Happenin’
Places › Florida › North Central Florida › Silver Springs State Park
Silver Springs State Park, photo 1 of 4

Photo: Jackdude101 / CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Springs

Silver Springs State Park

Ocala, FL · North Central Florida$$2 a person at the main entrance, 5 and under free; glass bottom boat tour $17 adults

About

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 tour leaves every 15 to 20 minutes and passes Mammoth Spring, and through the glass you may spot Native American and Spanish artifacts or movie props on the bottom. Hollywood shot at least 20 films here, Moonraker and Rebel Without a Cause among them. Only one of the nine boats, the Chief Potackee, is wheelchair accessible. Swimming isn't allowed, but you can rent a clear-bottom tandem kayak and paddle the Silver River five miles to Ray Wayside Park, where a van brings you back.

Highlights

Glass bottom boats since the late 1870sMammoth Spring on the boat tourManatees, turtles and gators in the riverFive-mile paddle to Ray Wayside ParkAt least 20 films shot here

Getting there

5656 East Silver Springs Boulevard, Silver Springs, FL 34488

Related places

Gilchrist Blue Springs State Park 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…

Fanning Springs State Park 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…

Alexander Springs Recreation Area 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…

More in North Central Florida

Others worth the drive in this corner of Florida.

All of North Central Florida →
Devil's Millhopper Geological State Park 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…

Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park 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…

Devil's Den 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…

Troy Spring State Park 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…

Salt Springs Recreation Area 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…

Juniper Springs Recreation Area 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…

Part of these collections

Florida Springs24 places

Florida Springs

Every spring on this list stays between 68 and 74 degrees all year, and from mid-November through March the manatees move into Blue Spring and Three Sisters. You watch them from the boardwalk.

Florida State Parks26 places

Florida State Parks

This list has 26 of Florida's 175 or so state parks. Book Blue Spring before you drive: it needs a day-use reservation.