“100 million gallons of water made... daily!”
Manatee Springs State Park is located around Manatee Spring. The first-magnitude spring at this park produces an average of 100 million gallons of clear, cool water daily. In winter, West Indian manatees swim upriver to the warmer waters of the springs. Popular for snorkeling and scuba diving, the headwaters of the spring are also a great spot for swimming. The spring run forms a sparkling stream that meanders through hardwood wetlands to the Suwannee River. Canoe and kayaks can be rented May through September. Children enjoy the playground in the picnic area. Hiking and bicycling are available on the north end trail system. The full-facility campground is surrounded by red oak woods.
Reviews of Magnolia Campground
45 people have reviewed this location
Ratings Summary
Cell Coverage
Verizon 4G/5G
Confirmed by 19 users | Last reported on December 10, 2023AT&T 4G/5G
Confirmed by 18 users | Last reported on July 04, 2023T-Mobile 4G/5G
Confirmed by 5 users | Last reported on April 08, 2023Awesome! Saw over a hundred manatees just hanging out. Late December. Super cool
Absolutely loved kayaking here. Spotlessly maintained. Enjoyed exploring the area and hiking with the dogs! No cell service-if that’s necessary move on.
Quiet, remote, jungle like, and friendly! Spacious sites for all sizes of campers. Gravel/ sand pads. Magnolia loop 1 has full hook ups. We stayed on Magnolia loop 2. Chiefland is a small town about 8 miles away with a Winn Dixie and Walmart, a few car washes, restaurants and gas stations.
WiFi is non existent at the campground except at the concession stand. TV channels are very limited!
A nice swimming hole exists in the river near the concession. Canoes, kayaks are available for rent and a pontoon boat tour is also available.
We loved this park. Super cold, crystal clear water that my family really enjoyed snorkeling in. Lots of fish and wildlife, beautiful green canopy of trees. The spring gets very, very deep, so there is something for the young ones, and the more experienced swimmers.
I went here. The section of super clear aqua waters was pretty, however extremely small! It was probably like 10x8 feet is all. It would've been worth it if I had scooba gear with me.
Emerald and azure go reflective from the spring itself. The first white gentleman to visit these springs spoke of the banks lined in crushed seashells and elaborated eloquent over how pristine the sparkling of similar pieces of shell looked as they shot out from underwater spring and fell slowly down through the water to rest back at the bottom of the river.
Such is no longer the case, unfortunately, a concrete wall keeps the spring deep and a playground for manatees, though as of our second visit here in five or six years, we've yet to see one of those elusive sea cows at this park.
Instead, we're forced to watch divers emerge from that same spring, they enter via a cave a few dozen yards away and burst onto the scene like action figures in motion. A long boardwalk takes you out to the Suwanee River, a wide flow of a guzzler that is gorgeous in its own right.
Massive spots surrounded by trees, recycling available, and our campfire did not go unused as our neighbor brought over ribs and pork chops to share with us.
In years past we camped in our little VW Bus, this was in April, and were surrounded by fire flies as they lit the night up like the manatees were sea monsters and nothing but a natural nightlight would do.
A majestic park to say the least, and though small, very much worth the trip.
Nightly Rate: $20.00
Days Stayed: 2
Site Number: -
Cell Coverage Rating
Verizon 4G
AT&T 4G
To begin with, we were looking forward to the "gravel" site we had booked since our last campground had sand and between 3 human and 2 pets sweeping up was a full time task. No gravel-dirty sand.
Then, no cell reception-OK though still a pain
A concession with ridiculous costs for even the cheapest foods/items.
And the bathrooms? Worse then bad. The showers had no doors but curtains that did not even extend the full width of the stall-and the first one was right on the left at the entrance door so each time the door opened the curtain (what there was of it) blew in, the floors were filthy, the fan was covered in gunk, the toilets had paper hanging out of them and this was not only early morning but afternoon as well.
Since we'd seen plenty of manatee at Blue Springs State Park the fact that there were none here was fine but the kayaking was boring even if the water is pretty.
It was also the first and only park in a year of full-timing (and over 30 CG) where we did not meet friendly people but felt uncomfortable even saying hello to all but our next door neighbors.
The only good thing was that it got quiet at night.
