We camped here for four nights and stayed on site 7, which was a great site. If you are considering camping here and have not been there before, the sites along the outside ring are the best and most private (sites 6 thru 25). The sites on the "interior" are not private and pretty close to one another. Only a couple of sites have shade trees, so summer camping here might be a little problematic. The Rainbow River runs along the park and is a beautifully clear spring fed river. You can rent canoes and kayaks at a very reasonable price about 6 miles away (via car) at the other part of the Rainbow Springs Park complex called the Headspring. This area is also beautiful and admission is free to campers. Over Christmas, the Headsprings park was open at night and it was decorated with thousands of Christmas lights. Santa was also there for the kids. A third part of the park complex rents tubes for floating down the river during the summer. We will definitely try this park again next winter as well as giving it a shot this summer to enjoy tubing down the river. We camped here in a Travel Trailer.

Seems to be a newer park. The sites are deep and they offer full hookups. The bathroom was spotless and bright with big hot showers. We camped in site # 10 and it offered privacy. Good location to get to Crystal River to see Manatees and also Ocala. Great for family camping. Staff was very helpful. Close access to Rainbow River. We camped here in a Motorhome.

This park has just reopened after renovation so needs some time for the landscape to grow back.The camping spots are really nice other than the landscape being bare between a lot of sights. The staff is great. Finding a pool at a Government park was a surprise. Now for the bad: if you take a kayak, it is a good walk down to the river. They do have a cart for you to haul it on. The other thing is that to get to the springs you have to drive out of the park and come back in on the other side which is a good little drive. You can not swim over the spring itself as it is roped off but has a swimming area; as does the camping side.The park itself is an old tourist park from the 1930's and is a nice walk through it. We will go back. We camped here in a Travel Trailer.

The park has been recently re-done. The beauty of this location is Rainbow Springs/River. It's walking distance to river: tubing was amazing. Park has very large sites, sewer, some shade. We stayed in Site 52. Huge and paved, but the sewer was not thought out well, it was uphill and at the back of site. Overall this park has a lot of potential. I'd recommend staying in the B or C loop. Most sites you can back into easily, some of the widest roads I've ever seen in a state park. C loop has some shady sites. Also on the B and C side there appears to be no tent sites. Two negatives, Loop A has tent sites, our stay in Site 52, was marred primarily due to the drunken parties being held across from us. Why no rangers said a word is beyond me. There appeared to be minors getting blasted along with the parents, liquor bottles, very loud music, etc. Am still shocked this was allowed in a state park. Other than that, bring your own lawn mower, as they don't seem to like to use them. But, we will go back. The river is too beautiful to stay away, we just won't stay near the tent sites. We camped here in a Fifth Wheel.

We just came back from camping at the newly renovated campground. I had never camped at the previous campground but have read the reviews. There are now three loops. Two of the loops are in the field that is south of the office or store. One of the loops is north of the store. There is very little shade anywhere in the campground. They have planted small trees and they will grow up someday. The roads have been paved and the sites are pea gravel. The people who designed the loops obviously do not camp. If you are on the back sides of the loops from the very nice restrooms, there are no paths to the front of the restrooms without walking all the way around the loop or cutting through other folks campsites. It is the same story for getting to the office or the river from the back sides of the loops. Folks don’t seem to want to walk all the way around the road and were constantly walking 3 feet or less away from the campers or tents while cutting through campsites. The bathrooms on the south loops were very nice and had large ceiling fans to help keep them cooler than the usual 4th of July temperature. The bathroom on the north loop was a single stall and shower compartment for each sex but folks could also use the restrooms by the swimming pool. All of the sites now have full hookups which is very convenient. This is a great campground for tubers. You park 2 miles south of the campground at the parking area, ride the concessionaire’s shuttle to the river launch and then tube back to your cars. I don’t know the cost. That being said, the concessionaire has made it extremely annoying and difficult for anyone who brings their own kayaks or canoes. They have blocked off the road to the river with a gate near the office which only the shuttle buses can drive through and anyone else must haul your kayaks or canoes down to the river with your own cart or borrow the one and only cart at the office. This distance is more than a little carry; it is about a quarter of a mile. I don't plan to go back until they make putting in a kayak or canoe more reasonable. We camped here in a Travel Trailer.

