The Arlington Resort Hotel and Spa Thermal Bathhouse

What to expect

The Arlington is the big twin-towered hotel at the head of Bathhouse Row, and it is the largest hotel in Hot Springs. It also keeps one of the town’s working thermal bathhouses inside its walls. The hotel says the bathhouse has been in use since 1924, and it still has its original tubs and tilework. Visit Hot Springs, the city tourism bureau, puts the Thermal Water Spa on the third floor.

The bath follows the Hot Springs pattern in a shorter form. You get a private tub filled with the natural mineral water, then a session in a dry sauna. An attendant wraps you in warm towels soaked in mineral water, and you finish at a cooling station. It takes about an hour. Packages add a 30-minute massage, a facial or both. This is private bathing, one person to a tub, not a shared pool.

The other way to use the water here is to sleep next to it. The hotel’s Mineral Water Rooms have hot springs mineral water piped straight into the bathtub, so you can soak in your room at any hour. They come with a king bed or two doubles. If that idea appeals, compare them with Hotel Hale, a nine-suite hotel in the Hale Bathhouse where every suite has a thermal tub.

The hotel also has twin cascading outdoor pools, open March to October, and a hot tub open all year. The hotel does not describe those as thermal water, so treat them as a regular hotel pool and hot tub.

History

There have been three Arlingtons. The first, a 150-room wooden hotel, opened in 1875 on government land where Arlington Lawn is now. It was replaced in 1893 by a larger brick and stone building with a glass-topped rotunda and 300 rooms. That second Arlington burned on April 5, 1923, after an employee noticed smoke from an electrical panel. Ground was broken that October for the present hotel across Fountain Street, off reservation land, and the George R. Mann design was completed on November 28, 1924.

The building has had a rocky recent stretch. In 2016 the city issued a notice of unsafe conditions and threatened to close it unless repairs were made, then backed off. New owners, Sky Capital of San Antonio, won historic district approval for improvements in 2021, and a renovation of about $30 million began in 2023. As of October 2026, the hotel says the exterior restoration is complete and work has moved inside to common areas and guest rooms, with occasional noise but no change to daily operations. It is open, and it is marking 102 years with a New Year’s Eve party.

Prices and booking

Thermal bathhouse prices as listed in October 2026:

• Thermal Mineral Bath, 1 hour: $45 (ages 10 and up)
• The Works, 2 hours, bath sequence plus a 30-minute massage: $115
• Bath and facial package, bath sequence plus a facial: $155 (45-minute facial) or $170 (60-minute facial)
• Pamper, 3 hours, bath sequence, 30-minute massage and a facial: $175
• Massages (Swedish, deep tissue, trouble spot, reflexology), 30 minutes: $70
• Facials: $60 to $125

Party packages for groups use a private party room. Prices exclude gratuity.

Bathhouse hours are Monday to Thursday 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., Friday and Saturday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. The hotel says 60-minute massages are available Sunday to Thursday. Book by calling 501-609-2514 or through the request form on the website; walk-ins are welcome when there is room.

Rooms, as listed in October 2026: historic rooms from $119, standard rooms from $129, Mineral Water Rooms from $225 and suites from $230 to $470 a night. Rates change often. Pet-friendly rooms are available for $60 per pet per night, and accessible rooms are guaranteed if you request one when booking.

Getting there

The hotel is at 239 Central Avenue (AR 7), at the corner of Fountain Street, facing Arlington Lawn and the north end of Bathhouse Row in downtown Hot Springs, Arkansas.

• From Little Rock: NPS gives the route to Bathhouse Row as I-30 west to Exit 111, US 70 west until it becomes US 70 Business (East Grand Avenue), right on Spring Street (which becomes Reserve Street), then right on Central Avenue and north to Fountain Street. About 54 miles, an hour.
• From Texarkana: I-30 to Exit 78, then AR 7 north, which becomes Central Avenue.

Parking: the hotel lists valet at $30 a night plus tax and fees (limited), a three-level garage half a block past the hotel at $24.50 a night, and a surface lot two and a half blocks away near Fat Jack’s at $13.50 a night. Electric vehicle chargers are available to guests.

When to go

The bathhouse runs all year. Fridays and Saturdays have longer hours but more demand, so book those days ahead. Weekday mornings are the easiest time to walk in. The outdoor pools only open from March to October, which matters if you are booking a summer family stay. Winter is quiet in town and the best season for a hot bath.

Where to stay nearby

You are already in one of the two hotels on the row with thermal water in the rooms. The other is Hotel Hale, a few minutes’ walk south. The park’s Gulpha Gorge Campground, at 305 Gorge Road off US 70B on the east side of town, has 40 full-hookup sites at $34 a night, reservable only on Recreation.gov.

Safety notes

• Heat: A mineral bath, sauna and hot towel wrap in a row can leave you lightheaded. Drink water and use the cooling station.
• Age: The thermal bath is for ages 10 and up.
• Breathing the water: NPS says Legionella bacteria have been found in some thermal water samples in the park and that inhaling droplets is the risk, especially for people with weakened immune systems.

Nearby stops worth adding

Across Fountain Street, the Hot Water Cascade on Arlington Lawn is the largest visible spring in Hot Springs National Park, and NPS lets you touch the water there. Walk south along the row to the Dripping Spring, then to the two bathhouses that still give baths: Quapaw Baths and Spa, with shared thermal pools, and the Buckstaff Bathhouse, open since 1912. To fill a bottle with spring water for free, use the Hill Wheatley Plaza jug fountain. NPS says the Arlington Trail starts near the hotel; ask at the front desk for the trailhead.