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As chilly weather approaches and the leaves turn, it’s time to swap out staying in your favorite camping tent in favor of a hot-spring resort or cabin.
As a self-proclaimed hot-springs addict, I’ve been on the prowl for seven years for the most gorgeous, steamy soaking pools across the globe. Having lived in the geothermal meccas of California and Colorado for years, I’ve experienced the good, the bad, and the muddy when it comes to naturally fed soaking ponds. I’ve trekked to remote warm springs in the Sierra Nevada and the Rocky Mountains, in Iceland and even Antarctica, and stripped down to splash into every single one of ’em.
Even though I love a solid hike-in hot spring, my favorite way to enjoy geothermally heated pools is on a splurge-worthy weekend trip to a lodge or a resort with private cabins, where I can soothe my tired muscles in peace, without crawling into a sleeping bag in a van or tent afterwards. Here are a few of my all-time favorite U.S. hot-springs resorts.
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1. Ojo Caliente, New Mexico
Nearest town: Taos
Prices from: $239 for rooms per night, $40 for camping
The adobe-style Ojo Caliente resort is close to Georgia O’Keeffe country and beautiful hiking. (Photo: Courtesy Ojo Spa Resorts)
Tucked away between Santa Fe and Taos sits the vibrant Ojo Caliente, a gaggle of adobe-style suites, retro cottages, and a historic hotel, surrounded by hiking paths, bike trails, and loads of soaking ponds.
The resort at Ojo Caliente opened in 1868, and it’s been revered as a healing sanctuary ever since, offering mineral pools rich with soda, lithium, and iron. These minerals are said to aid digestion, boost moods, and bolster your immune system, respectively. The resort’s high-end spa offers a huge variety of treatments, from sound healing to blue-corn-and-prickly-pear-sea-salt scrubs. But this retreat is not all soaking and spa time–in between baths, you can treat yourself to a yoga class, hike the Bosque River Loop or chow down on piping-hot tortilla soup and chicken mole at the on-site Artesian Restaurant and Wine Bar.
2. Esalen Institute, California
Nearest town: Big Sur
Prices from: $540 (for three days/two nights)
Esalen has long been a haven for holistic hippies and New Age types looking to embark on week-long or weekend escapes filled with meditation, clean eating, therapeutic workshops, and oceanfront hot-springs access.When I stayed at Esalen a few years ago, I skipped the institute’s famed expert-led workshops and booked a self-guided weekend exploration with my partner, so that we’d have ample free time.
We still attended a wide variety of open classes, from ecstatic dance to yoga to the study of native plant botanicals. This approach allowed us tons of time to hike among the coastal redwoods at Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park and spend our nights soaking in the property’s outstanding Slate Hot Springs, which overlook the wild Pacific Ocean.
3. Mount Princeton Hot Springs Resort, Colorado
Nearest town: Nathrop
Prices from: $243 a night
Unlike many hot-springs retreats, which brand themselves as adults-only relaxation hubs, Mount Princeton Hot Springs Resort offers family-friendly pools, cabins, and lodge rooms, with a seasonal waterslide and an infinity pool overlooking the sky-high Mount Princeton and Mount Antero.
Guests can choose between minimalist lodge rooms, log cabins, and motel-style cliffside stays with epic mountain views. I heartily recommend the luxe Creekside Suites, complete with kitchenettes, balconies, and fireplaces, where my partner and I stayed this fall for a hike-and-soak couples’ retreat. Not only are the suites close to the natural-stone warm pools along Chalk Creek, they’re tucked back behind the main lodge and pools for maximum serenity. When you aren’t getting pruney fingers in the springs, indulge in a CBD massage (my favorite treatment) at the spa or a Rocky Mountain elk filet at the on-site restaurant.
Check Mount Princeton Hot Springs Resort Availability
4. Quinn’s Hot Springs Resort, Montana
Nearest town: Paradise
Prices from: $269 a night
Situated a mere hour from the outdoorsy mecca of Missoula, Quinn’s Hot Springs Resort serves up elevated, mountain-chic lodge rooms, cozy riverfront cabins, and naturally fed springs with water temperatures up to 106 degrees, which is steamier than your average hot tub.
The soaking pools at Quinn’s are open year-round and offer vistas of forested hillsides, which, in winter months, are topped with snow. The site’s Canyon Cabins boast the most direct access to the springs, but its River View Cabins, set on the banks of the Clark Fork, offer outstanding views. When you’re not taking a dip or casting a line for native westslope cutthroat trout, enjoy hearty Americana fare like bison carpaccio and wild-game meatloaf at Harwood House Restaurant, which won a Wine Spectator Award of Excellence in 2024.
5. Breitenbush Hot Springs, Oregon
Nearest town: Detroit
Prices from: $112 for camping / $117 for rooms
Following a devastating fire back in 2020, Oregon’s Breitenbush Hot Springs is back in action, with three newly built Grove Rooms, plus mushroom yurts, glamping tents, and vehicle-friendly campsites.
This off-grid, clothing-optional sanctuary is a mere two-hour drive from Portland and is open year-round. It’s a designated substance- and device-free space, so travelers can unwind and unplug while connecting with community members. Natural rock-bottom hot-spring pools and clawfoot tubs adorn the forested property, and organic vegetarian meals can be added onto any booking, including day passes.
