Best Glamping near De Leon Springs, FL

Unfortunately, we had a LOT of rowdy neighbors who paid little if any attention to the park rules. Quiet time is supposed to start at 11 but, frankly, I don't think rowdy time ever ended. All. Night. Long. on Friday night and spilling over into Saturday morning, Noon and night. I don't think they ever slept. 

Had this been our first visit to a Florida State Park, we might not have gone on to explore a dozen other of the Florida State Parks in the area that accommodate RV's. That would have been a shame because we have enjoyed other Florida parks in the area. 

If this review concerns you, try close-by Lake Louisa State Park or Lake Griffin State Park: an entirely different scene with campers who actually camp as opposed to a mob of people just looking for a place to be drunk. 

About a week after we stay at a Florida park, we get a survey which asks a number of questions. One of them is "Did you feel safe?". The answer here is a resounding"NO!". I arrived right at 3PM and was set up by 4PM, before most of the drinkers arrived to spoil the scene. By 9PM I had basically pulled everything back in the RV for fear of it being stolen or shot at then stayed inside for the rest of the weekend. 

There was zero social distancing, one of the best parts (up until this visit) of camping in the first place. Sites here seemed a bit closer together than other parks but that might have been just my reaction to the scene and those spoiling it for others. 

I had two other bookings in the future for this park which I have canceled. There are just too many great parks in the Florida system. This is not one of them.

Absolutely the best place to camp right on the beach in north Florida! Kinda pricy but unforgettable views and experience.

Nice sites and some even have full hookups which is unusual for a Florida State Park.

Beautiful Florida wildlife,birds especially in winter.Can be viewed by canoeing or hiking.Great food at the island.

Only thing on weekend the later you go the lonnger wait to get in park.

Close to home and took a drive through one day. Haven't been camping yet this year due to illness but getting ready to get on the road. Love State parks in Florida looking forward to Wekiwa Springs visit..

Has beautiful sandy trails and near the silver springs park that allows kayaking and boat access on 40. You can rent a cabin or park rv. Not the most beautiful Florida park.

Lots of Floridas natural beauty but it felt like the camp sites were a bit close together. Very few full hookups most with electricity and water only. Probably won't stay here again

Really nice campground with all the amenities, showers, water, and power hookups for rv’s, or in my case to charge my phone and camera. We’re staying at the family campground as the primitive was full, so word of advice, book well in advance. Beautiful place love the springs!! Hoping to see some Florida native black bears fingers crossed...

Located in Flagler, Florida. this campground has spots directly on the Atlantic Ocean. We have stayed here many times but the price continues to go up so I can't say we will be returning. Highest I paid was $130 per night on holiday weekend but now it is way more than that. Amenities: full hookups, ocean side sites, laundry mat, store.

Beverly beach puts you and your RV feet away from the Atlantic Ocean. They have options for many different budgets from deluxe oceanfront to cheaper sites that are across the street. The sunrises from tbe Oceanside sites will recharge your soul. Close to Daytona and bound to be very popular during race weeks. So start planning the perfect Florida beach RV vacation

Just a beautiful state park, with that old Florida feel. The sites are big and have plenty of space between them. The the park staff we interacted with were very friendly and informative. The glass bottom boat tour is an absolute must, we had such a wonderful time and the boat captain had lots of interesting information. We have a 4 year old and a 10 year old and they both really enjoyed the boat tour also.

There’s a wonderful river to canoe/kayak to see all sorts of animals and wildlife. It’s a wonderful adventure, I’ve seen deer and wild turkey on the shores as well as tutles, numerous birds and cranes, otters, and plenty of gators! (No worries, they are not aggressive, but do not approach wildlife without realizing their natural reaction will be to fight or flight). The camping is amazing and there are many options of site, cabins, tents, RV. There are also fun hiking trails and a gorgeous spring to cool off in the Florida heat. There’s a reason all of the locals love to go on the weekends!

My husband and I camped at Silver Springs Campground in our 33' RV and we loved the spacious sites this park offers! We rode our bikes around the campground and were amazed as almost all the sites were huge! Live oak trees with Spanish moss...this campground is truly the "Real Florida". Each site is shady, clean and the the bathroom facilities are close by and have a washer & dryer along with a sink..

