Hot Springs National Park is Full of Hot Water

We’re looking for some interesting stops on the way back and booked a night in Hot Springs. We are driving home from Montana with Gigi and our daughter and stopping at Hot Springs National Park. To read more about our road trip, check out our separate post: The Long Way Home from Montana to Florida. And we’re looking forward to checking out Hot Springs National Park!

Planning Hot Springs

Hot Springs National Park is an urban park in downtown Hot Springs surrounded by touristy shops. But there is no charge to enter and includes a network of 26 miles of hiking trails and mountain overlooks. However this national park is all about the hot water from the thermal springs in the area. To read more about this park, check out: Hot Springs National Park (nps.gov).

Since we weren’t planning to come here, we are planning on the road. And we need a place to stay for the night, so Becky books the Arlington Resort Hotel. So our plan is to arrive tonight and check-in at the hotel. And then we’ll walk to Superior Bathhouse Brewing for dinner, the only brewery in a U.S. national park. After a good night sleep, we’ll walk to Bathhouse Row, the central location of the park. Here we will stop at the visitor center and get more information about exploring the park further. We’ll plan to spend a few hours at the park before getting back on the road to our next stop.

Arlington Resort Hotel in Hot Springs

Becky booked a night at this historic 500 room hotel which has been hosting guests since 1925. And not only is the hotel the largest in Arkansas, but it is walking distance to the national park. You can read more about it here: The Arlington Resort Hotel & Spa (arlingtonhotel.com). But driving through Hot Springs to the hotel we notice many abandoned buildings. And we arrive at the old looking hotel by 7:00PM.

We can’t drive to the front entrance by car, so we drive into their parking garage. But here is where valets let us know we can check in. However, we have to self-park which is at another parking garage down the street. This other garage is next to an abandoned building and doesn’t look very safe itself. And I have to park on the top and walk down the ramp since the elevator doesn’t work.  Once back at the hotel, there’s a lot of people in the large lobby as we check-in. Once checked-in, we take our luggage up the small elevators to our room on the 3rd floor. However, they place us in the last room all the way at the end of a long hall.

This is too far for Gigi to walk, so we request another room and get one half way down the hall. They give us an antique key to open the doors with which is not easy, but we’re finally in our room. The room itself is small but adequate with 2 queen beds and a window AC. But after throwing our luggage in, we’re ready for dinner.

Superior Bathhouse Brewing in Hot Springs National Park

It’s a short walk from the hotel past Arlington Lawn to the Superior Bathhouse. It’s 8:15PM by the time we get here and we’re hungry and thirsty. The brewery is in a converted bathhouse, the 1st on Bathhouse Row in Hot Springs National Park. And they claim to be the only brewery in the world to utilize thermal spring water in their beer. This place is busy, but we get seated right away in a side room with about 6 tables.

The have no kids menu, but they have a grilled cheese you can get with tomato bisque soup. It’s expensive for a kids meal but it’s a fancy grilled cheese. I order the sweet potato salad and Becky gets their Rose’s Burger with onion-bacon jam, gouda and extra pickles. And Gigi orders their Classic Loaded Baked Potato. Becky and I also each order a flight of 4 beers each.

Our daughter enjoys hers and I like my large salad but it comes with a little dressing. Becky’s burger is good but the pickles are spicy and she doesn’t like them. Gigi’s potato comes with spicy sweet bacon and chipotle sour cream, so she asks for regular sour cream and butter. It seems like an easy ask but apparently they have no butter for the 1 lb. spud. And our beers are nothing special and warm. We’re not sure if the taps aren’t cold or if it’s from the thermal water. And after our server drops our food, he’s nowhere to be seen. It’s disappointing, and after an hour and 15 minutes, we walk back to our hotel ready for rest. We hope after a good night’s sleep, we’ll be ready to explore more of the park tomorrow.

Hot Springs National Park

After sleeping in and having breakfast in the hotel’s Venetian Dining Room, we check out about 10:30AM. We load up our car and then valet it since this is still probably the closest place to the park. Then we walk toward the only Arkansas national park to check out their thermal springs.

With limited time, we walk back toward Bathhouse Row. On the way we check out the Hot Water Cascade at Arlington Lawn between the hotel and Bathhouse Row. The water comes out of the ground at 147 degrees Fahrenheit, but is cool enough to touch here. This is the largest visible spring in the park and we stop to check it out. Our daughter is surprised how warm the water is when she touches it.