Nightly Rate: $33.00
Days Stayed: 3
Site Number: 6
We stayed here one night in the middle of February, 2015. We had our Fun Finder travel trailer at the time and the site assigned us was quite large. The site was level and our neighbors friendly. We arrived early afternoon and spent the rest of the day hiking around and exploring the springs and boardwalks. I shot a lot of video and took a lot of pictures. It was peaceful and quiet and we enjoyed our stay. The grounds weren't particularly maintained but it was winter season. The bathrooms weren't the best but they were as clean as most we run across. The park was home to hundreds of Black Vultures who were roosting in the trees along the boardwalk and in the trees along the river banks. To my surprise, when I got up the next morning I found many of the large birds walking around the campground. If you'd like to see the video ......
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gN8l4Ki8b4
Nightly Rate: $33.00
Days Stayed: 1
Site Number: -
This park is fairly close to Cedar Key and just outside the historic city of Chiefland. It has the largest spring flow of any spring on the Suwannee river. The river is very wide here, and we saw 3 manatees that were primarily at the junction of the spring and the river, although they did move up towards the spring head on the cold morning of 1-28. Manatees are always a beautiful and welcome site. In addition to the manatees, we were at the end of the boardwalk and were entertained by an otter for a few minutes. You never know what you will see in the real Florida. Out site was a larg site, but it was quite sandy, which which is not an issue unless you have pets that may track It into the rv. We took the boat tour, and it was a cool, crisp morning and saw a few birds and many turtles, plus 1 smaller gator. The captain was knowledgeable and informative. It was just my wife and I at the time, and he answered all our questions. There was no cell service, but they had wifi at the concession stand. If nothing else appeals to you, go there to have some barbecue, which was everything all the other reviews have stated, and more. The cole slaw and beans were delicious also. On the downside, I had my small dog in my arms as we walked the boardwalk one evening, and we were scolded by a park volunteer. Funny that she didn't scold another volunteer who had 2 dogs on leashes on the boardwalk the next day. Special treatment for special people. The volunteer was from a northern state who comes to my state to live in the winter and make other people's lives miserable. She must be the same person that others have written negatively about. She was definitely not "the real Florida". This park is just a special piece of quiet beauty nestled along the historic Suwannee river. Come on over and rest a spell lik a true Floridian!
Nightly Rate: $20.00
Days Stayed: 4
Site Number: 59
Cell Coverage Rating
Verizon 4G
Really pretty park and well maintained. We feel we got the best spot, #37 which is a pull thru on concrete.It is very rustic but this loop is the newest and there are even some nice sidewalks that lead up to the showerhouse. There is an outfitter at the springs where you can rent kayaks or canoes. Also there's a beautiful swimming area in the springs that we will try out today. They sell BBQ at the outfitters also. Everyone's been super nice that we've run into. We'll definitely come back. Only issue is bad wifi, if that matter to you. That's the only reason we'd give it a 4 star.
Nightly Rate: $20.00
Days Stayed: 3
Site Number: 37
Cell Coverage Rating
Verizon 4G
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Magnolia Campground
Hours
- Sun - Sat: 8:00 am - 8:00 pm
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Parking
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Pets Allowed
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Restrooms
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Wifi
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Wheelchair Accessible
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Credit Cards Accepted
- Affiliation
- State park or forest
- Back In RV Sites Count
- 20
- Last Nightly Rate
- 20.0
- Longest Vehicle Length Reported
- 36.0
- Lowest Nightly Rate
- 10.0
- Max Length
- 40 ft
- Max Stay
- 14
- Pull Through RV Sites Count
- 6
- Sites Count
- 60
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Paved Sites
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Fifty Amp
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Full Hookup
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Rec Facilities
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Pull Through
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Tent Sites
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Dump Station
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Big Rigs
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Open Seasonally
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Age Restricted
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Back In RV Sites
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Boondock
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Cabin Sites
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Dispersed Sites
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Firewood
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Fulltime Residents
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Group Tent Sites
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Laundry
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Mobile Homes
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Permit Required
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Potable Water
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Propane
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Public Water
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Pull Through RV Sites
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Reservations
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Sewer Hookup
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Showers
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Sites
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Standard Tent Sites
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Vehicle Wash Permitted
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Water Hookup
- Reservations
- Does not take
Campground, Dining, Restrooms
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