Reserve the Ocala inn and a guided single kayak for a Silver River kayak weekend
from $175 per person, two nights, two sharing a room and a car; $350 for the two of you; room taxes are added by the inn
- Nights
- two
- Office to the river
- about 1 hour 45 minutes, 78 miles
- Median flow
- 491 cfs
- Per person from
- $175
This Silver River kayak weekend runs two nights, with the inn in Ocala, in Marion County. From the desk on East Colonial Drive in Orlando to the river the drive is about 1 hour 45 minutes, roughly 78 miles with no traffic. You arrive, sleep, spend about two hours on the spring water in a single kayak behind a guide, and drive home after the second night.
The figure starts at $175 per person, for two travelers sharing one room and one car. It is a calibrated estimate. The written quote names the actual inn and replaces it once the inn and the outfitter answer for your exact nights.
The Silver River in numbers
The gauge for this run sits on the river below the springs, so its reading counts the whole river and not a single vent. Over water year 2026, October 2025 through September 2026, its median day carried 491 cubic feet per second.
That places the Silver among the first-magnitude runs on the list, second only to the Rainbow by median flow. The water leaving the springs holds at about 72 degrees whatever the month.
On the water you sit in a single kayak on a guided paddle of about two hours. The outfitter posts that part at $55 per boat, and with one person in each boat it comes to $55 per person.
Ocala check-in, Silver launch, drive home
- Day one: you drive to Ocala, check in at the inn and have the evening to yourselves.
- Day two: the park charges $8 per vehicle for entry, and you meet the outfitter at the launch, 78 miles and about 1 hour 45 minutes from the office, for about two hours on the river in single kayaks behind the guide.
- Day three: the morning you leave, you check out of the inn in Ocala and head home.
Two Ocala room nights and one kayak, rounded to $175 per person
All four dated departures carry the same $175 per person, because the inn ceiling used for Marion County stays flat across these months. Two nights at $113 a room night, split between two people sharing, gives $113 each. The guided paddle adds $55 per boat, one boat each. The park asks $8 per vehicle, so one shared car adds $4 apiece. Those parts total $172, and the figure is rounded up to the next $5.
Three things move it. The real inn named in the quote replaces the ceiling of $113 a room night, up or down. The inn adds room tax and the county tourist tax on top. And a solo traveler in a room alone carries the whole room, $226 for the two nights, instead of half.
| Dated departure | Inn ceiling used | Figure |
|---|---|---|
| December 11 to 13, 2026 | $113 a room night | from $175 per person$350 for two sharing |
| February 5 to 7, 2027 | $113 a room night | from $175 per person$350 for two sharing |
| March 19 to 21, 2027 | $113 a room night | from $175 per person$350 for two sharing |
| May 7 to 9, 2027 | $113 a room night | from $175 per person$350 for two sharing |
Covered by $175 per person: inn share, single kayak, park gate
- Two nights at an inn in or near Ocala, the room shared by two
- Guided two-hour paddle, single kayak, $55 per boat, at the outfitter's posted figure
- Half of the park entry, $8 per vehicle as the park posts it, for two in one car
Room tax and the county tourist tax, which the inn adds on top
- Room taxes and the county's tourist tax, which the inn adds to its bill
- Your drive to the river and back, and fuel
- Meals, snacks and drinks, and anything you buy at the launch
- A tip for a guide, if the paddle has one and you choose to leave it
- Extra time on the water beyond what the outfitter's posted figure covers
Silver gauge month by month, 543 down to 374 cfs
The monthly medians start high and slide. October 2025 ran at 543 cubic feet per second, the top month of the year, and November held 518. From December through March the river sat in a narrow band between 503 and 510, with February at 510.
Spring brought the drop: April at 484, May at 439, June at 392. July was the low month at 374, some 169 below October, and the river came back only partway, to 383 in August and 400 in September. On single days the gauge read as low as 368 and as high as 553.
Your quote names the Ocala inn and three sets of refund terms
The full written quote names the inn in Ocala, the nights it has free and its own terms for changes and refunds, as the inn states them. Beside those it quotes the cancellation and refund terms that the outfitter and the park each set. It arrives once both the inn and the outfitter have answered, which the office does not control.
Nothing is held until you say yes in writing; only then does the office ask the inn and the outfitter to hold the nights and the launch. You then pay the inn, the outfitter and the park directly, on their own terms, and nothing is paid to this desk.
Lightning holds, the Silver launch cutoff and the outfitter's release
The launch on the Silver closes 90 minutes before the park itself closes. Manatees winter in several of the spring runs on this list, roughly mid-November to the end of March. They are protected animals, and no departure promises a sighting. In summer, afternoon thunderstorms roll in and outfitters halt launches for lightning.
Before anyone launches, each paddler signs the outfitter's release or risk acknowledgment, and a parent signs for a child. That paper goes between you and the outfitter; this office neither signs nor collects it. If the outfitter calls off the paddle for lightning or high water, the desk looks for another departure on the list and tells you so in writing. Whether the inn's nights can then be moved or refunded follows the inn's own terms, which the quote shows before you say yes.
Ask for one of the Silver dates
Pick December 11 to 13, 2026, February 5 to 7, March 19 to 21 or May 7 to 9, 2027, and send the request form, which takes requests 24/7. Sending it costs nothing and reserves nothing. The office then asks the inn and the outfitter whether those nights and a place on the water are free, and the first written answer reaches you on the schedule printed below.
Three more pages worth a look