The park also has several pretty cool looking cabins/cottages that were nestled in the forest. There is a museum and even a library!

You can hike or drive over to the adjacent Silver Springs (we rode our bikes) and take a boat tour of the mag. 1 crystal clear spring! We got lucky and scored with Oscar Collins, who has been a tour boat captain at Silver Springs for 49 years...he takes the tour to the next level with his knowledge, wit, and what can we say...the man is a Rock Star!

The park offers a launch where you can either rent a kayak or use your own to navigate the beautiful and serene Silver River and you just might see a gator or two...we did! The grounds at Silver Springs are beautiful with all types of flora & fauna. Grab a quick lunch at the restaurant or have an ice cream.

This park is one of our favorites in Florida and is great for all ages...especially for families with children. A fun place for adventure and exploring!

Silver Springs Silver Springs SP Beautiful Florida campground with 60 sites, many pullthrus. The sites are huge with lots of space and privacy. Lush surroundings. Water, electricity, fire pit, grill and picnic table on level gravel sites. The bathhouse is modern, clean, good sized. They have family showers too. Nice laundry facility. There is an environmental museum and a Pioneer Village and the grounds. Campgrounds are next to the Silver Springs where you have to take the glass bottom boat tour.$10 pp for seniors. You can also kayak the Springs but watch out for gators!The grounds on the Springs and campground have great trails.

This park is more than just a glass bottom boat tour. Within the park radius—> You have the “Silver Springs Attraction”, the state campground with all it’s hiking/biking trails, Silver River kayaking/paddling , a small museum and lots of history at this park. Then within an aprox 6mile radius (easy biking) you can enjoy Majorie Cross Greenway,Florida Trail, Swamp Lake trails and the state park equestrian trails. Wow! RV and tent sites -some with full hook up and really nice cabins. This was some the best kayaking up and down river....both ways were a joy to paddle. (Watch our kayaking the silver river video on our YouTube channel...resident manatees are often seen on river!!) We were here in a 34 foot Class A with only 2 bikes and 2 kayaks Happy Camping www.travylcouple.com

Silver Springs State Park Lovely state park in central Florida. Quiet, well spaced forested sites. We stayed in #27 in Feb 2021 but all the sites are nice. Bathrooms and showers all clean and there are some coin-operated laundry machines. Several good hikes from the campground although they don’t show up on the AllTrails app. The trail heads are near the Museum and they branch off into various trails. No trail maps at trail heads though - the only one we saw was deep into one of the trails. The River Trail and Swamp Trail are very nice. The campground is about a mile from Silver Springs SP day use area, and there are more hikes there. There are also kayak abs canoe rentals there. We rented a kayak for two hours and it was great. We will come back!

After our last camping trip where we lost our tent to the elements we recently got a Cotopaxi Inti 2 and thought we'd give it a go somewhere a little closer to home. The campgrounds are nicely wooded and provide a ton of much-needed shade from the Florida sun. Check in was smooth and uneventful and we got to our site (#32) which did seem rather close to those around us, but we set up and then started making dinner. Exploring the campground, we realized it a little weirdly setup with all the sites arranged in a loop with the sites on either side of the road and the facilities (which are nice) in the center of the loop. There isn't a direct path and if you're on the outside of the loop you will have to walk through/by a site within the center ring and then through the "woods" to get to the bathhouse. Some sites have more of a path than others. There are a few accessible sites which have a paved pathway to the bathhouse, but you'd have to walk directly through someone else's campsite to get to them...a little weird. After eating we started to make a fire and thought the group (very near) next to us was a getting a little loud and it definitely made it seem less secluded, when of course we get a Florida downpour (starting to think we can't go camping without it raining) which of course wasn't predicted and we all had to rush to our tents. Stayed huddled in there (and this time thankfully the rain stayed outside our tent) it got much quieter and darker and eventually, we slept through the night to awaken to it still raining... At this point, we were simply glad to be dry and packed up and left in the drizzle. We were on site 32 which was probably one of the furthest from the facilities and you had to walk through a thick path past the clothesline to the back of the bathhouse to get there. If you prefer a more direct line I'd call before booking online and ask about the best locations to get back and forth to the facility. But we were glad it wasn't our site that people were walking through...

