What should I see/eat? This is what I have so far...

• Hot Springs National Park
• Bathhouse Row
• Hot Springs Mountain Tower
• Ozark Bathhouse Gallery
• Superior Bathhouse Brewery
• Gangster Museum of America
• Ouachita National Forest
• Hot Springs Baseball Trail
• The Ohio Club
• Crater of Diamonds State Park
• Bathhouse Row Winery
• Arlington Hotel - Cocktails
• Garvan Woodland Gardens (Anthony Chapel)

was in hot springs two? years ago. Went to a pizza place on side of a steep canyon a block or so off the main street downtown. The person serving us was a guy wearing purple hair either crossdressing or converting to transsexual. Trying to explain to my then 4 year olds that it wasn't a girl, but was actually a boy was an awkward conversation I did not want to have at their age. All this to stay hot springs was a nice town, but the people there were different.

nothing else to add. we stayed one night and went on about our way....

Edit: I believe I got confused and am thinking of Eureka Sptings…, for reasons I don't know, is a mecca for the Alphabet mafia. We were there 30 years ago, and everyone assumed the two female friends with us were a couple. So just realize that, and adjust your expectations

I'd add a stop at the Anthony Chapel. Stunning church with glass walls, in the forest.

We just were in Hot Springs for our Anniversary a few weeks ago and loved our time there.

Bathhouse Row is a neat area, we went in the Quapaw Bathhouse and looked around. Did not have to time to check out the 'hot tubs' or 'baths' but people we talked to said it was a fun experience.

Hot Springs Mountain Tower was cool, very nice views of the area.

Superior Bathhouse Brewery was great! Food was excellent and beer was good. Would go back there again.

The Ohio Club was very interesting but the bartenders were really nice and told us basically all about the history of Hot Springs and how the gangsters came in and ran all of the illegal gambling. We didn't go to Gangster Museum because we felt like we heard it all from them, haha!

Hot Springs Baseball trail is highly recommended if you like baseball and baseball history…I loved this.

Two more that we really enjoyed:
SQZBX Pizza and Brewery very good!
Crystal Ridge Distillery- Moonshine distillery. We did the tour and tasting and it was top notch. The staff were some of the nicest people and come to find out most of them were from Texas. We ran into some great people and the moonshine was really good the Salted Carmel was our favorite.

I really really wanted to see Anthony Chapel at Garvan Woodland Gardens but it was $25 per person to enter the gardens and it's kind of not centrally located. Maybe next time…

I hope you have a wonderful trip!

Breakfast at The Pancake Shop in Hot Springs. Ohio Club has good drinks and jazz at night. Argentine place near Ohio Club has good wine and food. Tiny Town is worth a visit.

or, scrap that whole plan and go to Fayetteville/ Bentonville/Rogers. Crystal Bridges Art Museum and a lot better food, bars, music, stores and things to see and do.

p.s. I live in Arkansas.

We were in hot springs in September stopping through on our way to Nashville from Dallas.

+1 for Superior Bathhouse brewery. We went twice. Nice patio if weather is good. Food was great.

-all of bathhouse row is fun to walk around

-delucas pizza

- Gardens and chapel were well worth it in September. Supposedly Christmas lights are incredible. They were starting them back in sept when we were there. Supposedly takes 4 months to put up.

Galvan Gardens lights and walk through are great but other than that spring/summer is a better time to go with the Lakes in the area

My parents retired to the Village and i find stuff to do that is new almost everytime i went up for a long time it isnt a great National Park...honestly one of the worst but a weekend could be fun. The state park system is pretty good and some hikes within a 2 hour drive are incredible for Arkansas

But if you go dont miss the light show at Galvan Gardens although if i recall the Gardens are not open during day while lights are going so you dont see the chapel which is nice

Lights around Central Ave are pretty nice as well, quite a few of the original bathhouses are breweries now

AustinCountyAg said:

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was in hot springs two? years ago. Went to a pizza place on side of a steep canyon a block or so off the main street downtown. The person serving us was a guy wearing purple hair either crossdressing or converting to transsexual. Trying to explain to my then 4 year olds that it wasn't a girl, but was actually a boy was an awkward conversation I did not want to have at their age. All this to stay hot springs was a nice town, but the people there were different.

nothing else to add. we stayed one night and went on about our way....

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Greatful Head Pizza huh

That is definitely a place that isnt conservative based but doesnt make for a whole community.

Skip the crater of diamonds and go to the Coleman Quartz Mine instead if you want to pull cool crystals out of the ground. A huge portion of the diamonds found at the state park are found by semi-professional diggers who bring in specialized equipment and tools to separate the diamonds from the soil. Very few diamonds are found by random tourists panning soil through a small rented sieve pan.

AustinCountyAg said:

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was in hot springs two? years ago. Went to a pizza place on side of a steep canyon a block or so off the main street downtown. The person serving us was a guy wearing purple hair either crossdressing or converting to transsexual. Trying to explain to my then 4 year olds that it wasn't a girl, but was actually a boy was an awkward conversation I did not want to have at their age. All this to stay hot springs was a nice town, but the people there were different.

nothing else to add. we stayed one night and went on about our way....

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I seriously doubt your 4 year gave a **** and it was you who made it awkward. Saying this as I took my kid there at about the same age too. There are plenty of other legit things to complain about like how they don't sell beer on Sundays at the grocery stores.

The horse track there in Hot Springs has a pretty nice casino added to it recently if you're into that sort of thing.

BiggiesLX said:

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AustinCountyAg said:

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was in hot springs two? years ago. Went to a pizza place on side of a steep canyon a block or so off the main street downtown. The person serving us was a guy wearing purple hair either crossdressing or converting to transsexual. Trying to explain to my then 4 year olds that it wasn't a girl, but was actually a boy was an awkward conversation I did not want to have at their age. All this to stay hot springs was a nice town, but the people there were different.

nothing else to add. we stayed one night and went on about our way....

