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Wekiwa Springs State Park sits about 20 minutes from downtown Orlando in Apopka. It’s the spring we send people to first. The water holds at 72°F year-round, day use runs $6 per vehicle, and since September 2025 you need a reservation before you show up.
Get that one piece sorted and the rest of the visit takes care of itself.
We’ve packed the cooler and the kids’ floaties for this one more times than I can count. Usually there’s a niece or nephew along who needed convincing that spring water that cold is actually fun. It goes the same way every time: they complain for the first thirty seconds, then won’t get out.
Of Central Florida’s springs, Wekiwa asks the least of you logistically. It’s close, it’s shallow at the edges, and the bathrooms are in sight of the water instead of a walk away. On a week built around the theme parks, it’s the easiest morning to bolt on without anyone needing a nap plan for the afternoon.
Wekiwa Springs State Park hours
The park opens at 8 a.m. and closes at sundown. That holds 365 days a year, with no seasonal closure to plan around. Staying at the campground and rolling in after dark? Call the gate at 407-553-4383 instead of showing up to a locked entrance.
On a busy weekend, the park closes its gates once the parking lot fills, reservation or not. Plan to arrive early rather than mid-morning.
The swim area itself sits close to the parking lot, a short walk down a paved path. Sand edges the spring pool, which is roped off from the run downstream. The water is shallow enough near the entry steps for a small kid to stand, and it gets deeper toward the middle, where the spring actually boils up from the limestone below.
A short paved loop called the Wet-to-Dry Trail starts right at the swim area. It’s an easy option if someone in the group wants a stretch of the legs instead of a swim.
Wekiwa Springs State Park entrance fee
The park lists day use at $6 per vehicle carrying up to eight people, or $4 if you’re coming in alone. Walking or biking in costs $2 a person. None of that includes the reservation — that part is covered next, and it’s what actually trips people up.
The $6 vehicle rate is one of the more affordable admissions in the state park system. It’s the same whether you’re there for twenty minutes or the whole day.
| What | Cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Vehicle (up to 8 people) | $6 | Day-use reservation required |
| Single-occupant vehicle | $4 | Same reservation rule applies |
| Pedestrian / bicyclist | $2 | Per person |
| Standard campsite | $24/night + tax | Plus $6.70 reservation fee; $7 utility fee for RV, cabin, bungalow, boat or yurt |
| Primitive campsite | $5/person/night + tax | Trail camps, no utility fee |
| Park hours | 8 a.m.–sundown | Open 365 days a year |
Wekiwa Springs State Park reservations
Florida’s state park system made day-use reservations mandatory here on Sept. 2, 2025, along with Rainbow Springs, Henderson Beach and Blue Spring. The reservation system opens bookings up to 60 days out.
Same-day slots stay available until the day’s limit is reached, so a weekday morning still has a shot even without advance planning.
There’s no extra charge for the reservation itself. The entry fee is simply collected when you book. Cancel ahead and it’s refunded, but a no-show isn’t.
Campers skip this step and enter the way they always have. Annual passholders select “Annual Passholder” at checkout, then still show the physical pass at the gate.
Book the morning you actually plan to go, not just any open day. A reservation is tied to that single date, and it doesn’t carry over if plans change.
Wekiwa Springs kayak rental
Canoes and kayaks rent on-site. The launch puts you straight onto the spring run before it opens into the Wekiva River. It’s flat, shaded water the whole way down.
There’s no current to fight, since you’re always paddling with the spring’s flow instead of against it. That makes it an easy first paddle for a kid who’s never held a kayak paddle before.
The Wekiva is a designated Wild and Scenic River downstream of the park. That just means the banks stay wooded and undeveloped instead of lined with docks, so the paddle looks about the same as it would have decades ago.
Rock Springs Run joins the same river system a few miles downstream, near Kelly Park. Paddlers combining both springs into one trip aren’t unusual, though it’s a longer day than most families with small kids will want.
Pack reef-safe sunscreen. Expect turtles, wading birds and the occasional gator sunning on the bank. Those are ordinary sights on any spring-fed river in this part of Florida, not a reason to skip the paddle.
Wekiwa Springs State Park camping
Standard sites run $24 a night plus tax. Add a $6.70 nonrefundable reservation fee, and a $7 nightly utility fee if you’re in an RV, cabin, bungalow, boat or yurt. Tent campers skip that utility charge.
