Rainbow Springs State Park Campground — Hotel in Ocala

We wanted to love this place since it was highly rated, but I just have to be honest : this was a very frustrating stay.

First off, there were multiple entrances and it was very confusing. The first one we got to was the correct one, but we didn't realize it because there was a gate that required a code that we were never given, and when we called the listed number on the sign it just rang busy for over 30 minutes. We thought maybe we were at the wrong spot and drove all the way around to the state park entrance. Once we realized that was wrong as well, we got really confused. We tried a 3rd address even though we knew it was likely wrong, but we felt like there weren't other options. It took us to the middle of a neighborhood. We then went back to the first entrance with the gate and tried calling and it was still busy. We sat there in our vehicle with our 4 kids feeling frustrated and exhausted, and had to wait until we saw someone leaving the park to ask them for the code. THAT is how our stay started.

Then we got to our campsite and there was NO indication on the listing that we were going to have to park our van in a parking spot and camp separately. Although the sites are close to the parking spots, it wasn't close enough for our electrical hookups up work. Luckily our neighbor was nice enough to let us use his since his box was actually closer. Just frustrating and very inconvenient. We wouldn't have booked the site if we knew it was set up like that.

Along with a bunch of other frustrations (no maps, not much help from the main office when we arrived and asked for info on the park, closed playground even though that was half the reason we picked our site, hardly any access to the river from the campground), we were also disappointed that the campground wasn't exactly pretty like we were expecting (the park and campground are two very different places). Just very basic. Clean, yes. But nothing special.

The last straw was the day we were leaving when I was just trying to use the bathroom to wash my face and get dressed for the day and the lady that was cleaning the men's room next to me saw me poke my head out to say something to one of my kids and she yelled over, "you about done?" I had been in there less than a few minutes. I told her I wanted to finish up and she literally told me to "make it quick." It felt incredibly rude.

So basically, really poor (or complete lack of) communication is what ruined it for us.

The state park was pretty and the springs themselves were gorgeous, but keep in mind that the swimming area is 6-7' deep everywhere so unless you have floating devices, it's hard for kids to enjoy since they basically just have to tread water or hold on...

ONE BAR ON BOTH AT&T and VERIZON..unable to connect to internet or stream anything on devices. Update: camped site #29 for 3 weekday nights. Ranger will call you with gate code to enter campground, check in was friendly and helpful. Store does not open until 11:00 and sells various gifts/snacks/firewood/propane exchange. ADA paved and spacious with large fire pit and grill area. Path to the restroom (did not use since it was dirty, moldy, hot and smelled awful). There is a site directly behind site #29 labeled as #20 but not listed on website to reserve. This made our site less private as no trees separated this space from ours. Bring your rafts and float down the river for a discounted float rate, otherwise you will be charged $27 per person (did not do this). Brought our own kayak/paddleboard, drove over to the drop off site, unloaded onto a borrowed cart and pulled down to access ramp. You have to just be firm and get through the MANY tubers being dropped off at this site. You are sharing a small ramp with so many tubers that are hesitant to get into the water, all loud and not prepared. Do not go left from the campsite with your kayak, it is pretty but way to crowded with tubers and very hard to navigate around them. Head to the right toward the head spring and dock your kayak at the state park rental dock, carry and leave beyond the bushes. You have now entered the state park to swim with only your pool noodle. Walked the trails and swam (crowded) and returned back with the currents help. Just note, there is a bend in the river with entry into a shallow paddling path and area with rope swing/jumping tree.

You can rent this RV (RVshare, Satellite Beach Fl) pick up or have it delivered! Our campsite was located in a loop near the playground. Very few trees or privacy, next to another camper who was actively building a truck camper using tarps and plywood. Next visit I would try to get a site on the other loop, away from the playground. This area is nicely wooded, private and quiet. I rated 5 stars because of the camp store and access to the springs. Affordable kayak rentals through the store which allowed us to visit the state park (waterfall trails). Otherwise we would have had to drive over to the state park (too far to walk). Kayaking the springs was breathtaking, so clear...

The tent camp area was nice. Main Men's bathroom at office was out of order so we only had access to the one-person bathroom/shower by the tent sites, which is inconvenient since all 6 tent sites were rented out and many times the bathroom was not available.

The other issue was the rules in the email said 2 cars per tent site. One side of the 6 sites had 3 spaces and the side I was on had 4. So, with all sites occupied, they were already short on parking spaces. My family occupied 2 of the sites on our side and we had 3 cars total. The other camp site next to us occupied the 4th spot. On the second night though, the female park ranger came over and said that we were only allowed 1 parking spot per camp site and we had to move one of the cars to the area of the office. This made no sense since every camp site was already occupying one of the available 6 spots. So this would leave the 7th spot totally empty by her rule of 1 spot per site. Our vehicles had already been parked in these spots for 2 days and there were no other people that could rent a camp site that would need that spot because all of the sites were already rented. A senior park ranger was the one that told my family member that they could occupy that spot on the day of arrival. This particular ranger was hell bent on making us move one of the cars because she said so even though the rules said we could have 2 cars per site, which made us eligible to park 4 cars since we rented 2 sites. We ended up moving one of the cars to avoid being ejected from the campground by this power tripping ranger, which left that parking spot vacant the test of the time were there. Either create 5 more spots to allow 2 cars for the 6 camp sites or eliminate one of the four so it leaves just one per camp site.

Other than that, we had a great time at the campground. The swimming area and kayak launch is great! The nature hiking trail was nice also. We kayaked to the main spring head and did some swimming and walking to see the water falls. We also did some night kayaking under the moon light on Halloween night.

Spoke with Darby the park ranger and he was really nice and gave us lots of info on the campground...