Happy Independence Day to my American friends! I spent the long weekend driving from Texas to Michigan to escape the southern heat for a while. Let’s be real…I did this so MY DOG can escape the summer heat.
Along the 18 hour drive, we stopped in Hot Springs, Arkansas for 2 nights. We didn’t know much about it other than that there are hot springs and a national park but we learned that there’s a lot of history in this small city. Here are my 5 favorite things we did in 48 hours.
1. Walk Main Street, Bathhouse Row and the Grand Promenade
Hot Springs National Park is free to enter and is the smallest national park in the United States. It’s centered around the historic bathhouses that were built on top of hot springs from 1892 to 1923.
In its prime, Hot Springs was a resort town where people came to experience the healing properties of the thermal springs. It even attracted Major League Baseball teams and became the birthplace of Spring Training.
Bathhouse Row is a row of 8 bathhouses on the Main Street of town. Only two still operate as bathhouses and the other 6 are various park buildings.
- Lamar Bathhouse: Gift shop and park offices
- Buckstaff Bathhouse: Bathhouse continuously offering traditional bathhouse services since 1912
- Ozark Bathhouse: Cultural Center
- Quapaw Bathhouse: A modernized bathhouse with private baths, public pools and spa services
- Fordyce Bathhouse: Visitor Center with museum-like displays. You can walk through and tour the staged rooms to see how the bathhouses would’ve looked 100 years ago.
- Maurice Bathhouse: Under construction in 2023.
- Hale Bathhouse: The oldest bathhouse but present day it is a hotel.
- Superior Bathhouse: Home to the only brewery in a U.S. National Park.
Main street also has lots of shopping and restaurants. Behind the bathhouses is the Grand Promenade, a walking trail where you can touch and see the thermal springs flowing out of the hillside at the Display Spring and the Hot Water Cascade. I’m not sure why we were surprised at how hot the water is, but it comes out practically boiling!
2. Visit a Bathhouse
As I mentioned above, there are just two bathhouses still in operation. Buckstaff Baths is the only one to have stayed open since 1912 and offers a traditional experience with attended baths, steam boxes, the whole nine yards. The other option is Quapaw Baths, an updated facility that offers private baths as well as public pools. The public pools are first-come, first-serve and a great option on a busy weekend when bathhouse services are fully booked.
3. Scenic Drive through Hot Springs National Park
There are six scenic overlooks and two scenic drives in Hot Springs National Park. You can drive the Hot Springs and North Mountains or West Mountain. Each drive only takes about 15 minutes depending on how much time you’d like to spend at the overlooks. I recommend doing both!
4. Hike Goat Rock Trail
Hot Springs lies within the Ouchita Mountains. You can’t miss the stunning rolling hills as you head into town.
If you’re interested in a short hike, Goat Rock Trail is a moderate, 2.5 mile out-and-back trail. Go early in the morning, it should be easy to park at the trailhead and you may even have the trail to yourselves like we did. A huge bonus for us was that this is a National Park that allows dogs on the trails!
5. Eat at Grateful Head Pizza Oven and Beer Garden
Grateful Head is a Grateful Dead themed bar and beer garden in an old abandoned schoolhouse tucked against the West Mountain. The ambiance is super cool and you really feel the history of this area because the house hasn’t been updated much.
They have exclusive brews from local breweries and a relatively small pizza menu but that’s how you know it’s good. The crust and homemade ranch (and music) were to die for! Definitely a must try in Hot Springs!
This list doesn’t even scratch the surface of everything there is to do and see in the Hot Springs area. There’s more opportunities for recreation and tons of history to take in. The town really feels untouched and you can easily imagine what it looked like at the turn of the century. Hopefully it stays that way!
suitcasey 