Nestled in the pastoral Ouachita Mountains of central Arkansas, Hot Springs is a town teeming with history — including the potable kinD.
Home to Hot Springs National Park, the historic district features a perfectly preserved lineup of Renaissance Revival bathhouses along Bathhouse Row, including two where travelers can still soak in traditional tubs and thermal pools. The mineral-rich water, which initially trickled 8,000 feet underground as rainwater some 4,000 years ago, is heated to 143°F by the Earth’s core before bubbling back up at the surface. The two bathhouses where visitors can soak are The Buckstaff Bathhouse and The Quapaw Bathhouse, while another has been converted into the luxe Hotel Hale, and another is now Superior Bathhouse Brewery — the first brewery within a national park, and among the only breweries in the world to make beer from thermal water. The historic Arlington Hotel, which towers over Bathhouse Row as the largest hotel in the state, also offers rooms with mineral water tubs.
Elsewhere in Hot Springs, water takes top billing at the Mountain Valley Spring Water Museum & Visitor’s Center, where guests can sample the same spring water that attracted fans like Elvis, and stay at The Waters hotel, complete with a rooftop bar overlooking Bathhouse Row. Behind the bathhouses, visitors can stroll the scenic Grand Promenade, built entirely of bricks and inspired by the Prado in Havana, Cuba. It sits at the base of Hot Springs Mountain, lined with hiking trails and a paved road, all culminating with the Hot Springs Mountain Tower, with a 216-foot observation deck overlooking the panoramic valley.
Later, enjoy drinks and live music at The Ohio Club, the oldest continuously operating bar in Arkansas, and a former fixture for notorious gangsters like Al Capone and Bugsy Siegel. Dive deeper into Hot Springs’ mobster era at The Gangster Museum of America, with its own Capone Gallery. And for equine history, catch a race at Oaklawn Hot Springs, one of the oldest thoroughbred race tracks in the country.
