Ginnie Springs

What to expect

Ginnie Springs is not a hot spring. Its seven springs come up at 72°F22°C all year, which is cool, clear swimming water, not soaking water. If you want heat, you will not find it in Florida. If you want some of the clearest water in the state, a long tube run and some of the best-known cave diving in the world, this is the place.

Ginnie is privately owned. The Wray family has owned the land since 1971 and opened it as a park in 1976, and today Ginnie Springs Outdoors runs it as a big campground and day-use park of more than 200 wooded acres on the south bank of the Santa Fe River. Wooden sun decks with stairs lead into each spring. There are tiled bathhouses with warm showers, a country store with a deli and dive shop, volleyball courts, pavilions and a boat ramp.

The main spring, Ginnie Spring, is a bowl about 90 feet across and 12 feet deep, with a short run of about 500 feet out to the river floodplain. Below it lies the Ginnie Ballroom, a cavern more than 100 feet wide and 15 feet deep that open-water divers can look into; an iron grate blocks the most dangerous part of the cave behind it. Upstream, the Devil’s Spring System (Devil’s Eye, Devil’s Ear and Little Devil) is the famous one. Certified cave divers can explore more than 30,000 feet of passage there. Dogwood, Twin and Deer springs are for swimming and snorkeling only.

Summer weekends can be loud and crowded, and the operator tightened its alcohol rules in April 2026 (see below). Weekdays and the cooler months are usually much calmer.

Getting there

The address is 7300 NE Ginnie Springs Road, High Springs, FL 32643, about 6.5 miles northwest of High Springs in Gilchrist County. From Gainesville, take US 441 or I-75 north to High Springs, about 30 miles, then follow the signs west across the Santa Fe River. The roads are paved.

Inside, Ginnie is a golf-cart park with a 10 mph limit. Day visitors park in general lots near each spring. On summer weekends, day-pass guests are sent to overflow lots. Some riverside primitive campsites do not allow vehicles, so you carry gear in. Do not arrive before the 8 a.m. opening: the operator says lines and parking backups make it worse.

When to go

The water does not change with the seasons, but everything else does.

• Summer weekends: packed, loud and often using overflow parking. Buy your day pass online in advance.
• Weekdays, April to October: the best mix of warm air and room in the springs. The Santa Fe is usually clear enough for snorkeling in summer and early fall.
• November to February: off-season rates and few crowds. Divers like it, swimmers find it chilly out of the water. Winter dive registration closes an hour earlier.
• Holidays: prices may rise, and diving is not allowed on select major holiday weekends.

Prices and booking

Prices below come from the operator’s printed brochure (version dated December 2024) and are per person, plus tax. Confirm current rates on the website.

	Off season (Nov-Feb)	Season (Mar-Oct)
Day pass, adult	$20	$25
Day pass, ages 4-12	$5	$6
Camping, adult per night	$30	$40
Camping, ages 4-12 per night	$8	$10

Children 3 and under are free. Electric hookups add $15 a night for a standard site or $30 for a double or large site. Scuba diving costs $28 a day for full cave divers and $36 for all other divers, on top of admission.

• Day passes are sold until 3 p.m. and expire half an hour before sunset. Buying online in advance is encouraged.
• Camping: water and electric sites should be reserved online. Riverfront primitive sites are first come, first served (groups of 30 or more can reserve from October to March). Campers must check in by 10 p.m.
• Waiver: every guest must sign one, ideally online before arrival.
• Age and ID: you must be 18 to camp without a parent or legal guardian, and staff check government ID. Children 15 and under must be supervised.
• Rentals: single tubes $10 a day, doubles $20, life jackets free, free air for your own tubes. Canoes, kayaks and paddleboards rent from the store; you paddle upstream and back, since there is no pickup service. Full scuba packages run $65 without a light or $75 with one.

Rules and etiquette

• Alcohol: since April 21, 2026, open alcohol is allowed only within your campsite. It is banned at the springs, decks, swimming areas, bathhouses, playgrounds, pavilions, roads, trails and parking areas. Glass is banned everywhere. Staff can pour out drinks and remove violators without a refund.
• No pets.
• Quiet hours run from midnight to 8 a.m. No DJ equipment or performers.
• Banned items include drones, rope swings, fireworks, firearms, jet skis, ATVs and side-by-sides, metal detectors, air horns and water balloons.
• Diving: register at the office by 5 p.m. (4 p.m. in winter). No solo diving. Only certified cave divers may cave dive. Open-water divers may not enter the overhead parts of the Devil’s system, and open-water and cavern divers are limited to a single cylinder there. Freedivers may not use lights. Night dives are allowed until midnight after at least one daylight dive. No diving in Dogwood, Twin or Deer springs, and no jumping or diving from decks, banks or trees.
• Swim at your own risk. There are no lifeguards.

Where to stay nearby

Ginnie itself is the campground, with tent sites along the river and around the springs, pull-through RV sites with water and electric, a dump station and a laundromat. Gilchrist Blue Springs State Park, about a mile east, has a 25-site state park campground that reopened on October 1, 2026, though its day-use area was still closed for construction. High Springs, about 6.5 miles away, has small inns and restaurants, and Gainesville has chain hotels.

Safety notes

• Cave diving kills untrained divers. The Devil’s system has warning signs at its entrances for a reason. Do not go past the light zone without full cave training.
• Cool water: 72°F22°C feels fine at first but chills you over a long snorkel or dive. A wetsuit helps.
• River current and boats: the Santa Fe has a steady current and motorboat traffic. Wear the free life jacket when tubing.
• Water shoes: the Tube Trail back from Twin Spring needs them.
• Weather: summer afternoon thunderstorms are common. Get out of the water when you hear thunder.

Nearby stops worth adding

Ichetucknee Springs, about 10 miles north, has the classic state-park tube run. Fanning Springs on the Suwannee is a 25-mile drive west. All of them are cool springs at about the same temperature as Ginnie.