Trip Advisor lists Three Sisters Springs and the Crystal River National Wild Life Refuge as different things, when they are the same. It gets very confusing to try and research it. I suggest you use the name Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge when physically trying to locate it. You can park in parking lot across the street. Other places may direct you to the City Hall, but that was damaged by hurricane and moved. (Google doesn't know where city hall is) Anyway, it was worth the effort. The springs are beautiful. There are lots of manatees to see. Go to the board walk and walk all around so you can find them all.

An amazing place to view the manatees - crystal clear waters where we could easily see 100 manatees from the boardwalk without even trying! The Three Sisters Springs was a fantastic experience but the website does not do it justice. For those looking at going: Park at the visitors centre, head in and buy your tickets. You will receive a wrist band which will give you access to the park. From here, you can either catch the courtesy bus which runs every half hour or so and will drop you at the board walk. OR You can walk directly across to the boardwalk - it is about .3 mile, flat terrain. Disabled parking is available at the boardwalk itself and you can pay directly at the gate to the park instead of going to the visitor centre. Pets are not allowed. For those of you with pets like us, we dropped our dog at the nearby (about .8 mile) Pet Center Dog Day Care & Grooming. It is $6 per hour (they also have half and full day rates for those that need) so you can take as long or as little as you like. We were only about 2 hours but by the time we got back our dog had had a great play and was also treated to a walk - could not recommend highly enough!

It’s $20 for an adult to get in unless you are senior, military or possess the state park card. Parking is across the street, which is a bit weird to me, but you get to view the manatees hanging out, which is cool. I came after my snorkel tour that took me to a different area. 3 Sisters is *very* clear watered, however, if you do boat/paddle to see the manatees, they are roped off! There is no water access from the park/trail. Guides are spaced evenly and are very knowledgeable! Go early if you want to see active manatees! Otherwise they just bob around sleeping.

Amazing trip! We decided to go in the early morning instead of late in the afternoon! Good choice. There were less people and tons of manatees! They were some guides that answered questions and told you about the area! We got to see so many manatees! Too many to count! It really was amazing! It was cold this morning but the sun was shining and you could see through the water clearly! Instead of walking back to the parking lot we took the shuttle! I was worried I would have to wait and we were on a time crunch, but the shuttles were moving quickly! As they were dropping off we hopped on and he drove us right to our car across the street. The girls in the office were nice and friendly! Just a beautiful place to see the manatees and the area! A must see if you are in the area!

Best way to see the Manatees is this boardwalk. First, if you have a handicap plate on your car, you can drive in and park at the boardwalk. No need to wait for a bus and bring 40 people at the same time to get in your way. Another good idea is have a National Parks Pass, this gets half price discount on admission. From the boardwalk you can see Manatees within 10 feet, and the water is so cear you see the whole animal, and all its friends. A boat sounds nice, but you see almost nothing.

Wonderful boardwalk path with many close viewing sites of clustered manatees in warm springs. Helpful ranger & volunteers to ask questions. A manatee was discharged from Tampa Zoo to Three Sisters & that was fascinating to experience. Water is very clean & site is well maintained. Great activity as complement to boat tour.

I could have stayed on the boardwalks for days watching the manatees and their babies in the incredibly clear water. We saw at least 100 in the two hours we were there. The water was so clear and still and we were so close that we could clearly see without binoculars individual markings and scarring on the manatees as they entered the springs from the river. Surprisingly, cormorants dove into the springs and flew underwater alongside the manatees, looking for fish. I will go back again and again when I visit Florida in the winter!

Beautiful! The springs are crystal clear and a beautiful aqua color. There is a well constructed boardwalk all around the springs that make it easy to enjoy the view. We were lucky to see a mother manatee with her calf staying warm in the spring on the morning of our visit. As we ventured further, we saw a turtle swimming along, some fish and at the mouth of the stream, a few more manatee. This place is a real treasure!

What a great place to visit and see the manatees up close enjoying the warm 3 Sisters Springs water. We have gone twice to see the Manatees during the month of February. Saw at least 100 or more along with many babies. A lovely walk along the boardwalk, the grounds are beautiful and very clean and all the volunteers are very helpful and knowledgeable.

A must see!! We kayaked to get here, tied our boats up and swam to and in the springs. It’s chilly but worth it. There were two manatees back there and it was amazing to see them just hanging out! Such a beautiful area, crystal clear water. My 7year old loved it, after April 1st you can kayak in the springs which I’ve done before but we had to swim this time and was a very cool experience!