Places to go in North Central Florida.

Gainesville, Ocala, the Springs heartland. There are 13 places here.

All places

Everything in North Central Florida, by category.

Springs

Ginnie Springs

High Springs, FL · North Central Florida$$

At Ginnie Springs, about 8 miles from High Springs, tubes go into the Santa Fe River at Beaver's Landing and float about an hour to the Twin Spring exit. Wear water shoes for the…

Springs

Ichetucknee Springs State Park

Fort White, FL · North Central Florida

Nine springs feed the 6-mile Ichetucknee River near Fort White, and the water holds 72 degrees all year. Manatees show up in winter. Tubing runs year-round from Dampier's Landing…

Springs

Rainbow Springs State Park

Dunnellon, FL · North Central Florida

At Rainbow Springs near Dunnellon you swim in a cordoned-off area by the headsprings, where the Rainbow River begins. Everyone coming in at the headsprings entrance needs a…

Springs

Silver Springs State Park

Ocala, FL · North Central Florida$

In the late 1870s Hullam Jones and Phillip Morrell fixed glass to the bottom of a rowboat at Silver Springs in Ocala, and glass bottom boats have run ever since. The half-hour…

Caves

Devil's Millhopper Geological State Park

Gainesville, FL · North Central Florida

A 132-step staircase goes down into Devil's Millhopper, a sinkhole 120 feet deep and 500 feet wide northwest of the University of Florida in Gainesville. More than 100 feet of…

Gardens & wildlife

Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park

Micanopy, FL · North Central Florida

Plains bison were brought back to Paynes Prairie in 1975, and a small herd still grazes the 16,000-acre basin of marsh and wet prairie south of Gainesville. They're seen most…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

Springs

Salt Springs Recreation Area

Salt Springs, FL · North Central Florida$

Salt Springs pushes 52 million gallons a day out of four rocky vents in the Ocala National Forest, and the water tastes faintly of salt. In the 74-degree pool, snorkelers float…

Springs

Juniper Springs Recreation Area

Ocala, FL · North Central Florida$

Juniper Run starts at Juniper Springs in the Ocala National Forest and goes 7 miles through a federal wilderness area. It isn't meant for beginners, and most trips take 3 to 5…