Best Swimming Holes in the South
20 natural swimming holes · 2026 guide
From Texas limestone pools to Florida's 72-degree springs to Tennessee waterfall plunge pools, the South has the most swimmer-friendly water in the country — warm, abundant, and swimmable for half the year. These are twenty of our favorite southern swimming holes.
Top swimming holes
- Barton Springs Pool
Austin's beloved 68-70 degree spring-fed pool sits in the heart of Zilker Park and draws crowds year-round.
- Blue Hole - Greeter Falls Trail
Along the Greeter Falls trail, this spring-fed blue hole glows an almost tropical turquoise against the sandstone gorge.
- Blue Hole - Rock Island State Park
Below Great Falls Dam, the Caney Fork swirls into a deep, blue swimming hole that locals have jumped into for generations.
- Blue Hole at Florida Caverns
The Blue Hole inside Florida Caverns State Park near Marianna is a spring-fed swimming hole reported around 35 feet deep, surrounded by bluffs and hardwood forest.
- Cashiers Sliding Rock
Cashiers' own natural waterslide, where a smooth rock chute drops swimmers into a mountain pool.
- Cummins Falls State Park
Tennessee's most beloved waterfall swim, Cummins Falls tumbles 75 feet over limestone ledges into a wide, bench-filled plunge pool made for summer afternoons.
- Foster Falls - Fiery Gizzard State Park
A 60-foot curtain of water in a rock amphitheater, Foster Falls is the Cumberland Plateau's favorite waterfall swim and a world-class climbing crag to boot.
- Greeter Falls - Savage Gulf State Park
Savage Gulf's star swimming hole, where a 50-foot lower falls lands in a rounded, photogenic plunge pool.
- Hamilton Pool Preserve
A collapsed limestone grotto with a jade-green pool fed by a 50-foot waterfall, one of the most photographed swimming holes in Texas.
- Hippie Hole - Little River Canyon
Hippie Hole on Little River is Alabama's legendary swim - a deep canyon pool in Little River Canyon National Preserve.
- Jacob's Well Natural Area
A 140-foot-deep artesian well opens like a blue eye in Cypress Creek, one of the longest underwater caves in Texas.
- Krause Springs
Thirty-two springs feed a natural swimming pool, a manmade pool, and a chain of waterfalls and grottos across 115 private acres.
- Midnight Hole - Big Creek
The Smokies' most famous swimming hole, where Big Creek plunges into Midnight Hole - a deep, dark, impossibly clear pool ringed by boulders.
- Ozone Falls State Natural Area
Ozone Falls plunges 110 feet off a sandstone caprock into a deep, boulder-strewn amphitheater, then vanishes underground before re-emerging downstream.
- Sliding Rock - Pisgah National Forest
A 60-foot natural waterslide down a smooth rock face into a 7-foot-deep pool, Sliding Rock is the Blue Ridge's most famous summer thrill.
- Turner Falls Park
Oklahoma's tallest waterfall drops 77 feet into a natural swimming pool in the Arbuckle Mountains.
- DeSoto Falls - DeSoto State Park
DeSoto Falls' 104-foot cascade is Alabama's tallest free-falling waterfall, in DeSoto State Park on Lookout Mountain.
- Ginnie Springs
Seven crystalline springs along the Santa Fe River on private land, Ginnie is the spring country's party headquarters - tubing, snorkeling, and cave diving by day, and a…
- Ichetucknee Springs State Park
Florida's classic tubing river, the Ichetucknee strings eight major springs along six miles of impossibly clear water.
- Wakulla Springs State Park
One of the deepest freshwater springs on earth, Wakulla gushes a river of gin-clear 70-degree water beneath moss-draped live oaks.
Looking for more? Browse swimming holes in all 50 states or explore by travel region.
Frequently asked questions
When is the best time to swim in the South?
May through September — and in Florida, nearly year-round. Southern springs stay 68–72°F all year, which feels perfect in August and bracing in January.
Do Southern swimming holes require reservations or permits?
The famous ones increasingly do: Hamilton Pool requires advance reservations, Ginnie Springs books out on summer weekends. Check each listing before you go.
Are Southern swimming holes safe?
Watch for the usual natural-water risks plus a few Southern specialties: alligators in Florida (rare at busy springs, but real), and venomous snakes near any Southern riverbank. Swim in groups and don't swim at dawn or dusk in gator country.