Wakiwa Springs State Park, Apopka, Florida

Wakiwa Springs State Park is located just 26 minutes north of Orlando, Florida in Apopka.

This natural spring stays at 72 degrees all year around.

You can snorkel, swim, and go kayaking/canoeing here.

Wakiwa Springs State Park now requires an online reservation before you go. You can reserve your spot at https://reserve.floridastateparks.org/web. We paid $6 for our vehicle for a day pass.

This is the view of the entrance to Wakiwa Springs State Park.

We pulled up to the ranger station and showed our online reservation. From the ranger station you drive to your first right hand turn and then follow that road as it loops around and has parking along the way.

There are multiple entrances from the parking lot. We parked and entered at Spring Access Boardwalk 2.

At the end of the boardwalk you go onto a sidewalk. If you turn right it will take you to the that has the store, restaurant, and public bathrooms.

This is what the entrance to the store looks like. They have drinks, tee shirts, masks, ice, and all sorts of souvenirs for sale.

They also have lockers that you can rent to store your belongings. There were only 12 so you want to get there early and rent them fast.

We didn't rent a locker. We just left our stuff by our towels by the spring and nothing got stolen.

This is what the Watering Hole Restaurant looks like. They also have picnic tables to sit and eat at.

The far end of the building is where the public bathrooms are located.

Next, we headed down to the spring. There is a sidewalk that goes all the way around the spring. I'm going to take you on a tour to show you what it looks like. There is a wood bridge that you walk across to get to the other side. There are also multiple staircase entrances to get in.

After walking completely around the natural spring, we decided to get in and do some snorkeling.

We first snorkeled around where the spring comes out. It's about a 15 to 20 foot opening that you can snorkel in and feel the fresh spring water coming out of the ground and pushing against you.

After snorkeling at the head of the springs, we decided to swim around. We noticed a lot of small fish swimming just below the surface of the water.

We also noticed another small opening in the spring.

Most of the fish we saw were around the staircases into the spring.

We also saw an old tree in the water that a lot of people were standing on.

We snorkeled over to the bridge area. The water is crystal clear. The bridge is as far as you are allowed to swim.

From this view you can see the entire spring and the green grassy hill were a lot of people lay out there towels.

After snorkeling and exploring the spring we got out and dried off. 

We wanted to go see where you can rent kayaks and canoes.

We walked past the bridge and the boardwalk takes you to the rental area.

The rental rates listed for tandem and canoe were $50 for 2 hours, $55 for 4 hours, and $65 for all day. $45 for a SUP.

We didn't have time on our visit to go canoeing, but we definitely want to go back and try it out.

Overall, we had a great time swimming, snorkeling, and exploring Wakiwa Springs State Park. We highly recommend it and we are definitely going to go back.

Wakiwa Springs State Park Map

1800 Wekiwa Cir, Apopka, FL 32712:

(Click on the map above to go to a Google Maps larger view.)

Wakiwa Springs State Park requires reservations, but only cost $6 for our car.

We made the reservation at https://reserve.floridastateparks.org/Web/. 

Total: $6 for entry for 1 car

These are the checklist items I recommend:

• Make your reservation in advance to get into the park. https://reserve.floridastateparks.org/Web
• Bring a hat to keep the sun off of your face.
• Bring your own snorkeling gear.
• Bring money to buy food or to shop in the store.
• Bring beach towels and some food.