No plans. No Reservations. And No Idea what we were getting ourselves into! That sort of sums up our experience at Hot Springs National Park, the smallest park in the national park system and the only one that surrounds a city.
We had no hotel or camp reservations as we arrived on a Saturday night. We couldn’t really make any from our cell phones either because the beautiful drive through the Ouachita National Forest to get there provided no cell phone service.
When we arrived we realized that until many national parks this one was right there in a thriving tourist town. The hotels looked like something from the roaring ‘20s and we thought there was no way we could get a room. After one failed attempt we ended up getting a room at a great rate at The Arlington Hotel. We both thought it looked like the “Grand Budapest Hotel” and when you walk in it really does look like something from the way-hay of the 1920’s.
Turns out Hot Springs, Arkansas was not only the boyhood/teenage home of President Bill Clinton, but it was also a he destination for old-time baseball players and Chicago mobsters. (and us).
We wanted to go to The Ohio Club (built in 1905 and a favorite of Al Capone) for dinner but there was a huge wait.
So we settled on the Superior Bathhouse Brewery across the street. Celebrating their 4th anniversary of being open you could sample all of their brews for a discount rate when you order something called the “beer bath”. Dinner was good and we got a window seat so on a Saturday night we got to do some people-watching.
The next morning we got up early in an effort to go to the Buckstaff Bathhouse, the oldest and only continually operating bathhouse in America. Dates back to like 1912, I think. They don’t take reservations on Sunday so we wanted to get there as early as possible.
Ok let me back up. So one of the main attractions of the Hot Springs National park is “bathhouse row”. This is a row of the old bathhouses that use to bring hundreds of thousands of people here, even during the Great Depression, for baths in the natural mineral water believed to be healing. This place has some legit history with Hernando de Soto having come here and referred to the Native American “Valley of the Vapors” that drew tribes from all over for the healing properties of the thermal hot springs.
Despite the history that we read about before coming here he had no idea what the “bath” at the bathhouse really entailed. Fully embracing the “Treat yo self” motto we both got the bath and 20 minute massage package. Men and Women were separated by floors and obviously no pictures. We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into but it was luxurious. Here is a small description of the whole process.
Relaxed and completely stress free we went to the National Park gift shop. This is probably the only time we will see bathrobes and water jugs with the National Park logo on it.
Before visiting the rest of the park we went to the Pancake Shop for breakfast. Banana Pancakes, homemade sausage patties, and fresh squeezed orange juice explained why it was a bit of a wait!
The visitor center for the National Park is located in a beautiful old bath house. We realized maybe we should have went there first so we knew what to expect when we went to the bathhouse, but maybe it made it more fun the other way around?
The Visitor center has three floors that transports you back to exactly what the bathing process would look like back in the day.
Again, the building was just beautiful with marble and stained glass with outside courtyards.
The visitor center also had historical information and in the basement was an exposed (yet enclosed) thermal hot spring. The water comes out at about 143 degrees.
You are encouraged to fill up and take home the mineral water with you. They have jug stations and one is at the end of the bathhouse row. Even here it comes out so hot and there was quite a line to wait.
The last thing we did was to drive through the park and up to the Hot Springs Mountain Tower. From here you can see 70-mile views. And elevator takes you to the top and you can see how small our huge hotel looks from up here. The floor below the top also has another great museum about famous people frequented Hot Springs and about the water and bottling process.
Another National Park in the books and I’m not sure we will experience another one like this one in the United States. While more “spa” than park, we really enjoyed this unique experience and fully embrace the luxurious life after living out of a car for 3 weeks!
We headed through Louisiana and into Mississippi for the next adventure!
Dietz Summer Road Trip 