Central-Florida

Most Florida springs drop off fast into a deep boil. Alexander is the exception: the basin shelves gradually across a sandy bottom, so toddlers can wade a long way out while older kids swim to the vent. That single feature makes it the spring to pick with a mixed-age group. It is also one of the few springs where snorkelling is genuinely rewarding at shallow depth, and canoe rentals run the Alexander Springs Creek downstream through palm hammock. Being inside the national forest, it is quieter than the state parks nearer Orlando.

Blue Spring is the largest winter manatee refuge on the St. Johns River, and on a cold January morning the run can hold several hundred animals packed into water that stays at 72 degrees. A boardwalk follows the run from the spring boil to the river, so the viewing needs no boat and works with a stroller. This is the rare wildlife sighting that is close to guaranteed rather than lucky. The trade-off is seasonal: while manatees are present the spring is closed to swimming and paddling, which typically means mid-November through March. In summer the animals leave and the spring becomes a swimming hole.

De Leon Springs pairs a circular walled swimming basin with something no other Florida spring has: a restaurant in the 1830s sugar mill where every table has its own griddle and you pour and flip your own pancakes from a jug of batter. Kids find this considerably more exciting than the spring. The wait for a table routinely exceeds an hour on weekends, so the usual order is to put your name down, swim while you wait, and eat after. The spring itself is a consistent 72 degrees with a dock and ladder entry rather than a beach.

The Juniper Run is the most memorable paddle in central Florida and the least suitable for beginners. Seven miles of creek so narrow that in places you push off both banks, with fallen logs to duck and no way out once you start - reckon on four hours. A concession runs rentals and a shuttle; if you bring your own boat you must launch before 1pm and only 30 private vessels are allowed on the run each day, so it is worth a phone call first. Older kids love it; it is genuinely a bad idea with a five-year-old. The swimming area is a separate and much gentler proposition, a stone-walled pool built by the Civilian Conservation Corps around the spring boil, with the old millhouse and its water wheel still standing above it.

Rock Springs is the closest thing Florida has to a natural lazy river. The spring emerges from a rock bluff and the run is shallow, clear and just fast enough to carry a tube without any paddling, taking around twenty minutes end to end before you walk the bank back to the top. Small children can stand up along almost all of it. The catch is access: this is an Orange County park with a hard capacity limit, the queue of cars starts before opening on summer weekends, and once it fills nobody else gets in that day. Tube rental is from vendors outside the gate.

Lithia Springs is the closest real spring to Tampa and it is set up for families rather than divers: the swimming area is enclosed, shallow at the edges, sandy underfoot and shaded around the rim, so it works well with children who are not strong swimmers. The water holds 72 degrees. It is a Hillsborough County park, so entry is cheap, and there is a decent campground on the Alafia River alongside. The pool closes periodically for water quality after heavy rain, and it hits capacity on summer weekends, so call before making the drive.

Rainbow Springs pushes out hundreds of millions of gallons a day into a swimming area that is unusually forgiving for small children: a gradual sandy entry, roped shallows, and clear water that rarely drops below 72 degrees. The old garden paths above the spring lead past man-made waterfalls built when this was a private roadside attraction. Tube and kayak rentals run from a separate entrance downriver, and the paddle up the Rainbow River is calm enough for a first-time family trip. Weekends fill by late morning in summer.

Silver Springs invented the glass-bottom boat, and the tour still works exactly as advertised: you look straight down through eighty feet of clear water at the spring vents and the fish stacked over them. The other reason to come is stranger. Rhesus macaques released here in the 1930s established a wild population along the river, and paddlers see them in the trees regularly. Kayak and canoe rentals are on site. There is no swimming at Silver Springs, which surprises families expecting another spring basin - come for the boats and the paddling.

Wekiwa is the closest real spring to Orlando, which is both its appeal and its problem - it regularly hits capacity and closes the gate by mid-morning on summer weekends. The swimming basin is large, has a shallow shelf for small children and a deeper end with a dock, and the water sits at 72 degrees. Canoe and kayak rentals launch onto the Wekiva River, a slow blackwater run where alligators and otters are both common sights. It makes a genuine alternative to a theme park day for families already in Orlando.