The map first
This guide is built entirely from roundup, comparison and story films — every video here is fresh to this page, not recycled from our single-spring pages. The map film ranks 10 natural springs near Orlando for kayaking, tubing and hiking with drive times, starting with Rock Springs at Kelly Park in Apopka, 35 minutes away — 'easily my favorite natural lazy river in Florida.' A second roundup finds five hidden springs that look like the Caribbean, beyond the famous Ginnie, Silver and Weeki Wachee circuit.
Ocala National Forest, the springs superstore
The forest film tours its five standouts, including first-magnitude Alexander Springs — over 64 million gallons a day of 72-degree water. Two deeper cuts: Salt Springs, the slightly saline spring feeding a five-mile run into Lake George, rated among Florida's best snorkeling; and beyond the forest, Gemini Springs in DeBary — a free county park with two spring heads and five miles of trails — plus Green Springs Park in Enterprise, built around a rare green sulfur spring (no swimming; the emerald pool, trails and playground are the visit).
The question everyone asks, and the two stories
One film answers it head-on: are there alligators in Florida's springs? — starting from the viral Silver Springs paddleboard encounter, then covering how alligators actually behave around swimmers and how to stay safe in the runs. And two histories give the famous pair their due: Silver Springs, Florida's original crown jewel (1.5 million visitors a year at its peak, presidential visits, Hollywood films) and its reinvention as a glass-bottom-boat state park; and Weeki Wachee, the underwater mermaid theater performing in a real spring since 1947 — older than Disneyland.
Every spring named here has (or is getting) its own full video page on this site — Kelly Park, Wekiwa, Blue Spring, Silver Springs, Rainbow Springs and the rest. This guide is how you choose among them.
Sources: the nine videos on this page — two springs roundups, the Ocala five, Salt, Gemini and Green Springs visits, an alligator-safety explainer, and the Silver Springs and Weeki Wachee histories — summarized from their entries in our catalog.