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I seriously doubt your 4 year gave a **** and it was you who made it awkward. Saying this as I took my kid there at about the same age too. There are plenty of other legit things to complain about like how they don't sell beer on Sundays at the grocery stores.

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maybe you're one of those who takes his kids to drag shows at the library but us being from a rural town the dude in a purple wig with manly features and makeup stood out to my children like a sore thumb and they started asking questions forcing us to explain. I'm sorry if us sheltering our children from the liberal nut jobs of the world offends you.

For our family knowing that place caters to that type of crowd in advance we wouldn't have went. For our kids sake and our own.

Those of you who think Hot Springs is a combination of Key West & Haight-Ashbury in the Ouachitas sure don't want to plan a trip to Eureka Springs, AR.

AustinCountyAg said:

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BiggiesLX said:

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AustinCountyAg said:

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was in hot springs two? years ago. Went to a pizza place on side of a steep canyon a block or so off the main street downtown. The person serving us was a guy wearing purple hair either crossdressing or converting to transsexual. Trying to explain to my then 4 year olds that it wasn't a girl, but was actually a boy was an awkward conversation I did not want to have at their age. All this to stay hot springs was a nice town, but the people there were different.

nothing else to add. we stayed one night and went on about our way....

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I seriously doubt your 4 year gave a **** and it was you who made it awkward. Saying this as I took my kid there at about the same age too. There are plenty of other legit things to complain about like how they don't sell beer on Sundays at the grocery stores.

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maybe you're one of those who takes his kids to drag shows at the library but us being from a rural town the dude in a purple wig with manly features and makeup stood out to my children like a sore thumb and they started asking questions forcing us to explain. I'm sorry if us sheltering our children from the liberal nut jobs of the world offends you.

For our family knowing that place caters to that type of crowd in advance we wouldn't have went. For our kids sake and our own.

Are you talking about not going to the resturant or to Hot Springs itself?

Because if you allow one place to eat that YOU picked say everything about a community that is scary

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Rockiy's corner is the best pizza in hot springs

I was talking about the restaurant itself. Yes, hot springs is very liberal but the town itself is very clean and the area around it is beautiful. No problems but with a family I'd recommend people just be cognizant of certain bars and restaurants if young kids are in tow.

OP here. Thanks for all the suggestions! I enjoyed coming back to this thread.

My report from our trip…

1. The Little Rock airport is a dump. Not sure what I was expecting but that thing hasn't seen a renovation since the early 2000s. This probably bothers me more than other people, but they really need some improvements made.

2. LOTS of people in Arkansas still smoke cigarettes. It was a noticeable difference from other places.

3a. Also lots of coughing. I guess emphysema from all the smoking.

3b. And some really bad dental hygiene or lack thereof. Jacked up teeth or teeth missing entirely.

4. Weather was great and there was some nice scenery. Really a beautiful landscape. We stayed about 30 minutes outside of Hot Springs in a cabin in the woods. Had a hot tub. Really enjoyed that.

5. The speed limits in Arkansas are low. Really low. At one point I was on a 4 lane divided Highway with a posted speed of 30 mph.

6. CAN'T BUY ANY ALCOHOL ON SUNDAYS. Not beer. Not wine. Horrible timing this year as we wanted to stock up expecting things to be closed NY day.

7. Didn't find a diamond but got some calcite and quartz.

8. Anthony chapel and Garvan Woodland Gardens were cool. The lights they put up for the holidays are pretty amazing.

9. We had a spa day one afternoon at one of the bathhouses. The lady that did my massage was great but my gf got an obese, hairy, unkempt man that wanted to talk to her the entire time.

10. Everyday we were there we saw at least one man wearing overalls. And they weren't being trendy, ironic, or hipster. This was just their attire.

11. Good food. SQZBX had good beer and great pizza. Bathhouse Brewery was good too. Had a drink at The Ohio Club and enjoyed hearing the history about that place.

12. We hiked the national park NY day. Wonderful scenery. The first 1/2 mile of our hike was straight up, no switchbacks. We were pretty winded, but it was a nice hike, good trails.

All in all, it was a good trip and I'm glad we got out of town to do it. We saw a lot of churches too. We were trying to figure out what Arkansas residents do for work. Is their economy supported by tourism or is their some other industry in Arkansas? Is mining still big there?

Glad you had a great time!

We, also, were shocked by all the people smoking as well. We just kept going around saying, "wow, everyone is outside smoking cigarettes!" Hadn't seen that in a while for sure.

"CAN'T BUY ANY ALCOHOL ON SUNDAYS. Not beer. Not wine. Horrible timing this year as we wanted to stock up expecting things to be closed NY day."

Alcohol sale rules in Arkansas are by county referendum . I live near Mountain Home (Baxter County) and the liquor stores are open from 8 am to 10pm 6 days a week and 11-7 on Sunday. Only closed on Christmas Day. Neighboring counties to the east and south are completely dry,


Arkansas economy is diverse and varies by region Walmart, Tyson, JB Hunt all headquartered in the NW part of state. Largest producer of rice in the US aquaculture and cattle are also very big. Murphy Oil in the south. Tourism is over $10 Billion and growing every year.

87Flyfisher said:

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Those of you who think Hot Springs is a combination of Key West & Haight-Ashbury in the Ouachitas sure don't want to plan a trip to Eureka Springs, AR.

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Our family is about as conservative as they come, and we still love Eureka Springs. We visit every year when we see my Dad in Fayetteville.

Heading to Hot Springs for july 4th weekend and have never been to the area. Thanks for the tips in this thread.