Spacey sites, though tent campers run the risk of RV generators in your ear as per most Florida state park sites.

Took me two days to see monkeys. I'd recommend staying 3 days if this is your primary reason for visiting the park. The Swamp and River trails (both trailheads are near the campground) are your best bet for seeing them on foot, but I only saw them by boat.

If you have your own boat or paddleboard, you can launch from the ramp half a mile off the River trail ($2 launch fee) and paddle upriver, then float down in the hopes of seeing monkeys.  You can also launch from Ray Wayside Park and paddle all the way up (6 miles, get wrecked).

In addition to a troop of rhesus macaques I saw gators, cormorants, anhinga, hella fish, great blue heron, red bellied cooters, and one otter!

This campground is nice the sites are nice sized and level. The campground is not located at the head springs where the glass bottom boats are and kayak rentals. This makes it even better. The campground is quiet. It's a 15 minute drive to the head springs. 

We had our own Kayaks so we put in at the head springs and paddled down to the campground. It's a 2 to 2 1/2 hour trip or more because of all the beautiful landscape and the wildlife. At the campground exit to get out of the river you have to have wheels to transport the kayaks back to the parking lot. It's about a 1 mile hike pulling the kayak.

You can also do a longer trip an paddle further to Rays Wayside. It's less busy paddling that part of the river. You will need to leave a vehicle parked at Rays Wayside to get back to the headsprings. There is a company for $10 per person that will pick you up there and brings you back. Silver Springs charges $55 per person. 

I was in site 53 and there are trails you can hike from behind many of the campsites. There is a cracker house village and a great museum with artifacts and giant skeletons of big creatures. Lots of fossils and arrowheads. The Museum is only open on weekends.

The bath houses are very clean and if cold out nice hot heaters. There is a washer and dryer at the bath houses too.

They sell firewood and ice at the campground. You use a QR code scanner to purchase it. The wood is nice and burns like wood should.

I went to Silver springs as a kid and always thought of it as a tourist trap. I never had a desire to camp there yet I will say I have changed my mind and have already booked for next year. 

Florida residents have a one month booking advantage which started this past January. If your a Florida senior resident you get 1/2 off the price. The campsite hang tag gets you into the headspring for free. 

The park is nice I will visit again.

My friends and I have camped Wekiva a few times now, mostly because it's in our backyard. Being located in central Florida I think it goes without saying that tent camping here in the middle of summer comes with its own challenges, such as the excruciating heat. But other than stating the obvious let's cut to the chase. Pros: Kayaking, Natural Springs and community swimming hole, BBQ locations, separate camp grounds for tent versus RV, short distance to Wekiva Island. The natural springs of central Florida keep a cool 72 degrees year round making swimming something you can always do. The head spring of Wekiva is a fairly large swimming hole which like most springs remains crystal clear water, great for snorkeling. The downfall however is this area gets insanely crowded during the summer months. Here you are able to rent kayaks, canoes and rafts for fair prices. Usually around $35 per kayak for 4-6 hours. Once you launch you have two main options of which direction to go. One being a more scenic route where you will more than likely see a large number of birds, turtles and the crowd favorite...alligators galore. There are no rangers on the water with you, so you are responsible for your own safety around the gators. The other direction leads you to Wekiva Island, the party place! Wekiva Island is also known as the redneck riviera. Here you'll find a couple of bars, volleyball, corn hole, a food truck and many more activities. (You can also drive straight to the island which also offers kayaking rentals). Over all, the springs and the river make for an adventurous fun day. Cons: The camp sites themselves are quite close in proximity to one another not leaving much privacy. You are contained to remain within the dirt boundaries opposed to setting up camp on softer ground. You are limited to only 2 tents and two cars on the site itself. Additional parking is close by. The real con was the camp ground attendants. My friends and I are in our mid thirties and not loud and obnoxious residents. You will be annoyed by several rangers on golf carts constantly hovering and interrupting you as well as your good old camp ground host who may or may not live on one of the grounds? He wasn't friendly and made us uncomfortable.

