When you think about a national park, you probably think about the outdoors, right? But there is a national park within the National Park System considered an urban national park, surrounded by, and encompassing a portion of, an urban area and rich with culture, history, and spots with great views of the Zig Zag Mountains, a section of the Ouachita (Wash-it-taw) Mountains in central Arkansas and eastern Oklahoma.

Hot Springs National Park in Arkansas, located about an hour’s drive west of Little Rock. Considered an urban park because a portion of the city of Hot Springs (downtown and Bathhouse Row) is within park boundaries while the rest of the city surrounds the park. Known as “The American Spa,” this park is home to eight historic bathhouses and 47 natural hot springs with an average temperature of 143 degrees Fahrenheit (61.7 degrees Celsius).

Long before thoughts turned to "national parks," Hot Springs was drawing visitors desiring to relax in, well, the hot springs there. Today you can still find a good soak here, but there's more to this place than hot water.

The national park is found in the Zig Zag Mountains, which is the source for these hot spring waters containing trace amounts of silica, calcium, bicarbonate and other dissolved minerals. According to the National Park Service, the water that comes to the surface in the park's hot springs is more than 4,000 years old.

Not only did Native Americans partake in an occasional dip, but legend has it that Spanish explorer Hernando DeSoto took a soak back in 1541. Even President Jefferson was interested in the hot springs, having dispatched the Dunbar-Hunter Expedition to the region in 1804.

The location was added to the National Park System in 1921, though it was established as Hot Springs Reservation back on April 20, 1832. Today eight historically and architecturally significant bathhouses compose Bathhouse Row, a National Historic Landmark District. 

And, of course, you can still take a soak, in one of the tubs at Buckstaff Bath House, which has been in continuous operation since 1912, and follow it up with a massage. The Quapaw Baths also offer spa treatment with the opportunity to soak in the thermal springs.

But the national park is not simply a place to soak your weary bones. The National Park Service, in an effort to both generate a little return on the facilities here and to see the historic buildings maintained, in recent years has been leasing out some of the buildings.

Back in 2013 the Superior Bathhouse -- which was built in 1916, closed in 1983, gutted in the 1990s when its fixtures were removed and its plaster wallcoating removed, and rehabilitated in 2008 -- was turned over to a microbrewery run by Vapor Valley Spirits, Inc. And in 2017 the park signed a lease to have the historic Hale Bathhouse turned into the boutique hotel known as Hotel Hale.

According to the Park Service, the first bathhouses at Hot Springs "were crude structures of canvas and lumber, little more than tents perched over individual springs or reservoirs carved out of the rock. Later, businessmen built wooden structures, but they frequently burned, collapsed because of shoddy construction, or rotted due to continued exposure to high temperatures and humidity."

A good place to start your visit of Hot Springs National Park is the Fordyce Bathhouse, which operated from 1915 until 1962, when it closed due to declining business. It remained vacant until reopening as the park visitor center in 1989. Now you can watch an orientation movie of the park and take a tour of the building, which was the only bathhouse to have a bowling alley.  Today you can still see the Fordyce Spring and the original Otis elevator mechanism.

The Bathhouse Row you see today consists of eight bathhouse buildings that were constructed between 1892 and 1923, the park staff notes. This area along with the Grand Promenade was designated as a National Historic Landmark District in 1987.

Interested in baseball history? Trivia fans should know that Hot Springs, Arkansas, was the premier baseball spring training site from the 1880s-1940s. The Chicago White Stockings, Cincinnati Reds, Pittsburgh Pirates, Boston Red Sox and others came to soothe their aching muscles at the many bathhouses using Hot Springs National Park water.

Feel like getting in some outdoor activity before taking a good soak in the thermal waters? Fishing, bicycling, and hiking are all popular activities within Hot Springs National Park. The park has 26 miles (41.8 kilometers) of hiking trails, ranging from the Fountain Trail that runs just 528 feet (161 meters) to the Sunset Trail, which is the park's longest at 10 miles (16.1 miles). During these hikes, you can expect to find quite a variety of wildlife in these less frequented pockets which serve as refuges for such seldom-seen local species as wild turkey and white-tailed deer, most common in the fall months. Wildflowers are plentiful along the trails in late spring, summer, and fall.

Bring your camera with you to Hot Springs because there are plenty of places for capturing sunrise, sunset, and fall colors along the two scenic drives (North Mountain and West Mountain) and at the six scenic overlooks providing views onto the landscape beauty of this park nestled within the Zig Zag Mountains.

So, whether you go to take a hike, study some major league baseball history, or enjoy the brewpub, Hot Springs National Park can make a great three-day escape.

Traveler’s Choice For: hot springs, geology, history, culture