Hot Springs Recommendations

Yea, Eureka would be better. Fayetville/Bentonville would be best.

We have a place up in Hot Springs Village so we go regularly. If you want to stay in HS, stay at the new Oaklawn hotel or The Waters, eat/drink on the rooftop at The Waters, hit up Oaklawn's casino which is really nice and fun to watch football at (we watched two LSU games there). Go up to Lake Ouachita which is beautiful, hike at the state park Caddo Bend trail. More hikes in the National Forest that direction up on 7. Definitely go to Garvin Gardens. Also spend an afternoon walking the main walkway and promenade, hike the National Park though the west side would be better hiking the hot springs are on the east, do both. Superiour bathouse has a brewery and patio, a few other good restaurants too. You can make it a good weekend.

ETA- Pancake House has a line but legit breakfast. You can call ahead to alleviate some of the waiting.

ETA2 - Lesson here is to read the post before I reply. Oaklawn starts running in December now, this is a legit track with potential Derby horses (2 yr olds in Dec) and high money older horses, worth it for a couple hours paired with casino.

A lot of negativity here but honestly HS is gonna be much closer to you and Lake Ouachita is every bit as good as Beaver Lake. Been to both. The trip will be what you make of it.

Degray Lake Resort State Park is beautiful. About a 20 minute drive to HS.

We stayed on a houseboat on Lake Ouachita. We had a very good time, highly recommend the experience

Loved Hot Springs. It's really relaxing.

We did an Air BnB inside of the national park. I think it was like 70$ a day or something cheap. It was a little cabin in the woods that allowed dogs. We really didn't spend too much time there. There were enough trails and hikes to keep us occupied for 3 days. I'm not sure about hotels in the area unfortunately..but personally Air BnB is the way to go when visiting any type of park.

For food:
Pancake house breakfast was top tier. They are usually pretty busy, so I'd advise getting up early and going.

Had a great time at the brewery; they had a really good burger and the beer was delicious. It's attached to the old bath houses so we explored those after which was really cool.

I saw someone mention the rooftop restaurant, the wife and I found the food was 'okay' but the view was awesome! I would suggest this as more of a get some drinks and take in the scenery.

I would also suggest Grateful Head Pizza (play on grateful dead). It was really good pizza and had some cool views (it's on the side of a big hill).

As far as night life, Club Ohio was really really interesting. They have a ton of original things from back in 1905 when it started as a Bar and Casino. The bartenders are really knowledgeable and can give you some cool info. They usually have live bands which is something we go looking for at bars. One thing to notice is the giant mirror behind the bar. Half is the original glass from when the bar was opened. The other half was replaced a few years back, according to our bartender someone tossed a beer bottle at it and cracked it.

They have a ton of hikes and most places are pet friendly. Make sure to bring a jug to fill with water from the spring!

Overall, I think it's a great little area to get away.

quote:

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Curious what there is to do in Hot Springs in December when it’s too cold for any water/boating activities

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Honestly I still take the kayak out. Last December I kayaked out to a small exposed island when the water was low on Ouachita and just relaxed on the island for a while.

Hot Springs gets shite on a bunch on here but we just got back from 4 days there a few weeks ago and had a good time, its what you make of it. Sure you quickly run out of things to do in the downtown area but there's many other things to do if you're into outdoor things. We're a bit hampered by having our toddler in tow but even still we were able to do plenty activities. We're planning to go back when it cools a little.

We stayed in this awesome AirBnb cabin about 15 minutes south of town on Hwy7, they list 4x4 as recommended to get up the driveway but a 2wd truck with a bit of momentum would be just fine.

AirBnb




Stuff we did...

Toured one of the bathhouses
Had beers at Superior Bathhouse
Garvan Gardens
Hung out at scenic overlook
Hung out at Blue Bird Falls(right next to our cabin)
Did the waterfall hike at Lake Catherine State park
Took our 4Runner down some of the fire road and 4x4 trails in Ouchita National Park, our daughter was getting cranky so we didn't get to do as much I'd have liked.

The pizza at Grateful Head was good stuff as well.

Hot Springs (area) is awesome if you want to do outdoor activities, stay in a scenic place, and mostly cook/eat wherever you staying. Probably the best time is mid-spring to late fall before they lower the water level in some of the lakes.

If you want to do touristy stuff and mostly eat out its fine for a long weekend, but not sure I would stay longer.