Salt Springs Recreation Area is part of the Ocala National Forest. It’s the oldest national forest east of the Mississippi River and protects the world’s largest sand pine scrub forest. The Salt Springs gets its name from the magnesium, sodium and potassium levels in the water, giving it a slight salinity. We made our reservations online at www.recreation.gov you can also call 877-444-6777 the local office is(352) 685-2048. We’re a married couple in our forties traveling with two dogs and a cat in our 37 foot motorhome. We stayed at Salt Springs campground for about a week in February. It was$34 for full hookups or$23 for tent camping. American Land& Leisure does a great job managing this recreation and camping area, the staff are professional and friendly. It’s a very safe and well lit campground. Activities include spring swimming, basketball courts, horseshoe pit, fishing, snorkeling, hiking, boating and kayaking. Canoe rentals are available. Nearby in the town of Salt Springs you will find a grocery store, gas station, restaurants, post office and laundromat. Don’t expect big box stores to shop in, this is a very small town and a place to get away from the world. We stayed in a full hookup site and had lots of space to ourselves, at least 25 yards to our neighbor on either side and about 40 yards to the next loop behind us. It was a flat site and very easy to level our motorhome. Sites are fully equipped with fire ring, grill, lantern post and picnic table. The tent sites include a bear locker. We loved the recycling opportunities at each trash container. They recycle plastic, glass and aluminum. The bathhouses are a gem, extremely clean and well taken care of. For campers in tents they offer a kitchen sink area to clean your dishes. Overall we loved our stay here, we went swimming multiple times with our snorkel gear and drove down to Silver Springs on two separate days(one for the glass bottomed boats and a second day to go kayaking).

Fantastic campground and recreation area. Over 150 campsites, one area full hookups with all amenities and other area for tent camping. Sites have lots of space and majority have shade trees with moss flowing in the breeze. All sites have picnic table, lantern pole, grill, and fire ring. We have 2 golden retrievers and had plenty of space to spare. Beautiful stars out at night. Bathhouses are large, clean, hot showers. Trailer sites were full and only a few tent campers this time of year. Tent sites are complete with Bear boxes at each site. Camp hosts and management were very friendly and helpful.
Saw manatees kayaking in the spring and river on premises. Spring area has a boardwalk around it. People swam with them too. Saw bald eagle catching fish, lots of birds, some fish, etc. Has a small boat launch and marina. Can tent kayaks. Great place for bikes. A few hiking trails were well maintained.
Convenient location to lots of springs to visit and things to do. Visited Silver Springs, Blue Springs, Juniper Spring to name a few. All within 1 hr drive.
Not sure how summer time is, but this late February time was Awesome. 40-50 at night and 60s in the day! This is a must stay place.

Located in the Ocala National Forest in Central Florida

Campground- with 2 large camping areas with over 150 sites overall this is one of the better campgrounds we have ever visited. One campground has complete hookups, meaning 50amp, water and sewer. The cherry on top is that all the sites are paved! Wifi is ok with our booster and using our verizon jetpacks. There are two bathhouses with 3 showers.

The second campground area also has an equally large camping area that is primitive with only water and bear lockers and one bath house. This area is closer to the kayak boat launch. This area does not have paved roads and can be very sandy causing some bigger vehicles to get stuck apparently.

Your campground fee does include entry into the springs, but know that on high attendance weekends you cannot drive your car to the springs parking lot and the springs can be up to 3/4 mile walk depending on your campsite. There are no laundry facilities but if you exit park and drive left there is a laundromat, local food, dollar store, bait tackle. If you exit park and go left there will be a marathon gas station on your left- the unmarked building behind that is a small grocery store. Across the street from this unmarked grocery story is a charming veggie/fruit stand and a food truck that serves mexican inspired food with a local flair.

Note- be aware the road that leads to the boat ramp occasionally is forced to close due soft sand . (This happens when there is a drought) This means you will have to go to the Salt Springs Marina around the corner about 2 miles if you need a vehicle to drop off your boat.

Hiking-In the park there is a dedicated 1.5 mile trail called Bear Swamp Trail and there is a .5 mile trail to the springs. This park also has its own connector to the trail to the Florida Trail.

Nearby short biking/hiking distance from the park connector trail is also the Salt spring observation loop Hike. There are soo many hiking opportunities in the area because of the Ocala Forrest, Florida Trail and the connectors. Two of my favorite resources for this area are the websites Florida Hikes and the Florida Rambler.

Biking- the roads in and around the park are very bike friendly. If you are into mountain biking you will enjoy the hundreds of miles of ATV/multi use trails in the area.

Water Activities/Kayaking- Swimming in the Salt Springs-This is a natural spring area that due to the composition of minerals in the water there is a slightly salty tinge to the water. The water in the springs are generally crystal clear and having googles and/or mask would make this more fun. Water temperature is 72-74 degrees year around. (We are currently here in June and our last visit was in January of this same year.) Also- in the colder months - Chances increase of seeing manatees the salt springs run.

Just outside the swimming area is the "Salt Springs Run" which flows slowly for 4.5 miles into Lake George. This means paddling up and down the salt run is enjoyable both ways.

Other Activities outside the park- 1.5 miles away there are 4 pickle ball courts available by exiting right from the park.

Amrit Yoga institute is about 10 miles away and offers wellness weekends, yoga, pilates. There is also yoga on Tuesday nights at the Salt Springs Recreation center (next to the pickleball courts)

We hope you enjoy this park as much as we do. Enjoy the video we made for YouTube- it is below.

Happy Camping! Pamela and Keith