Camped here for two nights; however, at check-in, we were told that the campground will close in January 2008 for renovation. According to Reserveamerica, the campground will be closed until August 30, 2009. Check the website for updates. We camped here in a Motorhome.

We stayed at the state park campground for five days/four nights on Thanksgiving 2007 weekend. There were three other camper units in our group. The campground was sold out the entire weekend. If you look at the Reserve American site for the site map, one area is closed completely. There are two smaller areas that were still open but will close in January. In fact, the whole campground will be closed until renovated. At that time all sites will have fullhookups available. The area had not had much rain lately and it was pretty dusty, especially from the dirt roads to the sites. There were a lot of tenters in the area and many staying with other people with camper units. So the bathrooms were constantly busy and I was glad I did not have to use them. I asked the woman at checkin about a internet connection and she really wasn't to smart about that. She said there was a computer in the rec room and some kind of connection for the internet but not on that computer. It was simple, a dialup connection outlet. Bring a local access number with you and enjoy the 49k connection. The walkway from the campground to the river is landscaped nice and very clean, much nicer than the campground. Another thing to remember is, the campground is on the opposite side of the Rainbow River from the state park. You have to drive about 6 miles to get to the other side entrance. From the campground on the other side of the river are homes so you cannot just go straight across even in a canoe or kayak. We may try this again in a couple of years because they have no clue when it will be open again once it closes for renovations. Also, if you are going west on S.R. 40 the sign to turn off on is very small, it's under a huge sign indicating for the Rainbow Springs State Park Headsprings (Straight ahead - but the campground requires a left turn on 180th Ave. Road). Over by the state park entrance is a Wal Mart, Winn Dixie and a few fast food restaurants and gas stations. We camped here in a Fifth Wheel.

Here is an update on this park. The entire campground up by the river is closed while they upgrade the camping area. I talked to the ranger 3/07 about the progress. The only presently available camping is out by the office which is basically a grassy field with little shade. In the future they are going to totally refurbish the campground into two loops much like the newer state park campgrounds in Florida (like Silver River). They were supposed to be done by now but spent the funding on the new tuber takeout. In the future you will be able to float tubes down the river to a point and then a tram will take you back to the park. They have built the tram road through the woods so that part is done. Originally they were to have the campground improvements done by now but the ranger said they have no idea when they would be completed. This park has great potential they just need to complete the work so we can camp there again! The old campground up by the river will be changed to pavilions for picnics. It is one of our favorite places and we miss camping there. We camped here in a Travel Trailer.

We enjoyed this campground. The setting is beautiful and the town of Dunnellon is quaint. The section we were in (sites 58 and up) which are nearer to the river, will be closed in June 2006 and the area turned into day use only. So the roads in that section were in poor condition. The other facilities were fine. The only campsites will be at the front of the park, which don't have any shade. We camped here in a Travel Trailer.

Nice pool and playground. Sites are close together with the front section (1-57) of the campground having little to no shade. The rear section (58-105) has shade, but small sites. Roads are sand/dirt. Sites have some grass. The campstore is well stocked. Firewood is available to be delivered to your site. This would be a really nice park if they could find a way to link it to the Rainbow Springs Park without having to drive seven miles around the spring/river. Roads are in poor shape. They need to be regraded or paved. We camped here in a Travel Trailer.

A beautiful, well maintained park. Large level sites on grass in the upper areas, more shaded sites on grass, dirt and gravel in the lower area which is closer to the Rainbow River. Area is very quiet, park personnel are extremely helpful and friendly. We chose this park because it's one of the relatively few Florida State Parks that allow pets, but i t was also one of the more enjoyable places we stayed. We will definitely stay here again. We camped here in a Motorhome.

Spacious sites in grass or sand, no pads. Some sites close to Rainbow River. We camped here in a camper.