Hot Springs National Park
Arkansas
Tonight
🌗 46% moon
7.1 h fully dark
Hikes
Easy–Strenuous
🟢 🟡 🔴
Crowds
high
Open today
Open
Entrance
Free entry
Hot Springs National Park has a rich cultural past. The grand architecture of our historic bathhouses is equally matched by the natural curiosities that have been drawing people here for hundreds of years. Ancient thermal springs, mountain views, incredible geology, forested hikes, and abundant creeks – all in the middle of town – make Hot Springs National Park a unique and beautiful destination.
Activities
Topics
No entrance fee.
Hours & seasons
Arlington Lawn, Grand Promenade, sidewalks on Bathhouse Row, Reserve Street, and Fountain Street, except for walk through traffic, are open from to 5:00 am to 10:00 pm, daily. Roads to Hot Springs Mountain, North Mountain and West Mountain Summit are open to vehicle traffic from 8:00 am to 10:00 pm.
Generally open:
winterspringsummerfallHours are reported by the park — verify before you go.
📞 5016206715
✉ hosp_park_information@nps.govConditions
Quietest months (fewer crowds): Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
Typical crowds: high
Weather now: ☀️ Clear, 90°F
☁️ 99°/74°
🌦️ 98°/73°
🌦️ 92°/70°
Typical monthly recreation visits · NPS avg 2023–2025 — orange months are the quietest by crowds.
Quietest months
Relative crowds by month — lighter is quieter; ringed months are the calmest by crowds.
Jan
40%
Feb
67%
Mar
79%
Apr
70%
May
58%
Jun
100%
Jul
78%
Aug
73%
Sep
36%
Oct
35%
Nov
36%
Dec
36%
Log a sky reading
Measured the sky with an SQM meter or app? Add your reading (16 = city glow … 22 = pristine). Opt in under “Travelers like you” to share it on the community leaderboard.
Things to do
Become a Hot Springs Junior Ranger
Camp at the Gulpha Gorge Campground
🔴 Oak Trail · 1 mi · 922 ft gain
🟢 An Overview: Hot Springs and North Mountain Trails · 0.5 mi · 717 ft gain · <p>All of the trails on Hot Springs and North Mountain are interconnected. Depending on the trail, if done singularly, it could be done in as little as 30 minutes (the Grand Promenade) or they could be combined for a 4 to 5 hour adventure. </p>
Honeysuckle Trail · 0.5 mi · 870 ft gain
Short Cut Trail · 0.2 mi · 1036 ft gain
West Mountain Trail · 1.2 mi · 400 ft gain
🟢 Whittington Trail · 1.2 mi · 685 ft gain
Campgrounds
Gulpha Gorge Campground ↗ · 40 sites · hookups
Visitor centers
Fordyce Bathhouse Visitor Center and Museum
Accessibility
1 accessible campground(s)
28 audio-described place(s)
Reported by the park — verify before you go.
Not an official safety source — always defer to NPS.gov and rangers for life-safety decisions.
By the numbers
A visual read on Hot Springs National Park — its character, trails, sky, and weather.
Park fingerprint
How this park scores across the dimensions travelers care about.
Trail difficulty
Difficulty mix across this park's trails.
Trail profile
Each dot is a trail — distance vs. elevation gain, by difficulty.
3-day forecast
Daily high and low temperatures (°F).
Passport stamps
Mark the stamps you've collected — they show in your memory and along your routes.
🎫 Fordyce Bathhouse Visitor Center and Museum
🎫 Lamar Bathhouse Emporium
Places to see
Administration Building
Arlington Lawn
audio
Army and Navy Hospital
audio
Arsenic Spring
audio
Balanced Rock
audio
Big Iron Spring
audio
Buckstaff Bathhouse
audio
Corn Hole
audio
Display Spring
audio
Egg Spring
audio
Goat Rock View Point
audio
Grand Promenade
Audio & media
🎧
🎬
🖼
Learn more
Learn the invaluable contributions of the 2016 Hartzog winners, celebrating excellence in volunteerism.
Many visitors to national parks today collect passport stamps, magnets, or other items to recall their trip and to show others where they’ve been. In the 1920s and 1930s the “must have” souvenirs weren’t created to be collected. National Park Service (NPS) windshield stickers served a practical administrative purpose; they were evidence that the automobile license fee drivers paid at some parks had been paid. Even so, Americans embraced their colorful, artistic designs.
The relationship between Levi Memorial Hospital and Hot Springs National Park demonstrates an enduring connection between Jewish American communities and the National Park Service. The hospital the national park’s thermal water to treat disabled Jewish visitors to Hot Springs, combat anti-Semitism through achievements in health, and provide a lasting site of thermal water medicinal care in Hot Springs, Arkansas.
Public programming for the 2024 Total Eclipse was a team effort! With help from Earth to Sky—an organization that fosters collaboration between NASA and the National Park Service—visitors at Hot Springs National Park and other NPS sites in the eclipse path got to experience awe and learning as they witnessed the April 8, 2024 Total Eclipse.
There is the prevailing misconception that African Americans do not participate in outdoor recreation; however, this misconception is far from reality. While racially exclusionary practices attempted to impose limits on African American participation in outdoor recreation, African Americans participated in opportunities offered by the larger society and also carved out spaces of their own.
Before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 African American men and women were not allowed to use the same bathhouses as whites. This article will explore the building of their own bathhouses in Hot Springs, Arkansas.
In 2015, scientists found many species that are intolerant to poor water quality, which shows these streams currently are in good condition.
Hot Springs National Park offers a variety of ways for your pup to become an official B.A.R.K. Ranger! Check out this article to learn more about the program and earn your certificate today!
How Hot Springs National Park connects
This park's activities, topics, location, and on-the-ground places — one hop in the graph. Drag to explore; click an activity, topic, or related park to follow it.
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VisitorCenter
PassportStamp
Trail
ThingToDo
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