Bathhouse Row and VIsitor Center

The one place we have to stop is the visitor center inside the Fordyce Bathhouse. But we walk first past the Superior Bathhouse with the brewery we ate dinner at last night. Next is the Hale Bathhouse which is now a luxury hotel and the Maurice Bathhouse which is currently vacant. And in the middle of Bathhouse Row is the Fordyce Bathhouse which operated from 1915 to 1962. Once inside a park ranger greets us and we get our passport stamps. The ranger tells us the top floors are currently closed, but we can walk through the bathhouse museum on the 1st floor.

This self-guided tour goes through different rooms in the bathhouse. The 1st room we see is the cooling room which has mannequins emulating the experience back in the day. Our daughter says it’s creepy and asks us if it’s creepy. It kind of is… The rooms that have the baths, shower or steam cabinets have the original fixtures. But like any old bathroom, the tubs and tiles look grimy needing a deep clean.

The ladies rooms are small, but the Men’s Bathhall is the largest and most ornate. In the middle is a statue of the explorer DeSoto receiving a drink of water from an Indian maiden. The statue is surrounded by marble benches and above is a stained glass skylight, a symbol of the park. At the end we walk downstairs to restrooms, the Mechanical Room and the actual Fordyce Spring. Here we see the inner workings of the bathhouse.

More Bathhouse Row and Gift Shop

Once back outside we pass more bathhouses including the Quapaw Bathhouse where you can still soak in the thermal springs. And the Ozark Bathhouse contains the park’s Cultural Center with art displays. Gigi’s walked a lot and getting tired so we skip it and also pass Buckstaff Bathhouse. Buckstaff is the only bathhouse that’s been in continuous operation offering a traditional bathing experience since 1912. But no time for soaking today, so we stop in Lamar Bathhouse which now houses the park’s gift shop.

The gift shop is nice and has all the normal trinkets and souvenirs you would want. But what we find interesting is probably the cheapest items in the shop. They have good size water bottles that you can fill up with thermal water in the store for free. Though not practical on this hot day, the thermal water has many minerals people believe has healing properties.

Back outside we pass the last building on Bathhouse Row, the park administration building. We also see more fountains outside and another one you can get thermal drinking water from. Behind Bathhouse Row is the Grand Promenade. Gigi and Becky decide to walk back in the shade, while I take our daughter up the steps to the promenade. This elevated and paved walkway has benches along the way, but it’s not shaded and hot. So, we walk fast and exit at the gazebo at Arlington Lawn in time to catch Gigi and Becky.

Hot Springs Mountain Scenic Drive

We find out on our way back to our car that there’s a short 3.5 mile scenic drive loop. And it starts right past the hotel. So once we get our car from the valet we head to the start of the Hot Springs Mountain Scenic Drive. This switchback drive goes up the mountain to the Pagoda overlook.

The Hot Springs Mountain Pagoda overlooks the city of Hot Springs with the Quachita Mountains in the distance. The view may not be as impressive as the structure itself. It’s a popular stop as well as the Hot Springs Mountain Tower. This observation tower drive is just before the pagoda. Short on time and not wanting to pay the admission price, we pass it and head down the mountain. At the end of the drive we pass Happy Hollow Spring where people are filling up jugs of cold spring water. But 10 minutes to 1:00PM, we’re ready to continue our long way home

Summary of Hot Springs

Hot Springs National Park is unlike any other national park we’ve visited. We spent our first night spending time at the hotel and the brewery. While both were great locations, they were a little disappointing. The Arlington Resort Hotel is old and tired. And the Superior Bathhouse Brewing beer was forgettable, the food was weirdly spicy and the service wasn’t good. But after a good breakfast at the hotel’s Venetian Dining Room the next morning, we checked out Bathhouse Row.

The highlight of the row was the visitor center and the old bathhouse there, which is now a museum. Though interesting, it was kind of creepy going through essentially an old spa. Though the gift shop was nice and we enjoyed filling up our water bottles. But walking the Grand Promenade was hot and we could have skipped it along with the not-so-scenic drive. If we would have had more time though, it may have been more interesting. But, this is a park we would not drive back to the middle of Arkansas to visit twice.