Broadwater Hot Springs & Fitness

What to expect

Broadwater Hot Springs & Fitness is part hot springs and part health club, and it does not pretend otherwise. You walk in past a front desk and a gym floor, change in a locker room, and then step out to a deck of free-form mineral pools on the west edge of Helena. It is the only geothermal soak in the city, and locals use it the way other towns use a YMCA: a swim before work, a sauna after a ski day, a beer by the pool on a Friday night.

The facility counts seven bodies of water, ranging from about 57°F to 104°F14°C to 40°C. There are five hot pools and two cool ones meant for contrast soaking. The main ones:

• Springs and Soaker pools: large free-form pools of about 30 by 70 feet, 3 to 4.5 feet deep, with bench seating and a waterfall feature, held at roughly 97-102°F36-39°C. One set sits just outside the locker rooms and another on the upper deck.
• Hot tubs: smaller and hotter, at 101-104°F38-40°C.
• Cold plunge: 50-59°F10-15°C, placed beside the hottest water so you can go back and forth. Staff suggest one to five minutes in it.
• Recreation pool: 25 by 70 feet, 3 to 10 feet deep and 89-93°F32-34°C, used for laps, lessons and kids.

A sauna and a steam room come with the day pass, as do the cardio and weight rooms, a racquetball court and group fitness classes. The Springs Taproom & Grill serves food and drinks, including poolside, and there is free live music on Thursdays.

This is not a rustic soak. The water is a real geothermal mineral supply from an artesian well, cut with water from a separate cold spring to bring it down to a comfortable range. But because the City of Helena requires it, the pools are also lightly chlorinated and run through an Aquify filtration system. Each pool is drained, cleaned and refilled weekly, so on any given day one of them may be closed.

History

The name comes from Colonel Charles Broadwater, who opened the Broadwater Hotel and Natatorium here in 1889, the year Montana became a state. The natatorium’s pool covered about 30,000 square feet and was promoted as the largest indoor pool in the world, fed by one waterfall of hot spring water and another of cold. Broadwater died a couple of years after it opened.

The 1935 Helena earthquake badly damaged the natatorium and it was condemned. The hotel shut in 1941 after a gambling crackdown, and most of what was left inside was auctioned in 1974. The current business started on October 17, 1979, as the Broadwater Athletic Club and Hot Springs with a single hot pool. A recreation pool followed in 1983 and another hot pool in 1989. New owners took over in 2015, renamed it Broadwater Hot Springs & Fitness, tore out five old pools and built the six free-form pools you see now.

Getting there

The address is 4920 W US Highway 12, Helena. From downtown Helena, head west on US-12 (Euclid Avenue) toward MacDonald Pass. The building is on the edge of town on the west side, about a 10-minute drive from downtown, with parking on site.

If you are coming from Missoula, US-12 brings you over MacDonald Pass and down into Helena from the west, so you reach Broadwater before you reach the city center. From Interstate 15, take a Helena exit and cross town westbound to US-12.

When to go

Broadwater is open every day of the year. Winter is the best season for the outdoor pools: steam hangs over the water, the air is cold, and the contrast with the cold plunge feels sharper. Summer days can be hot in the Helena Valley, and the recreation pool gets busy with families.

Early weekday mornings are quiet and mostly regulars. Evenings, Fridays, weekends and holidays are the busiest times, and that is also when prices go up. Thursday nights bring live music, which is fun but not quiet.

Prices and booking

Day passes are sold at the desk, and no reservation is needed. Current rates from the official site (2026):

Guest	Mon-Thu	Fri-Sun and holidays
Adults	$17	$22
Kids 5-13	$15	$20
Kids 0-4	$8	$12
Seniors 65+	$15	$17
Military	$15	$17

A 3% processing fee is added to credit card payments. A single pass is good for one entry, with no re-entry once you leave. All admissions are final, and the operator does not refund for weather, a forgotten swimsuit or a reaction to pool chemicals. Swimsuits and basics are sold on site. Memberships, punch cards and a points program are available for frequent visitors.

The day-use locker rooms are free, but bring a lock or buy one at the front desk. The operator does not say on its rates page whether towels are included, so bring your own or ask when you arrive.

Rules and etiquette

• Swimwear is required in the pools, hot tubs, sauna and steam room, and it should suit a family crowd.
• Shower first to rinse off lotion and sweat.
• Stay out if you are sick or have an open wound.
• No photos or video in the changing rooms.
• Wristbands: you get one at check-in showing whether you are 21 or older, because alcohol is served on the deck.
• Kids: under-14s must be with an adult in the recreation pool. The hot tubs are not recommended for children under 5 or for pregnant women.

Where to stay nearby

Broadwater has no rooms of its own. Helena is minutes away and has the full range: chain hotels along the I-15 interchanges, downtown hotels near Last Chance Gulch, and short-term rentals in the older neighborhoods. Staying on the west side keeps you closest to the pools.

For campers, the Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest has campgrounds in the mountains around the city. Check the forest’s current site list and fire restrictions before you go.

Safety notes

• Heat: The hot tubs reach 104°F40°C. Keep soaks short, drink water, and take it easy if you are mixing beer and hot water.
• Cold plunge: Go in slowly and limit it to a few minutes, especially if you have a heart condition.
• Kids and deep water: Watch children closely, especially near the 10-foot deep end of the recreation pool.
• Wet decks: Outdoor decks ice up in winter. Wear sandals between pools.

Nearby soaks worth adding

Helena makes an easy base for a Montana hot springs loop. Boulder Hot Springs is a short drive south off I-15, and the pools of Paradise Valley, including Chico Hot Springs, are a few hours southeast near Yellowstone.