| Hot Springs National Park | |
Things to Do:
With a favorable climate all year, Hot Springs National Park offers outdoor recreational opportunities on a year-round basis. The restored Fordyce Bathhouse, situated in the middle of Bathhouse Row in the 300 block of Central Avenue, is the park visitor center. Exhibits and films orient visitors to Hot Springs and tell the story of thermal water bathing. Twenty-three restored rooms are furnished as the appeared during the heyday of the spa.
The park offers guided tours, junior ranger programs, and other special activities. During the summer an expanded schedule of interpretive activities includes guided bathhouse tours and outdoor walking thermal features tours by park rangers and volunteers. During spring and fall a reduced schedule is offered and tours are available upon request by advance reservation for groups. In October a Volksmarsch (people's walk) is the highlight of Oktoberfest).
Hot Springs National Park includes 26 miles of day-use hiking trails as well as scenic mountain drives on West Mountain, Hot Springs, and North Mountains that afford overlooks to the surrounding area. An observation tower on top of Hot Springs Mountain is operated by a concessionaire and offers a birds-eye-view of the Zig Zag range of the Ouachitas. Other recommended activities include strolling Bathhouse and the Grand Promenade, hiking, picnicking and camping at Gulpha Gorge Campground, and taking a thermal bath at one of the many concessioners.