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Photo: Keith Ramos, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service / Public domain · source

Springs

Three Sisters Springs

Crystal River, FL · Nature Coast$$Adults $12.50 summer, $20 winter; kids 6 to 15 $7.50

About

A 1,300-foot boardwalk circles Three Sisters Springs in Crystal River, where in winter you look down on some of the 600-plus manatees that come into Kings Bay. You get to the boardwalk by shuttle, and parking is limited. Paddlers are kept out of the springs from November 15 through March. The rest of the year you can paddle in from a Kings Bay ramp such as Hunter Springs Park, because the site has no launch of its own.

Highlights

In the Crystal River manatee refugeHundreds of manatees in winterSprings hold 72 degrees1,300-foot boardwalkShuttle included with the ticket

Getting there

601 Three Sisters Springs Trail, Crystal River, FL 34429

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Go in winter if you can. Manatees crowd the warm springs from mid-November through March, and the wading birds are thickest on the same cool, dry mornings.

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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.

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Seven places to see wild manatees in Florida, picked for how many turn up on a cold winter morning. Go between mid-November and March, after a cold snap drops the bays and rivers below 68 degrees.