Day 41 - Hot Springs, AR

We headed to Hot Springs National Park and arrived just before lunchtime. It was a good thing we arrived early as the campsite was FCFS (first come, first served) and it was a Saturday so it was very full. We managed to get one of the last campsites available and we were lucky enough to get one next to a little stream rather than one of the ones in the middle of the campsite.

We pitched the tent, lazed in the sun and then headed off to the town of Hot Springs to do some exploring.

Hot Springs reminded me of Bath Spa in the UK. It is small town but has a huge number of people visiting each year. It seems to have everything a good holiday destination needs - the relaxing spas, the outdoor activities, nightlife and an interesting history to learn about. We met a couple in a bar from Oklahoma who come every year 1-2 nights and it's easy to see why.

Our first trip was to Hot Springs Mountain Tower. You can either hike to it, which is quite an uphill trek or you can drive to it, which we did. The tower is 65.8 meters high and at the top is an observation deck to look out at Hot Springs National Park and the town of Hot Springs. There is a small fee to get up the tower but it was worth it.

We enjoyed walking up and down Bathhouse Row where all the old bathhouses are. Only two of them are in use as bathhouses, a couple are empty and the rest have been turned into shops, a visitors center and a restaurant / bar. The visitors center was really good. It is an old bathhouse that they have turned into a museum. You can walk around the old equipment and the information stations explain what it was used for and why. It is the only place in Hot Springs where you can see this equipment other than in the Buckstaff (more on this in a bit). We also walked behind the bathhouses along The Grande Promenade. This is where people would go after their bathing experience to exercise back in the day when men were wearing top hat and tails and women had huge over sized dresses. At the back of the bathhouses are some of the springs themselves. There are some simply coming out of the ground and others covered by green metal covers; these are the ones that have been redirected to the bath houses.

There are two working spas left on Bathhouse Row - the Quapaw Bath & Spa and the Buckstaff Bath House. The Quapaw is like one of the spas in Budapest. You sit with people in ornate swimming pool style baths at different temperatures and there are shared steam rooms and saunas. We have visited Budapest a couple of times and visited two different baths there so decided the Quapaw wasn't different enough. The Buckstaff on the other hand is like a bath house that neither of us had experience and probably will never experience again. There were no photos or videos in the bath house but the visitors center had the same equipment so its easier to explain the experience using these photos (some of these are in the video too so you will see a couple of photos multiple times).

We both had the Traditional Bathing Package. We checked in at reception and then Lee was asked to go to the men's area on the ground floor and I was taken up an old fashioned lift to the women's area.

You go into a cubical with a locker and strip naked. Your given a bed sheet to put over yourself as you move around the equipment to save your modesty. You are then lead to a huge bath filled with hot spring water and a bubble machine. You sit in this for 15-20 minutes relaxing and letting the world soak away. The attendant comes in at the end and before helping you out the bath, scrubs you with a loofa mitt. Everyone is given on of their own (so there is no sharing) and you get to take it home with you at the end.

Next I was taken to a bed where I was covered in really hot towels soaked in the spring water with a cold towel on my face and a cup full of ice to hold and I was told to lie there for another 15 minutes. I was really thankful for the cold towel on my face, it did make a huge difference.

Then it was off for a steam. For Lee, he went into a little steam cubicle to sit whereas I had to go into this thing:

It steams your body but leaves your head in the open. It actually wasn't as hot or as scary as I thought it would be, it was like being in a normal steam room but I actually felt less claustrophobic as my head was out.

Next was a treatment they used for treating lower back pain, a sitz bath. You basically sit in a sink on the floor with your legs out of the front. It was surprisingly comfortable and the hot water did feel good on our lower backs.

Next was the needles shower to invigorate your skin and wash off all the sweat! You stand in the middle over the shower and lots of little sprays of water hit you. It did feel like little needles on the skin.

Finally, we both had a massage. Mine was lovely and relaxing where as Lee said his was more vigorous, but still very good indeed.

We both finished are spa experience clean, relaxed and with our muscles feeling like jelly. The equipment in the Buckstaff was original so it was identical to the equipment in the visitors center including the water marks and rust but that added to the charm and didn't put us off at all. You end up ignoring the nakedness, the sheet helps with walking around in front of other guests but in front of the attendants, you just forget about it as they are so professional. You can see why people used the treatments in the spa as medical treatments as you feel so good when you come out, maybe they do help your body in some way.

We went to The Ohio Club for dinner after our spa experience. It was built in 1905 as a bar and casino and was a place the gangsters would visit when they visited Hot Springs including Al Capone. Hot Springs was a regular hangout for gangsters and was seen as neutral ground where they could come and relax regardless of their grievances against each other. During Prohibition, it continued as a bar and a casino although secret walls were put up to hide these from the authorities so it looked like just a genuine law abiding cigar store. You can see the marks for these walls on the floor of the bar. The bar itself is one huge piece of mahogany which was shipped, then sent on the railway to Hot Springs. To get it in the building, part of the front of the building had to be taken down. The food was awesome - we had fried pickles and then a burger each.

As you drive around Hot Springs, there are filling up stations where you can take your own bottles along and fill up from either the hot or the cold springs. We had a couple of empty water bottles so filled up from a hot spring before heading off.