• Lake Hamilton
The Hot Springs Lake Home sits on the shores of Lake Hamilton in a private cove just off Central Avenue. Lake Hamilton offers a wide variety of activities including boating, fishing, hiking, biking and restaurants on the water. You can rent a party barge or a speedboat from a couple of places nearby. We prefer the Hot Springs Marina (family owned and less expensive) but Kahuna Bay is another option and is just around the corner. And, if you bring your own boat, you can launch it just down the road at the Willow Beach Resort.

• Hiking
The Hot Springs area is home to the longest and most advanced hiking trail (223 miles long!) called the Ouachita National Recreation Trail. There are also numerous shorter, easier and intermediate hikes in Hot Springs National Park and Ouachita National Park. Hot Springs Mountain trails are fun hikes that aren’t too strenuous and provide some nice views. At the top of Hot Springs Mountain sits the Mountain Tower which you can climb up or take an elevator for a spectacular view.

• Shopping
Hot Springs is known for its antiques and specialty stores in the historic downtown district. There’s a wide variety of places but the following are fun and unique to the area:

• The Bathhouse Soapery is a charm-filled apothecary that captures the unique essences of Hot Springs with bath soaps, salts and scrubs.
• Evilo Oils and Vinegars carries a wide range of unique olive oils, vinegars and hot sauces.
• Riley Art Glass Studio is a an art glass studio with pieces and demonstrations (free) year-round.
• Dryden Pottery has a studio and showcase with pieces for sale that incorporate unique elements like local Arkansas quartz silica.
• The Savory Pantry offers a range of different unique specialty food gifts (from jams to sauces to cocktail mixers).

• Oaklawn Racing & Casino
You can catch the ponies from mid-January until early May at the race track just up the road from the Hot Springs Lake Home on Central Avenue. Oaklawn also plays home to a casino that’s open year-round with everything from slots to table games to sports wagering.

• History of Baseball
The city of Hot Springs is known as the birthplace of MLB spring training. Dating back to the late 1800’s all the way through the mid 1900’s over 300 professional baseball players took part in spring training including Babe Ruth and Lefty Grove - and 137 members of the Baseball Hall of Fame! You can check out Fogel Field (right next to the Alligator Farm) where it all happened.

Breakfast

• The English Muffin
I have to give my first shout out to my favorite breakfast spot in Hot Springs. It also conveniently happens to be right around the corner from the Hot Springs lake home. The English Muffin is an authentic local diner with very kind folks who've bene working here for years (be sure to try one of their many English muffin varieties).
 
4832 Central Ave.
Hot Springs, AR 71913

Lunch

• Rolando's

Located in downtown Hot Springs with a patio on the side of a mountain, Rolando's serves great Latin fare and has a fun atmosphere for lunch or dinner.

210 Central Avenue
Hot Springs, AR 71901

Dinner

• Deluca's Pizza

There’s a lot of pizza around town but Deluca’s Pizza is arguably the best. You need to call in advance (early in the day) to reserve your dough. If you don’t reserve, you aren’t guaranteed a pizza (and can often spend a long wait - but it's worth it!).

831 Central Avenue
Hot Springs, AR 71901

Bars

336 Central Avenue
Hot Springs, AR 71901

Groceries

• Weldon's Meat Market
And if you’re looking to grill a nice steak, you can’t go wrong with Weldon’s. Open 8:30am -6pm (except Sundays)

3911 Central Avenue
Hot Springs, AR 71913

• Garvan Woodland Gardens, University of Arkansas, Ouachita Mountains

 
A picturesque gem tucked into the campus of the University of Arkansas, the Garvan Woodland Gardens is any naturalist’s haven. These botanical gardens were gifted to the local community by local industrialist turned philanthropist, Verna Cook Garvan.
 
This local benefactress was the co-owner of a manufacturing company and it was in this capacity that Ms. Garvan initially purchased the land that now houses thousands of unique plant specimens. Ms. Garvan fell in love with the beauty of this place and it was thanks to her persistent dedication and hard work that we have the stunning, peaceful natural oasis that is the Garvan Woodland Gardens today.
 
Home to over 150 kinds of azaleas, as well as camellias, magnolias, and plenty of other flowers protected by the pine tree canopy, the Garvan Woodland Gardens provides a haven for rare plants. The first stop in the gardens is the Pratt Welcome Center, where you can find meeting rooms and event spaces, information about the history of the park, and log into the local Wi-fi connection. The gardens serve as the home to hundreds of species of flora and fauna; part of the mission of the organization is to promote and protect the natural local environment.
 
As a site of education about the environment, the gardens also offers visitors the chance to experience the Japanese maples and tree peonies in the Garden of the Pine Wind, traverse the Bridge of the Full Moon, and marvel at the Fairy Village. Visitors from near and far can relax in the Chipmunk Café, which offers hot drinks and snacks from local vendors.

• Superior Bathhouse Brewery, Hot Springs National Park

 
Rose Schweikhart, founder of Superior Bathhouse Brewery, had a mission. When she moved to Hot Springs in 2011, she had a dream to develop not only her own brewery, but the first brewery in any officially designated national park in the United States. Beyond that, Schweikhart wanted to use the naturally flowing thermal spring waters of Hot Springs National Park to brew the actual beer itself.
 
Now she is living her dream with the Superior Bathhouse Brewery in Hot Springs National Park. The brewery, which opened in 2013, is housed in a 100-year-old historic bathhouse building in the national park, and the brewery has maintained many features of the original bathhouse, including the windows, the bar, and the tile flooring.
 
Visitors to the Superior Bathhouse Brewery can enjoy every type of beer, from barrel-aged stouts to traditional German lagers, from West Coast and East Coast-style IPA’s to experimental sour beers. And every one of these varieties has been brewed using natural thermal spring water from the park.
 
Schweikhart considered sustainability and responsibility as top factors when developing her brewery, and the choice to use thermal spring water was key in the brewery’s development. By using naturally occurring thermal spring water, Schweikhart and her team of expert brewers don’t need to purify the water or use chemically treated tap water. That means the entire process of brewing is more environmentally sustainable; particularly when you consider that the thermal water flowing through the park’s hot springs totals about 1 million gallons every single day. Since the brewing team doesn’t need to heat the water to boil the grains for the beer, they save time and energy by using naturally pre-heated water.
 
In addition to the unique craft beers on tap, the brewery offers a truly local farm-to-table dining experience. They send the leftover grains that are byproducts of the brewing process to JV Farms in Bismarck. There the grains are fed to livestock, and the brewery later receives “beer raised and braised” pork products and sausages for brewery visitors to enjoy. A full circle of environmentally responsible, local, artisanal food production. We can cheers to that!