Ravine Gardens State Park

What a fabulous little place! We drove over here on a whim and truly enjoyed our time. Took a walk around the park, diverting to several paths. Saw beautiful flowers, cool suspension bridges and several small waterfalls. Definitely recommend a walk here if you are in the area. There is a nominal entry fee that can be paid by cash or online.

A park we only recently discovered, but already went twice this year. Dog-friendly, so a great way to tire out any adventurous pups. Trail is one of the closer 'hiking' experiences you can have in Florida, with lots of elevation change. Great trip from Gainesville to spend the day hiking and maybe a picnic. Azaleas are also great to see this time of year. Even a rainy day is nice, just bring the shoes for it.

We enjoyed this statepark today, it is my first time visiting it. Apparently, the park is famous of their Azalea. The fee is $5/vehicle, they have bathroom everywhere even in the trails area. If you are not up to walking or so, you can drive the park trail (open til 4pm) just please bare in mind, they are people including children's are walking so pay close attention in the road. Also, there is 2 steep turn to drive going down trail area by the tiny lake park..We've done both driving and walking the trail as well. The park is clean in nature, bathrooms are everywhere, make sure if you have little one to watch them closely as they can run around and often might get lost (distracted) in the walking trails. We love the hanging bridge, we probably cross it plenty of times. The creek is awesome as well, you can do picnics by the creek. Picnic tables are everywhere as well. We saw 2 playground area for the young ones. We enjoyed the trip so much will be back again when the azalea blossoms!

First time here and I really enjoyed it.
I hiked with a group of about 40 people on a beautiful Saturday morning.
The azalea trail was good, must pay attention or a fall is very possible.
So much lovely scenery for pictures. I look forward to going back!

I love the fact that park rangers are back in work! We had such an awesome time yesterday checking out all the beautiful Azaleas and other flowers. Everything was very clean and beautiful.

Really enjoyed it! But as the Park Ranger told us "if you think looking down into the Ravine is going to be difficult you need to remember you're going to have to come back up from where you went down"!! And she was telling the truth!! They do have a road for people to drive thru the park for those who cannot do the hike.

Beautiful! They have 4 different trails of varying difficulty. In my opinion even the hardest is not that challenging but it's about 4 miles long.

They have lots of tiny streams, outlook viewpoints, hanging bridges here. Plenty of parking is available inside the park as well as on the outside.

There's a children's playground inside. Restrooms are available at reasonable intervals. There's a golf course next to the park.
The streams can have gators in them!

They also have places to sit and have snacks inside the park. Fun place to spend about 2-3 hrs relaxing with your loved ones!

This is one of the best parks in Florida, if not my favorite so far. It was a hidden gem, gorgeous and not too busy. There are strenuous hikes that are great and easy paths right next to it. It was gorgeous and everything was well-kept. Live laugh love Ravine Garden State Park.

The azaleas were in bloom (Feb) adding an enchanting element to an already beautiful hike. I loved the hiking trail with its steep, stone steps and crisscrossing roots - a trekking pole is recommended. Nice facility with restrooms on site.

Very peaceful for a hike and nature viewing. Well maintained and clean. Lots of trails to explore and watch wild life.

Wonderful place! My family had a great time, the azalea trail was fun but I don't recommend it for toddlers because of the stairs and roots but the paved road is a great place to walk with little ones, I'll definitely be coming back to finish the azalea trail by myself 🙂 overall a beautiful place!

Great place to walk/hike, it has a paved road for cars, bikes, or walking. Lots of picnic areas. Great placs for the family, even has a playground. Not just for experienced hikers, but has some of those trails too.

I was in the area and found this on the maps and decided to check it out.

Wow, what a nice park. The hiking trails were great and the scenery was beautiful.

It was hard to believe I was in in Florida with the up and down of the trails. I would definitely come back.

The actual garden was nice but quite small.

Parking is $5 and there is an attended gate. They take cash only if you have small bills otherwise you can pay with card. There is a building with a restroom as soon at the parking lot. That is the only restroom on site. There is lots of elevation changes on the azalea trail. It’s 2.5 mile strenuous hike. There are cliffs off the side of a few spots on the hike with narrow sandy trails. Lots of uneven steps and roots. Many large stairs. The azaleas are in bloom in February and you can see them all along the hike in bright pink. We saw a snapping turtle in the pond. (Cannot swim/get in the water here). There is a very large shaded picnic pavilion. Did not have any issues with mosquitos anywhere in the park.

New Thanksgiving tradition started this year. A hike somewhere that isn’t too far to get to. This was a 45 minute drive for us.

Ravine Gardens was easy to get to. I am guessing usually a person at guard shack collecting park fee ($5 for up to 8 in vehicle) but since a holiday, it was the honor system. (A locked box was where where we placed our $5) Plenty of parking, cement parking lot.

There’s a huge area with a flag from each state, right next to parking area.
There is also a large building with conference rooms that’s open and does have public bathrooms. Water fountains and fountains to fill water bottles are also in this building.

It is dog friendly. There’s even a little park for the kids. There’s areas to cook out at top part of trail.

I believe there is 2 trails. We took the Azalea Trail. Pretty easy to follow, look for red dots on trees. It wasn’t a difficult climb but watch your step. Lots of exposed roots, downed trees (none directly on path) and you should wear good shoes, no flip flops.

There is a gorgeous suspended bridge. I bet it’s really pretty here when the azaless are in full bloom. We seen lots of squirrels but not many birds that day.

It was a very beautiful place to enjoy an outing with my mom you don't have to walk the trails to see the beauty there's a lot of natural beauty on the top level and all of the forestry workers were nice and answered all of our questions

Beautiful place and dog friendly. We went on a Saturday and it was a little crowded. Trails were interesting with quite a few stairs. Would definitely go again, but during the week where it's not so crowded.

Anytime I can spend some family time, it is good! Drove out here just for a little hiking and fresh air. There are four different trails; Spring Trail and Azalea were the two we decided on. Azalea is longer and more terrain than Spring Trail. We actually did a little of both, walking about a mile and a half - definitely walked off the morning pancakes! It does cost $5 per car to enter, or $2 per person to walk in. Loved the walk, enjoyed the company, and it was a nice drive from Jax, about an hour. Enjoy the peace and quiet!

Took my daughter and the grandkids was a great time. Don't recommend it for someone with a walker or wheelchair as there is no access to the trails besides long sets of stairs but if you want to walk around you can walk around the whole thing on the road or drive around I will definitely go back had a great time

Great hiking trails. There was quite a change in elevation but wasn’t a problem. The suspension bridges were a fun little touch. Highly recommend visiting this park.