring on the St. Johns River and a crucial winter refuge for manatees.

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Blue Springs (Gilchrist County)

Blue Springs is a second-magnitude spring which discharges north to the Santa Fe River.

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Blue Springs County Park (Levy County)

Blue Springs is a favorite local swimming hole with spring waters abounding from a series of sand boils.

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Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge

This last unspoiled and undeveloped habitat in Kings Bay, the headwaters of the Crystal River, is critical for protection of the West Indian Manatee. The springs in the bay, with their constant 72 degree Fahrenheit water, provide essential warm water refuge for the manatees that congregate there in the winter months.

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De Leon Springs State Park

This second-magnitude spring has seen its share of Florida history. First, Native Americans left burial mounds, a shell mound, and a 6,000-year-old canoe sunk in the spring.

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Devil's Den Springs

Devil's Den is primarily a SCUBA diving destination where divers travel in an underground spring inside a dry cave in central Flroida.

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Falmouth Spring Recreation Area

Falmouth Spring is a first-magnitude spring flowing about 160 cubic feet per second. It is located within a 276-acre recreation area managed by the Suwannee River Water Management District. The majority of the area is sandhill and upland mixed forest, with some slash pine.

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Fanning Springs State Park

Fanning Spring is a borderline first -magnitude spring, with clear bluish water. The spring pool is about 207 feet by 144 feet, and the main funnel-shaped vent is about 20 feet deep. Several other small seeps create sand boils and trickle into the spring pool from limestone outcroppings on one end. This is a very popular spring for families, with shallow sandy areas, a floating dock, and a platform for jumping into the deepest water above the vent.

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Florida Caverns State Park

This is one of the few state parks with dry (air-filled) caves and is the only state park in Florida to offer cave tours to the public. Important cave fauna in the park include colonies of 2 bat species (1 endangered), as well as blind cave salamanders and crayfish in a water-filled cave.

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Ginnie Springs Outdoors

The clear, bluish water of Ginnie Spring and several other springs in the Ginnie Springs Recreation Area have attracted visitors for generations. Ginnie Springs Outdoors is located approximately 6.5 miles northwest of High Springs, on the south side of the picturesque Santa Fe River.

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Hart Springs County Park

With one of the area's largest swimming facilities, Hart Springs County Park is park designed for families with plenty of amenities and activities to enjoy.

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Ellie Schiller Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park

This unique state park is one of several old Florida tourist attractions that were built around first-magnitude springs. The main attraction is the Florida manatee.

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Ichetucknee Springs State Park

The crystalline Ichetucknee River flows six miles through shaded hammocks and floodplain forests before it joins the Santa Fe River. The upper 3.5-mile stretch of the river is protected in the state park and contains eight major springs, each with its own charm.

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Jackson Blue Spring Recreation Area

Jackson Blue Spring is the heart of this county park, located approximately five miles east of Marianna. An average of 77 million gallons a day flows from the spring, which is the main source of water to a 202-acre reservoir known as Merritt’s Millpond, a nationally known fishing and locally popular boating area.

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Juniper Springs

Juniper Springs Recreation Area in the Ocala National Forest is one of the oldest and best known recreation areas on the East Coast.

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Kelly Park / Rock Springs Run

A favorite park for tubing, Kelly Park features a free-flowing natural spring and Rock Springs a clear, swift creek.

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Lafayette Blue Springs State Park

Lafayette Blue Springs is one of the 33 first-magnitude springs in Florida and discharges at a very variable rate, ranging from approximately 13 million to 168 million gallons per day. When the Suwannee River floods the spring vent, which happens fairly frequently, it can become a siphon. The Head Spring pool is approximately 100 feet long, 60 feet wide, and 20 feet deep, at the base of a limestone outcrop.

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Lithia Springs Regional Park

The 160-acre park, located on the Alafia River, offers varied plant communities, river cypress swamps, hardwood hammocks.

 

Madison Blue Spring State Park

Located in one of Florida’s newest state parks, this crystal-clear, first-magnitude spring is a popular swimming hole. The spring pool is a small limestone basin about 72 feet by 82 feet wide and 24 feet deep, on the west bank of the scenic Withlacoochee River.

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Manatee Springs State Park

Manatee Springs is one of Florida’s largest springs, averaging 117 million gallons of water daily, and is a National Natural Landmark.

 

Morrison Springs Park

Morrison Springs is one of the most popular diving spots in northwest Florida and is well-known throughout the southeast. The large, sandy-bottomed spring is surrounded by a 161-acre park that is managed by Walton County.

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Otter Springs

Otter Springs is a second-magnitude natural spring with a near-constant temperature of 73 degrees and 10 million gallons of sparkling pure water flowing daily into the Suwannee River. The spring is surrounded by a 636-acre park and campground managed by Gilchrist County. The spring pool and shallow, sandy spring run in a natural setting invite swimming, snorkeling, photography, nature study, hiking, birding, and fishing.

