Hot Springs: a national park in the heart of a spa town

Hot Springs is a town, and its national park fits into its main street. On one side, shops. On the other, eight grand bathhouses, most of them built between 1912 and 1923, lined up at the foot of a wooded hill from which hot springs flow.

History and origins

The water that emerges here fell as rain more than 4,000 years ago. It sank slowly into the rock, warmed up deep down, then rose again through a fault. It comes out at 62°C, with no smell of sulphur.

Native Americans had long bathed here. In 1832, Congress set the springs aside: it was the first land protected by the federal government, forty years before Yellowstone. The town became a fashionable resort. You would meet invalids, baseball players in training, and gangsters such as Al Capone, who came here to rest. The site became a national park in 1921.

What to do there

• Bathhouse Row: the row of bathhouses, all different, in Spanish or neoclassical style. You can walk along it in ten minutes.
• The Fordyce: the most luxurious of the eight, now the visitor center. You can visit its marble bath halls, its gymnasium and its stained-glass ceiling for free.
• Taking a bath: two bathhouses are still in operation. The Buckstaff has offered the traditional bath since 1912: tub, steam cabinet, hot towels. The Quapaw has large shared pools, like a spa.
• The fountains: spring water flows free of charge at several public fountains. Locals come to fill their jugs.
• The Grand Promenade: a brick walkway behind the bathhouses, at the foot of the hill. You can see a spring in the open air, steaming.
• The tower: at the top of the hill, an observation tower with an admission charge looks out over the town and the Ouachita Mountains.

Stories and good to know

• One of the old bathhouses has become a brewery. It’s the only one in the world, it says, to brew its beer with thermal water.
• Hot Springs is the smallest of the national parks apart from Gateway Arch.
• Former president Bill Clinton grew up here.

Practical information for your road trip

• Getting there: the town is an hour’s drive from Little Rock, the capital of Arkansas.
• Parking: a free public car park is one street away from Bathhouse Row.
• Where to stay: in the centre, including a grand historic hotel facing the bathhouses.
• Combine it with: Memphis, three hours away, or a drive across to Texas.