One Day At Hot Springs National Park Arkansas

ByChristine Updated on

Hot Springs National Park is the smallest U.S. National Park and is the oldest federally protected land. It wasn’t entirely what we expected, but it’s so unique that it’s easy to make a memorable day of it. We saw the historical bathhouses along Bathhouse Row, checked out the hot springs, and got in some hiking.

It’s is essentially in the middle of the town of Hot Springs, Arkansas, and is so different from your typical National Park. But if you’re up for a more easy going national park day, with some architecture and history and potentially with a side of pampering, this is the park for you! Here’s how to spend your one day at Hot Springs National Park.

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You’ll only need one day at Hot Springs National Park as the park is small and centrally located, but there are several things you should plan to do.

Explore Bathhouse Row

We walked along Bathhouse Row and agreed that seeing the eight historical bathhouses was the best place to start. They are all pretty distinct looking so it is neat to check out the different architecture. Two still actually operate as a bathhouses / spas. Here are the details on each:

  • Buckstaff Bathhouse: this is the one bathhouse that has been in continuous operation since it first began. You can get a traditional bathing experience through their bathing packages including things like a whirlpool tub, steam cabinet, sitz tub, and hot packs with additional add-ons.
  • Fordyce Bathhouse: houses the visitor center and museum so it’s a good one to begin at if you’re trying to choose between them. You can take a free self-guided tour.
  • Hale Bathhouse: now a luxury hotel called the Hotel Hale where you can stay the night and enjoy the thermal waters in a soaking tub in your own room! There are also 2 restaurants to choose from.
  • Lamar Bathhouse: home to the park gift shop “Bathhouse Row Emporium” where you can pick up some souvenirs or a few things to pamper yourself.
  • Maurice Bathhouse: also no longer a bathhouse, but when open, was the only bathhouse to have a pool. It’ll be available for commercial lease soon. I’ll be curious to see what goes in here!
  • Ozark Bathhouse: its architecture has two towers on either side of the entrance. Until recently it contained the Hot Springs National Park Cultural Center.
  • Quapaw Bathhouse: this bathhouse is recognizable by its mosaic tiled dome. It still operates as a bathhouse where you can soak in the thermal spring water in private baths, public pools, or book spa services. This bathhouse also offers some options for couples
  • Superior Bathhouse: this bathhouse now has a craft brewery and restaurant that uses the hot spring water for its beer. We wish this had been here when we visited!

We saw all of the bathhouses on our visit but didn’t do either of the bathhouse experiences. I think at the time we might have thought it was out of our budget, but looking at it now some of the price ranges seems to be pretty affordable for the experience you get, especially for the Buckstaff’s Whirlpool Mineral Bath Package for $45 a person and the public thermal pools at the Quapaw for $30 a person.

Our kids are currently too young for it, so we’d probably be most likely to try out the Buckstaff Bathhouse when our kids are old enough since it has the lowest age limit.

Go to the Visitor Center

The visitor center is located inside of one of the historical bathhouses. At the time we visited, this picture suggests it was in the Lamar building, but it is currently housed in the Fordyce Bathhouse.

Come here to get information on the park and take a self-guided tour to see stained glass, historical furniture, and informational exhibits.

See the Hot Springs

Incredibly, the thermal water is over 4000 years old. It has taken that long for it to soak into the ground as rainfall, sink deep into the earth, be heated and emerge at 143 degrees Fahrenheit (61.7 degrees Celsius) from the springs.

There aren’t any outdoor hot spring bathing sites like you might find places like Steamboat Springs Colorado, only the indoor ones in the bathhouses mentioned above. That surprised us a little bit at first. But you can check out many of the 47 hot springs that come up from Hot Springs Mountain by doing a bit of walking around the park.

Even if you don’t do any extra hiking, a walk along the Grand Promenade behind the bathhouses is a must. You’re a bit higher so you can see onto the roofs of the bathhouses. Along here you’ll see some of the thermal fountains and open hot springs. It’s a half mile walk from Reserve Street to Fountain Street with the Noble Fountain on the south end and Arlington Lawn near the north end.

If you have a stroller like we usually do when traveling with our kids, or want to avoid stairs at Reserve Street and the Stephen’s Balustrade grand staircase, there are ramps at Fountain Street and behind the Fordyce Bathhouse.

Bring your cell phone because you’ll see signs with cell phone tour prompts to learn more. There are lots of informational signs too.

At Arlington Lawn you’ll find the Hot Water Cascade, a gazebo, and Tufa Rock. Tufa is the limestone rock that forms when thermal mineral water evaporates. There used to be more thermal cascades down the hillside, before Bathhouse Row came to be, with mineral terraces.