Primitive camping runs $5 per person, per night, plus tax. It’s the cheaper way to spend a night in the park, if you don’t mind carrying your own gear.
Standard sites book up fast on weekends in the cooler months. A camping trip here needs more lead time than a same-week day visit does.
There’s also equestrian and group camping, priced by headcount rather than by site. The park’s own listing flags possible construction in the campground effective June 26, 2026. It shouldn’t touch the bathhouse, and any work is supposed to stay inside business hours.
Hiking in for the night instead, the trail passes a couple of primitive camps: Camp Cozy and Big Buck Camp. Each has a fire ring and non-potable water, nothing fancier than that.
The developed campground has a bathhouse with hot showers, more than most primitive Florida camping trips offer. It’s the reason a lot of first-time tent campers start here.
How far is Wekiwa Springs from Orlando?
About 20 minutes from downtown, off Wekiva Springs Road in Apopka. That’s the whole pitch for a lot of Orlando families: no highway slog, no all-day commitment, just a morning trip that still leaves the afternoon open.
It folds easily into a Disney World family trip as a change of pace from the parks and the lines.
The park covers close to 8 square miles, with nearly 14 miles of hiking and biking trail and another 8 miles set aside for horses. Bring your own bike; there’s no rental for those.
The trailhead parking sits apart from the swim-area lot, so if the springs fill up first, the trails usually still have room. “Just the springs” turns into a half-day pretty easily if you let it.
If you’re already working through our two-day Orlando itinerary, this is the easiest half-day add-on to it. It doesn’t require renting a boat or booking a tour.
Wekiwa Springs vs Kelly Park
Wekiwa Springs is the one we swim at. Kelly Park is the one we tube at. Wekiwa’s swim area is a contained pool you wade into and float around in, good for smaller kids who aren’t ready for a moving current.
Kelly Park is a float down Rock Springs Run in a rented tube. It’s more fun for the eight-and-up crowd, and a harder sell for a toddler who just wants to stand still in cold water.
Wekiwa also stacks camping, hiking and paddling in one place, so it works better as a half-day-plus trip rather than a quick stop. Kelly Park is closer to a two-hour visit built around the float itself, and its parking fills earlier in the day than Wekiwa’s does.
Between the two, Wekiwa is the closer real spring to Orlando, and the one we’d pick first with young nieces and nephews in the car.
Wekiwa Springs State Park rules
Is Wekiwa Springs worth visiting? Yes, especially if you want a real Florida spring without a long drive from Orlando. It’s close, it’s cheap, and the water is the same clear 72°F you’d otherwise drive two hours for.
Can you swim at Wekiwa Springs? Yes, and that’s the main draw. The swim area is roped off from the spring run, so you’re not fighting current, and it’s open all day, every day the park is.
Wekiwa Springs vs Kelly Park — which is better for kids? Wekiwa, if the kids are small enough that a moving current worries you. Once they’re confident swimmers, Kelly Park’s tube float becomes the bigger hit.
Do you need a reservation to camp at Wekiwa Springs? No, camping reservations cover your entry. The day-use reservation is only for visitors who aren’t staying overnight.
Are pets allowed at Wekiwa Springs? Leashed pets are welcome in the day-use areas and on most trails, but they’re not allowed in the swimming area. Bring a bowl and water for them; there isn’t one at the spring.
Either way, our beach vacation packing list covers most of what you’d bring for a spring day, too. Just swap the sunscreen for a reef-safe one, and add water shoes for the limestone bottom near the boil.
For more of the region’s springs, see our Florida springs guide.
Prices are approximate, current as of publication, and change frequently — confirm the latest price with the retailer before buying.
Other springs within reach of Orlando: Blue Spring for manatees in winter, De Leon Springs for the pancake house, and nine springs sorted by drive time.
Published September 30, 2026.
Photo credits: (1) featured, Panoramic view of the spring-fed swimming… — Ebyabe, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons; (2) A wooden footbridge over the spring run at… — Ebyabe, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons; (3) The spring run flowing out of Wekiwa… — Ebyabe, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons; (4) Sand Lake in the pine woods of Wekiwa… — Ebyabe, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons; (5) A sandy hiking trail leading toward Sand… — Ebyabe, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.