3 Days in Crystal River Florida

Day 1: Arrive, Seaside Sightsee and settle in

Fly into Tampa and take a leisurely drive to Crystal River, using Highway 19 (seaside and this avoids tolls). Take a stop in Dunedin which has such a cute downtown. Visit the small butterfly garden and grab a snack downtown. Next head on to Palm Harbor for the warm mineral springs. Then Tarpon Springs which is the "sponge capital"! Who knew? Shop the sponge exchange and enjoy the heavy Greek influence. I suggest grabbing a bite at Mykonos, right on the water.

New Port Richey is an easy stop if you want to enjoy a rooftop view (I suggest Social NPR) for a snack and cocktail. Or, you can walk through the Hacienda Hotel which boasts a revitalized 1920's vibe.

Arrive in Crystal River. We rented an Airbnb right on the canals. I loved this place. There are several hotel and Air BnB options. If you choose AirBnb, stay on the water. If you want a fun hotel experience, you need to stay at the Plantation On Crystal River, as it has a lot of perks and activities. It will probably be late when you arrive, if you did all the side stops, so set your stuff down and plan dinner. I suggest a local favorite, Crumps Landing.

Day 2: Swim with the Manatees

Today is all about exploring the canals, natural springs, and swimming with manatees. There are many ways to acconmplish this from kayak to small boat to houseboat. Definitely do this with a tour company as they provide the wetsuits and will take you to the manatees. Believe me, they are very hard to spot in the water! We chose River Ventures. It was fantastic to see these gentle giants just resting and swimming alongside!

After this, freshen up, grab lunch and plan for some hiking. We walked around the small Yulee Sugar Mill Ruins and stopped by the nearby bar for a snack and drink. This is also a good time to explore Homosassa. We spent the rest of our afternoon shopping here and exploring a variety of parks and trails.

In the evening, shop downtown Crystal River and stop at one of the local hotspots for dinner. We tried Peck's Old Port Cove and it was great!

Day 3 Airboat ride and Wildlife

Aftewards, finish your day with an abundance of wildlife. Go to Ellie Schiller Homosassa Springs Wildlife Park You could easily spend a day exploring the trails. They have an animal rescue rehabilitation area and an underwater observatory. End your day grabbing dinner at Waterfront Social and Tiki Bar.

We ended the day with a sunset cruise, which I highly recommend. We chose to do this with Plantations Kings Bay sunset cruise (right at the Plantation resort). The water is beautiful at nighttime and there is an opportunity to see more marine life. We saw osprey again and dolphins!

Day 4 Explore Inverness

Today, start you day off with another local favorite, Sugarmill Restaurant. Then, go off on an airboat nature tour. We chose RiverVentures again. Here you will see alligators and osprey, dolphins and eagles. It was amazing. We went by monkey island, which is super cute. But, the monkeys were on vacation during my visit. They are supposed to be back Fall 2024.

We then drove on into Inverness. Here again, such a quaint downtown for shopping. You have to walk the downtown, stop by the historic county courthouse, where Elvis Presley filmed scenes in "Follow That Dream". We stopped by the bird rescue and then walked Withlacoochee State Forest trails. For refreshment, we stopped by Sidebar Tavern.

We decided to make the end of today a little bit out of the ordinary and fun. We scheduled a pubcrawl for all the local places. It was fun and different. They drove us around on a golfcart with several stops and the driver had lots of history to share. We chose Drunken Pirate for this tour.

Day 5 Departure Day

Take a relaxing drive back to Tampa airport if you can. Start the day with the local breakfast favorite The Biscuit Barn. Be aware, they are closed on Mondays. With bellies full, head on down to Clearwater. This is such a fun and lovely town with amazing white powder beaches. Shop a bit, enjoy the view from one of the many rooftops, and get a good lunch. When in Clearwater, you are now about 45 minutes from the airport, so it is easy to plan this spree with your departing flights.