Where do UF students go to the beach? Fun things to do, day trips around Gainesville

If all of the students that were accepted to the University of Florida for the 2024-25 school year chose to attend in the fall, there will be a little more than 15,000 new students in Gainesville in less than a month.

And enrollment data from 2023 shows that around 33% of UF’s students came from outside of Florida.

If you’re new to Florida altogether, it can be a big adjustment to move to a relatively small town in the middle of the state. Especially during August, one of the hottest months of the year.

If you want to spend your first few weekends as a Gainesville resident doing some off-campus exploring, there are plenty of cool places nearby to jump into a cold freshwater spring or get out of the heat and into a museum.

Here are the closest beaches, springs and other things to do for incoming UF students who want to explore the Gainesville area.

What day does fall semester start at UF?

The first day of classes for the University of Florida’s 2024 fall semester is in a little less than a month, on August 22.

What is the closest Florida beach to Gainesville?

UF isn't very close to the beach, which some out-of-state students might assume before visiting the campus.

Crescent Beach, near St. Augustine, is the closest beach to UF’s campus and it’s about one-and-a-half hours away by car.

Other beaches that are popular for UF students to visit are Flagler Beach, Jacksonville Beach and St. Augustine Beach, which are all right under two hours away (St. Augustine is the closest of these three).

Can UF freshmen have cars on campus?

Yes, students who have a car can bring it to campus. But you have to buy a parking permit , which is around $160 annually and are first-come, first-served. Buying a parking permit also doesn’t guarantee there will always be a space for you to park your car.

If you do choose to bring your car with you to campus, there are a handful of fun day trips you can take from Gainesville to cool off in Florida's freshwater springs.

Springs to visit near Gainesville

• Ginnie Springs: Ginnie Springs is a privately owned park in Gilchrist County that has been owned and operated by the same family since it opened in the 1970s. The nationally renowned diving spot is popular both with divers and those just looking for a relaxing swim in pretty, cool water. Most people take rafts to float along the Santa Fe River, which feeds into the springs, but some choose to swim, snorkel or dive around the springs’ limestone caverns. Ginnie Springs is about a 40-minute drive from Gainesville.
  • Admission to Ginnie Springs is $15-$20 for each adult ticket, depending on the time of year. Tickets for children ages 5 through 12 are $5 each and kids 4 and under get in free.
• Devil’s Den: Devil’s Den is an underground spring in a dry cave. To swim in the spring, you have to walk down through a hole in the ground (by staircase, of course). The prehistoric spring’s crystal clear waters stay at 72 degrees year-round and it boasts ancient rock formations with stalactites and fossil beds dating back around 33 million years. Devil’s Den is only about a 30-minute drive south from Gainesville.
  • Admission to Devil’s Den requires an online reservation and costs $18 per person from Monday through Friday and $25 on weekends and holidays. You can bring your own snorkeling gear or rent some at Devil’s Den, but a mask, snorkel and fins are required to explore the spring.
• Crystal River: Crystal River is a spring-fed river that is as clear as, you guessed it, a crystal. “As one of the few places where visitors can snorkel with manatees, water and boating activities abound. Fish from a charter boat off the Gulf, a kayak on Kings Bay, or the pier at Fort Island Gulf Beach. To learn more about the local flora and fauna, take a family-friendly eco-tour on a pontoon boat at Crystal River Preserve State Park,” Visit Florida’s website says.
  • Admission to visit Crystal River Preserve State Park is $3 per vehicle for up to eight people and $2 for pedestrians, bicyclists, extra passengers, and passengers with an Annual Individual Entrance Pass.

Is the Harn museum free? How much does it cost to go to the Florida Museum of Natural History?

One of the most surprising and engaging things about Gainesville is how many museums it has. There are three main museums in Gainesville, all with different and interesting things to offer, from natural history, to an invention and creativity museum, to art history.

And two of the three museums are owned and operated by UF.

Here’s what there is to see at Gainesville’s museums and how much admission costs:

• Visit the Florida Museum of Natural History: The museum has a butterfly rainforest, a theater that simulates a glass-bottom boat tour through Florida springs,  fossils, locally focused natural history exhibits and more.
  • The museum is free to visit for UF students
• See the Tom Petty exhibit at the Cade Museum: The Cade Museum is a museum of “creativity and invention” and is named for Dr. James Robert Cade, the lead inventor of Gatorade (which was invented at UF). The museum currently has an exhibit that “explores the joys, pains, and creative awakenings that Gainesville native Tom Petty experienced while pouring his soul into his second solo studio album, Wildflowers.” What better way to get acquainted with your new town than to learn the history of its most famous former resident? The “Among the Wildflowers” exhibit will be at the Cade from now through October 20.
  • Tickets to this exhibit and the museum are $12.50 with a student ID.
• Visit the Harn Museum of Art: The Harn Museum of Art is one of the biggest art museums affiliated with a university in the United States. According to the museum website, the Harn’s permanent collections consist of more than 13,300 works of art and the collections include African, Asian, modern and contemporary art, and photography with significant representation of Ancient American and Oceanic art, and a growing collection of prints and drawings before 1850. There are many other exhibitions that cycle through the museum as well.
  • Admission to the Harn Museum of Art is free

This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Where do UF students go to the beach? Fun things to do, day trips around Gainesville