All in all to sum it up, if you are looking to spend some relaxing time on the water and see some unique Floridian wildlife you'll have a great time!

So this park has been so encroached upon by urban sprawl that there's a rather constant drone of traffic from the two-lane road used to access the State Park and all the neighborhoods that have been built right up to the parks boundaries. The traffic is only really audible from the campground not so much farther into the park near the spring swimming area. Even more remote is paddling down the river that flows from the spring boil. This is a busy place on summer weekends so busy the park reaches capacity sometimes as early as 10:00am as with all Fl. state parks use Reserve America for camping reservations. I give it 5 stars because the springs are phenomenal and the river is perfect. Bring 'em if you got 'em: kayaks,bikes,lawn chairs,fishing rods,bug spray but that last one is a given anywhere in Florida. Pro tip: if you have your own watercraft they will allow you to chain it up near the canoe launch which is advisable as it's quite a hike from the parking lot to the river.

I had relatively low expectations of Silver Springs mostly from childhood memories of hot, humid, crowded and touristy. Well, it was a real retro experience and I'm happy to say that not much has changed and that's a good thing!

The camp ground was exceptional with lots and lots of room. The river, as pristine as ever. The tour boats were the very same vessels of my childhood memories and provided a great backdrop to the overall setting.

I think we were in spot 51 which was a pull through and probably the very largest campsite we have ever had and it dwarfed our little travel trailer but we loved it.

It pretty much rained most of the weekend but we still enjoyed our long paddle with all kinds of wildlife INCLUDING THE MONKEYS!!!

The only reason I give this park a 4 and not a 5 star is you have to drive to the kayak launch which is in the same parking lot as the access for the day guests (and there are many). 

I applaud Florida State Parks for managing such a great facility in spite of all the pressure over the years. WE WILL RETURN.

We stayed here in the winter and the weather was very pleasant. The sites are all RV friendly with hookups but there are some sites that are designated as tent sites with a softer spot to stake in. Each site also comes with a standard fire ring and picnic table. The sites are large and spacious with shady trees surrounding each site. It is very quiet and peaceful. Note that pets are allowed in the campground area but not in any other areas.

The bathrooms and showers are close by and are very well kept and clean. It was never crowded. There are also laundry machines and vending machines there as well.

Near the campsites there are cabins for rent and a small museum. There is also a playground for children. Our favorite feature was that we were able to visit Silver Springs park free of charge if you brought your parking permit from the campsite. There are quite a few hiking trails near and one of them takes you directly to the park. Once in the park, you are able to rent kayaks or take the boat tour. The spring water is so clear you can see all of the fish swimming below!

Silver Springs is definitely a great place to visit for a relaxing Florida getaway.

I like to camp out places where swimming is available. We camp a lot during the summer but since this is Florida it's HOT regularly and sizzling during the summer months. Although the spring is quite a walk, with floats in tow, driving is an option also and there is always lots of parking, and it goes in a curve so your never to far from accessing the springs no matter where you end up parking. Oh and they allow you to use a golf cart also. I'm not all that impressed with the sites, crushed shell, and you have to pitch the tent on it also, would be cooler if they let you pitch it a bit off site so your in the pine straw verse the crushed shell, which sucks to sleep on if you don't have a pad. This campground sees more rigs then tents and thankfully there is electric hook ups so you don't have to here any generators, bc you are close close by each other. Showers were decent if you got one with a shower head and having hot and cold adjustable is nice. We also took advantage of the clothes line they have on site as well as the second loop has a book exchange. LOVE THOSE! We saw tons of wildlife even just chilling at the campground. Turkey, deer, tortouse, friendly squirrels. Your in bear territory but there are no bear lockers which is nbd we are used to keeping our coolers in our trucks at night. Definitely will camp here again. Bring your kids, your floats, kayak, snorkle ... You can even bring your canapy to the water area with lawn chairs and your mini grill and just do the place for the day at the springs it self. They also have a horse coral and a BUNCH of hiking trails.