In the game
The spring scene in Trailer 2 is a few seconds long, and nobody can say which real spring, if any, it draws on. Fans have thrown out a dozen names. This page is about two of them that come up most, and it is a travel idea rather than a match: if the idea of swimming in water that clear is what stuck with you, these are two places where you can actually do it, one gentle and one loud.
Rockstar has not named a spring, and the game’s version looks like it draws on many. Take the trailer as an invitation and this page as the where.
The real place
Rainbow Springs, at Dunnellon, is a first-magnitude spring that was a private attraction from the 1930s to the 1970s, with glass-bottom boats, a monorail and a set of man-made waterfalls built into the hillside gardens. The rides went; the waterfalls stayed, which is why a Florida state park has waterfalls. The headspring is a wide, blue, roped-off swimming area with a sand bottom, 72 degrees year-round, and from it the Rainbow River runs clear for about six miles to the Withlacoochee. Tubing the river, from the park’s tube entrance or the county park downstream, is the summer ritual.
Ginnie Springs, near High Springs, is private and different. It is a cluster of springs on the Santa Fe River, famous worldwide among cave divers for the Devil’s system, and famous in Florida for the tubing, camping and weekend crowds. Summer Saturdays are a floating party; Tuesdays in October are silent. Both moods are real.
The detail a GTA fan will recognize is the moment of getting in: cold water, visibility that goes on forever, and a bank of trees above you.
Go there
Rainbow Springs State Park is on US 41 just north of Dunnellon, about half an hour southwest of Ocala. Entry is a couple of dollars a person. Swim at the headspring, walk the gardens, and in summer rent a tube for the river run (the park runs a separate tube entrance with a shuttle; check the season). Dunnellon has a few casual places to eat; it is a small town, so do not expect much after dark.
Ginnie Springs is an hour north, off CR 340 west of High Springs. It charges per person per day, with extra for tubes, camping and diving; prices shift by season, so check the website before you drive. Bring your own mask. High Springs, the nearest town, has a small main street with restaurants and dive shops.
The honest warning: Ginnie on a summer weekend is not for everyone. Expect loud music, alcohol and a lot of people in a small river; go on a weekday for the water. At both springs the cold hits harder than you expect, alligators exist even where people swim, and glass is banned. Cave diving here kills the untrained every few years; if you are not certified for caves, stay out of them, no exceptions.
Nearby
- Silver Springs and the glass-bottom boats: the famous spring you cannot swim in, 45 minutes east of Rainbow.
- Ocala National Forest: the pine forest: Juniper and Alexander Springs, the forest’s own swimming holes.
Updated September 12, 2026. Spotted an error? Tell us.