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Wes Skiles Peacock Springs State Park

Peacock Springs is an international destination for recreational cave diving. The park has two second-magnitude and one third-magnitude springs and 6 sinkholes—all in near-pristine condition and deep in the surrounding forest. All three springs can flow backwards when the Suwannee River floods.

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Pitt Spring Recreation Area

Pitt Spring is just one of many springs along Econfina Creek and one of the most popular in the area for recreation. The water from this 11-foot-deep spring vent emerges from beneath a submerged limestone ledge into a 40-foot-diameter pool, and then flows through a short 50-foot run to the creek.

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Poe Springs Park

Poe Springs is just around the corner from the lively little town of High Springs, in Alachua County, just up the road from Gainesville. Poe Springs pumps an average of 45 million gallons of cool, refreshing water daily. Alachua County manages the park.

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Ponce de Leon Springs State Park

This beautiful spring is named for Juan Ponce de León, who led the first Spanish expedition to Florida in 1513 - as legend has it - in search of the “Fountain of Youth”. Visitors might well regain their youth by taking a dip in the clear waters where the temperature is a shocking 68 degrees F. year-round.

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Rainbow Springs State Park

Rainbow Springs is Florida’s fourth largest spring and is designated a National Natural Landmark. The surrounding land is high and rolling, providing picturesque vistas of the spring surrounded by forest. The spring pool is large (250 feet wide) and shallow, with especially clear blue water flowing over the beds of green aquatic plants and brilliant white limestone and sand.

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River Rise Preserve State Park

The Santa Fe River goes underground in O’Leno State Park and reappears more than 3 miles away in River Rise Preserve before resuming its journey to the Suwannee River. Research has shown that the water discharging from the Rise includes a large amount of new ground water as well, leading some to classify the Rise as a first-magnitude spring. Cave divers have partially explored the conduit between the Sink and the Rise. This natural land bridge is punctuated with numerous sinkholes and lakes.

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Salt Springs

Salt Springs Recreation Area is one of the recreational jewels of the Ocala National Forest. The recreation area is located in the lush, semi-tropical setting of central Florida.

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Silver Glen Springs

The clear blue water and bubbling sand boils of Silver Glen Springs is a stark contrast to the surrounding Big Scrub in the Ocala National Forest.

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Silver Springs State Park

The natural beauty of Silver Springs has attracted visitors from around the world since the mid-19th century. Silver Springs, one of the largest of Florida’s 33 first-magnitude springs, is made up of a group of springs that occur in the headwaters, coves, and edges of the Silver River. The Silver River is the largest tributary on the Ocklawaha River.

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Suwannee River State Park

Suwannee River State Park is situated where the Withlacoochee River joins the Suwannee River on its way to the Gulf of Mexico. Within the view of the confluence is Suwanacoochee Spring, a single-vent, second-magnitude spring on the southwest bank of the Withlacoochee.

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Suwannee Springs

Suwannee Springs is a featured recreation site managed by the Suwannee River Water Management District. Visitors can swim in the springs, picnic, and enjoy the snow white river sand bars of the Suwannee River.

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Troy Spring State Park

Located on the Suwannee River, this 80-acre park is a hidden gem in rural north Florida. Troy Spring consists of multiple spring vents and vertical limestone walls, surrounded by higher ground 18 feet above the water’s surface.

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Vortex Spring

The star of Florida’s Gulf Coast premier inland dive resort is Vortex Spring. The spring produces 28 million gallons of crystal-clear water daily at a year-round temperature of 68 degrees F. Depths in the spring basin range from about 50 feet for a cavern dive and up to 115 feet for a cave dive.

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Edward Ball Wakulla Springs State Park

Wakulla Spring is one of the largest springs in the world, discharging an average of 260 million gallons of water per day. The spring pool is an impressive 315 feet in diameter, and the huge vent is about 82 feet wide, 50 feet high, and 185 feet deep. That’s just the start of its superlatives!

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Warm Mineral Springs

Warm Mineral Springs is the only warm water mineral spring in the State of Florida, and is the largest water mineral spring in the world. The surface area of the spring is a round pond, it is 1.4-acre in circumference and reaches depths of nearly 250 feet deep in the center.

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Weeki Wachee Springs State Park

This historic and world-renowned tourist attraction features Weeki Wachee Spring, 1 of Florida’s 33 first-magnitude springs. The spring, plus a second-magnitude spring in the park and several smaller springs outside the park, combine to form the 7-mile-long Weeki Wachee River.

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Wekiwa Springs State Park

Wekiwa Springs is a second-magnitude spring that is joined within a half-mile by the smaller run from Rock Springs to form the headwaters of the 17-mile-long Wekiva River, a tributary of the St. Johns River.

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Werner-Boyce Salt Springs State Park

This Pasco County state park comprises 3,296 acres, including 4 miles of coastline, and more than 80 percent is marsh or submerged acres.