Hotel near Crystal river ( swimming with manatees )

[juless77]

Was looking to do an early morning swim with the manatees 07:00 so thinking of staying over at a hotel close by to Crystal river ….has anyone ever stayed there or can recommend a nice hotel close by please …..also is there anything else you can recommend to do there after the swim or the day before …thanks

[katiebaz]

Hi we did this back in 2015 and stayed at a Hampton inn near by. The hotel was fine, close by and did breakfast from 6am we could grab something before the swim.

On the day before we went to witchee watcheee springs - which was surprisingly fun. It is a natural spring with water slides etc but also has a show where you can watch the mermaids swim.

We loved the manatee swim though and was a highlight of the trip

[enjibenji]

When I was booked for Oct 2020 I booked the Best Western, obviously I couldn't go so can't give you an opinion but it looked ideal for what we wanted. 😊

[scooby 52]

We stayed at The Plantation on Crystal river it was very nice

[tigger48]

No hotel recommendations sorry, but we went ten pin bowling (it’s on the approach road to Crystal River) whilst we waited to see if conditions would improve enough to go out - luckily they did. The local retired ladies team were practising when we were there and OMG they were good. The soundtrack was also pretty neat. Everyone was really friendly and lots said that they’d never seen a Brit in the Bowling alley there - hard to believe I know.
After we swim we drove a little way up the coast and watched the wild dolphins swimming off the shore - a perfect day.

[Eeyore14]

We often stay in a villa in Spring Hill so can’t advise on accommodation, but afterwards you could go to the state park in Homosassa (Ellie Schiller state park) a boat ride takes you from the main car park to the entrance , in the park there are rescued manatees and other animals. You can see the manatees being fed. We’ve also done an airboat ride with Wild River tours in Homosassa, along the river out into the gulf we saw dolphins in the river. At Spring Hill a bit further south than Homosassa from Crystal River is Weeki Wachee state park, you can have a boat ride in the park, watch the mermaid show, there is also a swimming area and slides (check if these are open). Further south, is Tarpon Springs a Greek sponge fishing community, where you can take boat rides out to the barrier island to go shelling. Lovely Greek restaurants here, but I’m not sure if that might be a bit further than you wanted to drive.

[juless77]

Is there any good shopping malls nearby ?

[Eeyore14]

There is a small shopping mall in Crystal River, I’d check what shops are there now. But not any decent malls like you get in Orlando as far as I know.

[Lola]

We stayed at the Plantation and could see manatees swimming in the river from our room, even one mother and calf

[scooby 52]

we watched them from our room as well ;-)