This Southern Spa Town is a Stealth Wellness Superstar
Over the centuries, Hot Springs, Arkansas, has hosted visitors from Native tribes to Chicago gangsters who've come to bathe in its thermal waters. Today, it's more popular than ever.
In Hot Springs, Arkansas, it’s all about the water. For centuries, the thermal springs have drawn visitors seeking healing, rest, and rejuvenation. Today, people come to soak in the water, drink it, and even sip beer brewed with it. After all, this is no ordinary water.
What bubbles to the surface at Hot Springs National Park in Arkansas first fell as rain 4,000 years ago. Over the millennia, it seeped through thousands of feet of rock, warming as it went before faults and fractures in the sandstone channeled it back to the surface where now it gurgles up at 140° Fahrenheit.
Long before Hot Springs was designated a national park in 1921, Native tribes, including the Caddo, Quapaw, and Osage, were drawn to its steaming waters. They called the area the Valley of the Vapors, visiting frequently to soak in the springs and seek novaculite, an exceptionally hard form of quartz they fashioned into tools and weapons.
In 1830, a rough bathhouse rose––little more than a rustic shelter above the steaming springs. Two years later, the federal government set the land aside as a National Reservation. After the Civil War, Hot Springs became popular as a place for veterans to recuperate. By the 1910s, that first humble bathhouse had given way to the row of grand government-regulated bathhouses that transformed Hot Springs into a spa town with the motto We bathe the world. At the peak of its popularity in the 1940s, more than a million baths a year were taken in Hot Springs.
Some of the clientele were less than savory. Al Capone was known to flee to a suite at the Arlington Hotel while waiting for things to cool off Chicago. His men would watch from the windows, waiting for the right crowd to gather at a club owned by one of his associates, Owen “Owney” Madden, the legendary owner of the Cotton Club in Harlem who was thought to be the inspiration for the Great Gatsby.
Guests at the Arlington can still book the Capone Suite today. They can also tour Hot Springs’ Gangster Museum of America, which chronicles the town’s underworld past, and stop by Owney Madden’s grave in nearby Greenwood Cemetery, where visitors regularly pay him tribute by leaving money.
Hot Springs’ lawless days came to an end after Winthrop Rockefeller won the Arkansas governorship in 1966 on a campaign to clean up the city and sent state police sweeping through the gambling halls, smashing and burning slot machines in the streets. Meanwhile, the rise of modern antibiotics and other treatments reduced public interest in the water cure. Quietly, the bathhouses began to close, leaving only one, the Buckstaff, remaining, until the recent enthusiasm for wellness and hydrotherapy prompted a renaissance.
A good starting point for travelers is the Fordyce Bathhouse, the park’s visitor center and museum, in a restored historic bathhouse on Bathhouse Row with rocking chairs on the front porch that are perfect for pausing to enjoy a breeze. Wander past bathing stalls with hand-laid Italian tile then peek into treatment rooms filled with antiquated hydrotherapy equipment before heading upstairs for a look at the vintage wooden exercise machines. Along the way, marvel at the luxuriousness of the European-inspired fountains and painted ceilings.
To experience the waters as the gangsters did, pass beneath blue-striped awnings of the Buckstaff, which has been in continuous operation since 1912. Cool tile leads to separate bathing areas for men and women, where attendants guide guests through a traditional clothing-optional ritual of mineral baths, sitz baths, steam cabinets, massages, and more.
Two doors down is Quapaw Baths and Spa, which opened in 2007 in the 1922 Quapaw bathhouse. Thanks to painstaking preservation work, the building has retained its historic character while adding modern amenities, like a steam cave and a head spa. Soak in a private bath or the public thermal mineral pool, where proper swim attire is required.
Before leaving old bathhouse row, stop at the park’s gift shop inside the Lamar, the smallest of the bathhouses, before continuing along Central Avenue to browse boutiques ranging from Hot Springs Hat Company to Bathhouse Soapery & Calderium, all housed in historic storefronts.
For a bird’s-eye view of Hot Springs, head to Hot Springs Mountain Tower, where an elevator takes visitors 216 feet up to take in views of both Hot Springs National Park and the Ouachita National Forest.
Where to Eat and Drink
Explore Hot Springs’ gangster past further at The Ohio Club, where bullet holes still pock the ceiling and the burgers have won statewide acclaim. Order fried pickles and a craft cocktail, then settle in at a table crafted from a roulette wheel that was found behind a false wall after a fire. Among the club’s most prized artifacts is a billy club taken from Al Capone’s Chicago hotel suite after a raid. The evidence tag is still attached.
The 13-year-old Superior Bathhouse Brewery is the only establishment in the world to make beer with thermal water. Housed in the former Superior Bathhouse, which has its own private spring access, it sells with 95 percent of its product within the national park. Try the quaffable Spring Training or the hazy Space Force IPA––or sample all 18 varieties in the aptly named Beer Bath flight.
Tucked inside Hotel Hale, the restaurant Eden feels like a secret garden hidden within bathhouse row, serving upscale American favorites under a large skylight in a room filled with greenery. Visit The Pancake Shop for a giant made-from-scratch breakfast and The Vault, housed in a historic bank building, to savor seasonal flavors crafted with local ingredients.
Where to Stay
There are two hotels on bathhouse row. At the nine-room boutique Hotel Hale, which opened in 2019 in a renovated historic bathhouse, guests are staying on national park grounds. Each room comes with a large tub that pipes in spring water at around 140 degrees Fahrenheit.
Currently undergoing a $30 million renovation, the Arlington Resort and Spa has welcomed guests to its current Mediterranean-style location since 1924. (Two previous incarnations, the first opening in 1875, were lost to fire). A spa, thermal water bathhouse, and wrap-around verandas provide plenty of relaxation opportunities. Both hotels are a short walk from national park attractions.
