SILVER SPRINGS STATE PARK

This state park is located about 1.5 hours north of Orlando, just off of Interstate 75. Like most parks, this is a calm, quiet florida nature scene and it is best enjoyed by nature lovers and kayakers. Our family often drives past this park on our way from the northeast of florida to the westcoast of Florida (we like to avoid the chaos of I-4) and we usually do not have the time to stop here and visit.

ONE fortunate road trip, after listening to me beg and plead to stop here my husband begrudgingly agreed to stop. He agreed to stop on my sincere guarantee that there would be manatees in the spring since it was winter and cold and this is when manatees flock to the natural springs of Florida. I got everyone very excited to see manatees in the wild, only to discover there were none in this park. We went in December and the manatee migration peaks November-March, so this does not appear to be a great place for manatee sightings.

The best activity at this park is the glass bottom boat tour! It is about 30 minutes.

Unfortunately, they were completely sold out upon our arrival, so I recommend you book online in advance as the park was not very busy so it was surprising that it was sold out.

The springs are beautiful though and we did spot an alligator swimming by which was very exciting. You are not permitted to swim in this spring but you can take the boat tour or rent or bring your own kayak. The water in some parts is absolutely gorgeous.

Our children (3 and 5 at the time) were a bit too young for a long stroll in the park so we did not explore as much as I would have liked.

This place is definitely a stopover filler, and not a main destination with young children I would say