Touch the Hot Springs Water

Some of the springs are cool enough to touch by the time they reach the pools. These pools are:

  • Display Spring behind the Maurice Bathhouse
  • Hot Water Cascade on Arlington Lawn
  • Maurice Historic Spring Area between Hale and Maurice Bathhouses
  • Promenade Seep behind the Quapaw Bathhouse
  • Fordyce Fountains between Fordyce and Maurice Bathhouses
  • Administrative Fountain in front of the Administration Building

Drink from the Public Fountains

Drinking water from one of 7 thermal spring fountains or 2 cold spring fountains should definitely be on your list. I don’t recall it having any kind of unpleasant or sulfur taste, just a hint of minerals.

The park held a vote for visitors’ favorite spring water and chilled thermal water won compared to the Happy Hollow cold spring water at 71% to 29%. Try both and see what you think!

You can bring and fill your own jug or other container or pickup a cool looking glass jug you can purchase at the Lamar Bathhouse gift shop.

 

Checkout the Hiking Trails

After you’ve walked the Grand Promenade which you should not miss, you can branch off to other hiking trails. The paved Tufa Terrace Trail connects to the Grand Promenade and is only 0.3 miles long.

The Peak Trail will take you 0.6 miles up to the Hot Springs Mountain Tower but as expected has a much steeper grade so it’s more challenging. Alternatively, you could drive up on the scenic drive below.

Once at the top the Hot Springs Mountain Trail will take you 1.7 miles around the mountain top past scenic overlooks.

We also did Goat Rock Trail, with pretty mountain views at the end. It’s 1.1 miles each way on an out and back trail.

Scenic Drives

Take the Hot Springs Mountain Scenic Drive starting from Fountain Street to do a loop drive that will take you to the Hot Springs Mountain Pagoda and the 216 foot tall Hot Springs Mountain Tower.

You can see the views from the Hot Springs Mountain Tower overlook for free, but there is a fee to go up the tower to the observation deck.

You can also drive the West Mountain Drive from Prospect Avenue or Whittington Avenue to the Summit Loop with three overlooks. You can get a good view of from here.

Visiting With Kids

It’s possible kids could find the historical aspect of touring the bathhouses a bit tedious, but you can make it fun by stopping at the visitor center to get Junior Ranger booklets geared toward guiding kids through the park.

Kids might also find it novel to drink the spring water from the various water fountains in the park. Even if they think it’s gross, that will be memorable! The high temperature of the thermal water kills most bacteria and it is checked for safe drinking water standards, but you do want to make sure you or your kids don’t accidentally inhale it due to possible bacteria.

If you want them to experience the bathhouses with you, there are bathing opportunities for older children at the Quapaw Bathhouse for 14+ and Buckstaff Bathhouse for 10+ years old.

Itinerary For One Day At Hot Springs National Park

Morning: Walk Along Bathhouse Row stopping in at the Fordyce Bathhouse visitor center and taking the self-guided tour. Visit the Bathhouse Row Emporium park gift shop in the Lamar Bathhouse to buy a glass jar to fill with mineral water and a few souvenirs.

Mid-morning: Stroll the Grand Promenade to see the open thermal springs and sample the hot and cold water fountains, filling your glass jar for later. Add on another one of the other hiking trails if you want.

Lunch: Sample some craft brews and eat lunch at the Superior Bathhouse brewery.

Early Afternoon: Enjoy the traditional bathing experience at the Buckstaff Bathhouse or Quapaw Bathhouse.

Afternoon: Take the scenic drive up Hot Springs Mountain to check out the pagoda and mountain tower.

What To See Next

Explore more around the town of Hot Springs, Arkansas itself including:

  • Magic Springs Theme and Water Park
  • Garvan Woodland Gardens
  • Mid-America Science Museum
  • Hot Springs Mountain Tower
  • Duck Boat Tour

We also really enjoyed our visit to Arkansas state parks including Devil’s Den and Petit Jean if you’d like to do even more activities in nature.

You should also go to Crater of Diamonds State Park which is high on our list whenever we return to Arkansas. It’s located outside the town of Murfreesboro only about an hour away from Hot Springs. You can mine for diamonds and other rocks and minerals here. Maybe you’ll get lucky…but leave some for us!

A bit closer is Coleman’s Rock Shop & Crystal Mines where you can mine for quartz crystals.

Check out the historical bathhouses of Bathhouse Row, take a soak in a thermal bath, try a drink of the waters, go on a hike, and visit the rest of the town of Hot Springs and you’ll have a memorable Arkansas National Park experience!

Christine is the co-founder of Never Stop Adventuring, and an avid traveler who started traveling the world as a child growing up in a military family. She even lived in Germany for numerous years. Since then she has been to 48 U.S. states, 17 countries, and traveled the U.S. in an RV for over 7 years.

With her 3 kids, the adventures continued family travel style. She has planned and coordinated travel with kids for the last 10 years and shares family travel tips and tricks, destinations, costs and even the mistakes so you can be empowered to take your own family trips with confidence!