If you’re staying in Cedar Key for more than a day or two, we’ll usually tell you the same thing we tell folks at the Welcome Center: save time for the rest of Levy County. You can have coffee on the island in the morning, wander a spring-fed boardwalk before lunch, and be back in Cedar Key for sunset and seafood.
The trips below are close enough for a relaxed half-day or full-day outing. Distances are approximate from downtown Cedar Key, and drive times can vary with weather, road work, and how slowly you choose to take the backroads.
These are the places we recommend when visitors ask, “What should we do while we’re here?”
This is one of the easiest “wow, we are really in old Florida” trips from Cedar Key. Shell Mound gives you a short walk with big history, wide marsh views, and access to the wilder edge of the Lower Suwannee refuge.
Why it’s cool: You are standing near ancient shell works and tidal marsh habitat that feels far removed from the modern world, even though it is an easy drive from town.
Manatee Springs is the Levy County day trip we recommend most often. The boardwalk through the cypress trees is beautiful, the spring water is clear and cool, and the park has enough trails and picnic spots to make it as short or as long as you want.
Why it’s cool: It is a first-magnitude spring with an 800-foot boardwalk and a direct connection to the Suwannee River—one of those places where the water, trees, and wildlife do most of the talking.
If someone in your group wants a story they can tell when they get home, send them here. Devil’s Den is an underground spring inside a prehistoric-looking dry cave. You descend into the earth, step onto a platform, and snorkel or dive in water that stays about 72 degrees year-round.
Why it’s cool: It does not look like a typical Florida spring. It feels more like you found a hidden cenote tucked into horse country.
Blue Grotto is one of the best-known freshwater dive spots in the Williston area. It is more diver-focused than a casual swimming hole, but for certified divers it is a memorable clear-water cavern experience with facilities set up for training and dive days.
Why it’s cool: The water stays clear and cool, the site is built around the dive experience, and it pairs naturally with Devil’s Den or Cedar Lakes for a full Williston day trip.
This one surprises people. Cedar Lakes began as an old limestone quarry and has been transformed into a 20-acre botanical garden with waterfalls, koi ponds, bridges, and winding paths. It is just down the road from Devil’s Den, so it makes an easy “above ground” companion stop.
Why it’s cool: It feels almost impossible that this much green, water, stone, and garden detail is tucked inside inland Levy County.
When you want a quick nature break without giving up your Cedar Key day, go here. The reserve sits just east of town and gives you sandy trails, pine flatwoods, scrub habitat, and a completely different feel from the waterfront.
Why it’s cool: In a few minutes you can go from island streets to rare Florida scrub habitat, with trails that feel quiet and wide open.
This is the wild side. Waccasassa Bay is accessible only by boat, with salt marsh, tidal creeks, oyster bars, and open Gulf sky between Cedar Key and Yankeetown. It is best for people who are comfortable on the water or who go with a knowledgeable local guide.
Why it’s cool: It is one of the places where Levy County still feels genuinely untamed—more tide, marsh grass, birds, and sky than anything built by people.
Bring bikes if you have them. The Nature Coast State Trail follows old railroad corridors through small North Florida towns and gives you a paved, easygoing way to see a different side of the county.
Why it’s cool: It turns railroad history into a low-stress outdoor adventure, with access points around Chiefland, Fanning Springs, and nearby trail towns.
Goethe is for visitors who want quiet trails, horseback riding country, and longleaf pine forest instead of a beach crowd. It is a big, spread-out forest, so pick a trailhead before you go and bring water.
Why it’s cool: It shows off inland Levy County: pine woods, sandy roads, equestrian trails, and the kind of quiet that is hard to manufacture.
For a slower, close-to-town outing, stop by Cedar Key Museum State Park. It is small, easy to work into a Cedar Key day, and a good place to connect the island you are enjoying now with the people, industries, and naturalists who shaped it.
Why it’s cool: It gives context to the island—Native history, the old timber and railroad era, coastal life, and John Muir’s time in Cedar Key.
Levy County is not just springs and trails. These are easy day-trip towns where visitors can buy lunch, grab coffee, shop a little, and see more of the county.
Williston is the county’s “make a day of it” town. It has a real small-town downtown feel, local restaurants and coffee stops, and several of Levy County’s most unique attractions clustered nearby.
Spend money here: Build a day around Cedar Lakes, Devil’s Den, or Blue Grotto, then stop at places like Sad Donkey Coffee, Sister’s Place, Pyper Kub Restaurant, Flamingo Freeze, Kingfisher Coffee, or The Chocolate Station. Hours can change, so check before you drive.
Yankeetown and Inglis make a great southern Levy County loop. The drive feels like old Florida: river bends, marsh views, boat ramps, Follow That Dream Parkway, and slow coastal-town energy.
Spend money here: Pair Withlacoochee Gulf Preserve with a meal or snack at local spots listed by Visit Levy, including Blackwater Grill and Gator Cove Tiki Bar & Grill in Yankeetown, or Driftwood Bar & Grill, LolliPops Cafe & Bakery, Main Deck and Galley, Sprinkles Ice Cream Shop, Wise Guys Deli & Coffee Shop, or Brooks Dockside Food Truck in Inglis.
Cedar Key Scrub in the morning, Shell Mound before lunch, then back to Cedar Key for shops, dinner, and sunset.
Manatee Springs as the main stop, with the Nature Coast State Trail added if you brought bikes or want a longer walk.
Devil’s Den, Cedar Lakes Woods & Gardens, Blue Grotto, then a downtown Williston coffee, lunch, or dessert stop.
Drive toward Yankeetown and Inglis for Withlacoochee Gulf Preserve, Follow That Dream Parkway, seafood, ice cream, or a tiki stop.
Local tip: For water-based trips, check tides, weather, and current conditions before you go. For springs, gardens, and parks, confirm hours, fees, reservations, and seasonal closures directly with the attraction before driving over.
Photo credits / replacement note for webmaster: Replace these with Chamber-owned or licensed images when possible. Current draft photos are from Wikimedia Commons / public-domain federal sources where available: Lower Suwannee NWR, Manatee Springs, Devil’s Den, Blue Grotto, Cedar Key Scrub, Waccasassa Bay, Nature Coast State Trail, Goethe State Forest, and Lower Suwannee sign. Keep attribution/license notices if these images are retained.
