Rural, quiet, and peaceful, Withlacoochee River Park is a county park with tons of hiking (including the Florida Trail!), camping, river views, fishing, and canoe launch. I was visiting Dade City on a gorgeous day and couldn't bear to eat lunch inside so this was my picnic spot and it was glorious. There was no fee or donation box; however there may be one for camping facilities so do your research beforehand. Highly recommend. Note: No swimming allowed in the river. read more

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We so enjoyed our visit to this park! It was a low humidity, rather cool day. Perfect for bug free hiking and exploring. Wonderful boardwalk path, a great paved path, and we even hiked on the Cross Seminole trail. The river and dock were beautiful, but we didn't put our kayaks in since the current looked pretty strong. The camping looks really nice and the RV sites were large and had electric. Would like to come back and camp there. The park, paths, bathrooms, playgrounds were well maintained. Kudos to the people working there for providing such a beautiful place! read more

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Visited this weekend. Has great variety, both paved and unpaved trails, trails are mostly shady from the trees. The grounds also have pavilions, playgrounds, camp grounds, docks by the river edge. read more

Withlacoochee River Park - Parks Near Me - Dade City, Florida

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Very nice 400+ acre park for easy walking/hiking. There is lots of shade, but unfortunately lots of mosquitoes as well. (I prepared by wearing a long sleeved shirt over bug repellent.) Today a thunder shower rolled in just as we were departing. There's a cool little campground, a nice playground, a clean bathroom facility, two cabins that can be rented, an 1840's church replica (being remodeled & repurposed into a nature center), lots of beautiful cows, & a really sweet wooden forty foot observation tower-- see pic. There's just 3.5 miles of unpaved nature trails, but there are other trails that in total add up to approximately 13 miles. You can canoe & kayak here. We saw lots of people fishing, & were told that on site classes are offered for those who want to learn how to fish. (You must preregister.) We saw lots of birds, squirrels & even turtles. Had we gone on the water, I'm sure we would have seen more critters:) Maybe next time. I did not take the pics; I had to promise to leave the phone in the car:) Nature is so much more enjoyable without it. read more

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Had a good time. We stayed in the small cabin. It had a window AC unit. Good enough to sleep in and only $5 more then the tent. Nice quite camp site. read more

Withlacoochee River Park - Original Florida Lizard ! - Parks Near Me - Dade City, Florida

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Such a quiet friendly place. Took the grandkids to camp for a week. They had a blast fishing, playgrounds and climbing the tower. Still close to town for the forgotten items (bait ice and more snacks). read more

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Spend 5 days camping in this park. Didn't know it existed before that. So many beautiful trails! They have two cabins for rent, an tv camp ground and several rustic campgrounds. Their observation tower was a plus, and the river, although it was high, it was perfect for kayaking. We brought our own kayaks (they don't rent). read more

This is a very nice park located just on the other side of Dade City. There are some wonderful trails that are well marked, clean, some paved, that you can take and see lots of nature. It is so peaceful and serene. read more

We really enjoyed ourselves! ...The weather was beautiful today, so the girls and I celebrated Spring! The two playgrounds were the best we've been to in a while. The larger one is in a sunny location with bathrooms and a pavilion nearby. The smaller one was shady, yet dry and open, also with bathrooms and pavilions nearby. I loved the smaller one best! The nature inspired playset was adorable! and there were swings!! The bathrooms at both stops were super clean. Our final stop was the tower and boardwalk. We enjoyed a beautiful sky at treetop level, several trails, and a boardwalk crossing a grassy marsh. What a way to enjoy an awesome Spring day! read more

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Very fun and quiet spot for my two young daughters and I! There were tons of walking trails and two separate play grounds!

Perfect place for hiking, biking, fishing, geocaching, running, walking, you name it. We've even held a few parties here in the past. Theirs a beautiful tower located towards the back of the park that overlooks the park. Several restrooms always clean and tidy. It's free admission to enter and you will run into wildlife at some point in your visit. Turtles, snakes, deer and wild hogs roam the park from time to time. They don't bother you and usually just run away when they spot you. The mosquito are awful though so come prepared with some form of repellent or they will try to eat you alive. It's a beautiful place to take pictures. Just wished all of the Water fountains worked. read more

Let me start by saying this Campground facility is beautiful, well maintained and staff friendly. With a reservation, they leave wood at your campsite :). My only disappointment is that it is not monitored at night, no host and no one to complain to when quiet time is not observed and loud people who are drinking are disrespectful of those who come out to enjoy nature. There is no one to complain to ... additionally, priced $7 more a night than the state parks. This facility is supposed to be alcohol free due to county ordinance. I don't want to hear loud voices and music thru my closed camper windows - couldn't sleep :( otherwise this place would be perfect except for the washboard road to get here! read more

What a great park! We were looking for somewhere to camp last minute on a beautiful April Saturday. We don't live too far from here, so we figured we'd check it out. While we were hoping to find somewhere with primitive camping set back a bit from everything (and everyone) else, we were satisfied with what we found. This park has campsites available for $5 per night, and you can fit 2 tents per campsite, which includes a picnic table, a fire ring, a grill, and firewood. There are 10 primitive sites, located about a 1/2 mile hike back from the observation tower and a little farther from the cars. Upon arrival, the ranger informed us that there was one other group and they chose campsite 10, so he put us on the other side on campsite 3. A younger couple did arrive later and they were at campsite 1, but we only saw them when walking along the trail. Our campsite was the best we saw there, as the trash can was on the trail, and then we were tucked back a bit with a large open area surrounded by woods. We could hear the other people, but for the most part we had the privacy we desired. Beautiful trails, the park is kept up well, and this would be a great place to camp with a group. My son will be camping here with the Boy Scouts next month on the other side of the park, so I look forward to seeing how that's set up. But we're fans! There are lots of other amenities located at this park, but we didn't really explore too much. The park is pretty big, and worth a trip to visit. read more

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I really liked this park. It's in Dade City which is a great little town, and the parks here are never crowded which I love. It costs $2 per car and has several parking lots which are close to different things. The first parking lot has access to the beautiful Withlacooche River and several others are right next to playgrounds. If you walk down the trails there is a fairly new lookout tower which is pretty cool. The trails here are super shady and my dogs stayed cooled the whole time. The bathrooms here are the cleanest nicest bathrooms I've ever seen at a park. There are lots of picnic shelters, campgrounds, bathrooms, and playgrounds. In addition there are beautiful scenic trails to explore. There was a lasting funky smell when we were here but your senses will habituate fairly quickly to it. The main con was the high volume of mosquitos so if you come, which you definitely should, bring lots of bug spray. read more

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My wife and I were looking for a place to take our kids (actually dogs :) ) for a hike and get some energy out. This park sounded good from their website and we are fans of the Dade City area so we decided to give it a whirl. There are miles of hiking here and we enjoyed just about every bit of it. The girls were happy as the trees gave a nice canopy of shade from the sun. There is a tower that overlooks the entire park. We will probably visit again when we are in the area. There were only two negatives that I would say that makes it a four star instead of five; the river is no where to be seen as I would guess it is just dried up in the area like a lot of central florida water sources and the mosquitos were so bad in some areas you felt like they might carry you off. Don't let that dissuade you though, this is a nice park! read more