Places to go in North Central Florida.

Gainesville, Ocala, the Springs heartland. 13 places worth the drive in this corner of Florida.

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13 places

Springs

Ginnie Springs

High Springs, FL · North Central Florida

Ginnie Springs is a privately owned cluster of seven crystalline springs on the banks of the Santa Fe River near High Springs, where the water holds a constant 72 degrees and visibility so clear that divers call it gin-clear. Float the lazy river run on a rented tube, snorkel the swimming basins, or drop into the Devil Spring cave system that has drawn cave divers from around the world. Summer and early fall bring the clearest river water and the liveliest crowds.

Springs

Ichetucknee Springs State Park

Fort White, FL · North Central Florida

Ichetucknee Springs State Park protects a National Natural Landmark headspring that pours out cool, sapphire-clear water to form one of Florida's premier tubing rivers near Fort White. Drift the spring run beneath a canopy of cypress and oak, watch for otters, turtles, and wading birds, and cool off in the 72-degree swimming areas at the headspring and Blue Hole. Tubing from the upper river runs only from late May through Labor Day, so plan summer trips accordingly.

Springs

Rainbow Springs State Park

Dunnellon, FL · North Central Florida

Rainbow Springs is a first-magnitude spring near Dunnellon that pushes out hundreds of millions of gallons a day to form the clear Rainbow River. Swim in the headspring basin at a constant 72 degrees, then wander 1930s ornamental gardens past three man-made waterfalls built into old mine tailings. From April to September a separate entrance launches tubers for the lazy float downriver.

Springs

Silver Springs State Park

Ocala, FL · North Central Florida

Silver Springs State Park in Ocala is the home of the glass bottom boat, invented here in the 1870s to peer into one of Florida's largest and clearest artesian springs. Glide over submerged limestone and underwater ruins while watching turtles, fish, gators, and wintering manatees drift below the hull. Paddle the spring fed Silver River afterward to spot wild rhesus macaques in the trees.

Canyons & deserts

Devil's Millhopper Geological State Park

Gainesville, FL · North Central Florida

Devil's Millhopper is a 120-foot-deep, 500-foot-wide sinkhole near Gainesville that hides a miniature rainforest where Florida almost never has one. A boardwalk and 132 steps descend past fern-draped limestone walls and trickling cascades to the cool, shaded bowl at the bottom. The seepage waterfalls run strongest in late winter and early spring, when the streams are at their fullest.

Gardens & wildlife

Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park

Micanopy, FL · North Central Florida

Paynes Prairie is a 22,000-acre basin of wet prairie and marsh south of Gainesville, the only place in Florida where wild bison and free-roaming horses share the same horizon. Climb the 50-foot observation tower for a sweep across the savanna, or walk the trails among alligators and nearly 300 bird species. Florida's first state preserve and a National Natural Landmark, it is most alive in the cooler, drier winter months.

Springs

Gilchrist Blue Springs State Park

High Springs, FL · North Central Florida

Gilchrist Blue pushes out about 44 million gallons a day at a steady 72 degrees, filling a wide bowl of green and blue water that you wade into from a sloping sand beach. Snorkelers drift over the boil while families ride tubes down the quarter-mile run where the spring empties into the tea-dark Santa Fe River. Come on a weekday morning before the swimming area fills and bring your own mask; there is no scuba here, just the slow float and the cold.

Springs

Fanning Springs State Park

Fanning Springs, FL · North Central Florida

Fanning Springs pours about 65 million gallons a day into a wide, 72-degree pool that runs a deep turquoise toward the boil and a pale aquamarine over the shallows. A swim platform and ladder drop you straight into water clear enough to count the limestone ledges, and a boardwalk carries the spring run out to the Suwannee River, where manatees move up on the coldest winter days. It once ran first-magnitude and now sits just under that line, which makes it an easy, uncrowded stop on a North Florida springs loop.

Springs

Alexander Springs Recreation Area

Altoona, FL · North Central Florida

Alexander Springs sits deep in the Ocala National Forest, a first-magnitude spring that pushes about 70 million gallons a day up through a cluster of vents and into a wide, sand-bottomed pool that holds a steady 72 degrees all year. The southwest bank slopes in like a beach, so you can wade in from the shallows or snorkel out over the boil to watch fish hang in the current, and it is the one spot in the forest where divers can drop down to the vent. Rent a canoe and you can paddle Alexander Run downstream into the wilderness, past cypress knees and turtles, then work your way back to the swim beach.

Springs

Devil's Den

Williston, FL · North Central Florida

Devil's Den hides a whole spring underground: you climb down a wooden staircase into a collapsed cavern where a shaft of daylight lands on water that glows an unreal blue, held at a steady 72 degrees all year. Snorkelers and open-water divers share the pool by reservation only, finning past rock ledges that have given up Pleistocene bones of mastodons and saber-toothed cats. General swimming is not allowed, which keeps the place quiet and the water clear, so book ahead and bring a mask rather than a beach towel.

Springs

Troy Spring State Park

Branford, FL · North Central Florida

Troy Spring pours out of a 70-foot limestone funnel and stays a steady 72 degrees no matter what August is doing above it, so the swim is more bracing than the Suwannee next door and the water reads blue near the surface, green over the rock. The pull here is the spring run, where the bones of the Madison still rest on the bottom; the steamboat was scuttled in 1863 to keep it from Union hands, and on a clear day you can pick out its frame from the boardwalk or float right over it with a mask. Certified open-water divers can drop into the basin, but most people come to swim the bowl and snorkel the wreck, which is plenty.

Springs

Salt Springs Recreation Area

Salt Springs, FL · North Central Florida

Salt Springs pushes 52 million gallons a day through four rocky vents in the heart of the Ocala National Forest, and the water carries a faint mineral salt you can taste. Wade in over the tumbled limestone and you will share the 74-degree pool with mullet and the occasional blue crab, which is why snorkelers come back. It is the kind of spring you settle into for an afternoon under the live oaks rather than rush through.

Springs

Juniper Springs Recreation Area

Ocala, FL · North Central Florida

A 1935 stone millhouse and its slow-turning waterwheel still stand over the spring's edge, built by the Civilian Conservation Corps and now the backdrop to a 72-degree pool where you can watch sand boil up from the vents below your feet. From the swimming basin, the seven-mile Juniper Run threads a narrow, palm-shaded creek that paddlers regularly rank among the finest canoe runs in the country. Come early on a summer weekend; this stretch of the Ocala National Forest fills up, and the spring's clarity rewards anyone who gets there before the crowd.