Not keen on soaking all afternoon? Spend some time cruising the West Cascades Scenic Byway or hike the South Breitenbush Gorge Trail.
6. Chena Hot Springs Resort, Alaska
Nearest town: Fairbanks
Prices from: $20 for camping / $200 for rooms a night
Want to kick back in a remote hot spring while the green tendrils of the Northern Lights dance above your head? At Chena Hot Springs Resort, a retreat center in Alaska’s rugged interior, this far-flung dream can become a reality.
Choose between the hotel-style Moose Lodge Rooms, the cozy budget-friendly Fox Rooms, woodsy cabins, camping yurts, and RV-friendly campsites, then relax. With an average water temperature of 106 degrees, this soaking site is prime for year-round visitors, no matter how gnarly the Alaska weather gets. Aromatherapy and hot stone massages are also available in an adorable cabin near the main Pool House. Spend your days cuddling sled-dog puppies, touring the ice museum, or dog sledding, and when the sun sets, bundle up for an Aurora snow coach tour.
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7. Avalanche Ranch Cabins and Hot Springs, Colorado
Nearest town: Carbondale
Prices from: $135 a night
With day pass rates of $32 and lodging starting at $135, the clear, uncrowded pools of Avalanche Ranch Cabins and Hot Springs have become a Colorado favorite, with overnight guests often having to book four to six months out.
I first heard about Avalanche Ranch back in 2019, when a canceled flight out of Aspen gave me a day to kill near Carbondale. Lucky me. Because it was a frigid weekday, I was able to make a last-minute day reservation and warm my post-ski bones with a view of snowy Mount Sopris and its rounded twin summits. It was as close to a perfect day in the mountains as you can imagine, but next time I head to Avalanche Ranch, I’ll spend a little extra to bed down in one of the property’s colorful, pet-friendly log cabins. Overnight guests can use the springs 24 hours a day; day passes allow four-hour access from 9:00 A.M. to 1:00 P.M. or 1:00 to 5:00 P.M. (The pool closes Wednesdays for cleaning.)
8. Burgdorf Hot Springs, Idaho
Nearest town: McCall
Prices from: $150 a night
Accessible by regular vehicles all summer long and by snowmobile in the winter months, Burgdorf Hot Springs and its historic cabins look more like a rustic ghost town than a real-deal soaking resort. However, this off-grid haven is a slice of paradise for those who don’t mind booking a cottage without electricity and running water, and are willing to bring their own bedding.
Intrepid wanderers will be rewarded with steaming pools of up to 113 degrees, with gravel bottoms and split log sides. Nestled in the conifer-dense Payette National Forest, Burgdorf is a hiker’s heaven, with awesome nearby hiking trails like Deep Lake, Ruby Meadows and Josephine Lake (don’t forget the bear spray). Just be sure to return to the springs in time for a dreamy, post-trek sunset soak.
9. Hot Springs Resort and Spa, North Carolina
Nearest town: Hot Springs
Prices from: $45
*Hot Springs Resort and Spa was damaged in recent flooding resulting from Hurricane Helene. Please check back in early 2025 if you plan to visit and support this small town.
Though the East Coast isn’t revered for its hot springs, a handful of all-natural warm springs have kept travelers coming back for decades. North Carolina’s Hot Springs Resort and Spa is one of the rare destinations where tent campers and RVers can enjoy both nature and the option to book a private mineral bath in a modern, jetted hot tub. The place has also become a favorite stopover for thru-hikers coming off the Appalachian Trail.
Campers can choose from among a myriad of options, which range from primitive tent sites to spacious group sites on the banks of the French Broad River. Not so into roughing it? Check out the resort’s deluxe cabins, complete with kitchenettes.
10. The Country Inn of Berkeley Springs, West Virginia
Nearest town: Berkeley Springs
Prices from: $130 a night
First opened in 1933, this historic colonial-style hotel in the eastern panhandle of West Virginia boasts 70 guest rooms and an on-site spa that offers everything from mineral baths to sugar scrubs and hot-stone massages.
The tiny hamlet of Berkeley Springs, less than two hours from Baltimore and Washington, D.C., is revered as one of the nation’s first warm-spring wellness retreats, with famous patrons like George Washington frequenting the area. Rooms at The Country Inn are adorned in elegant furnishings, but also provide modern amenities, like flatscreen TVs, mini-fridges, and high-speed Wi-Fi. Don’t miss live music at the Inn’s restaurant on Saturday nights.
Check Country Inn of Berkeley Springs Availability
11. The Gideon Putnam, New York
Nearest town: Saratoga Springs
Prices from: $229 a night
This elegant New York retreat is set a short 35-minute drive from Albany, in the centuries-old wellness haven of Saratoga Springs, which was once visited by the likes of Oscar Wilde and Susan B. Anthony. Today, with updated East Coast colonial-style rooms, some of which are pet-friendly, guests can kick up their feet with modern conveniences like air conditioning, HDTVs, and Wi-Fi.
What truly sets The Gideon Putnam apart, though, is that it’s the only hotel located inside Saratoga Spa State Park. This National Historic Landmark features two different golf courses, a large swimming-pool complex, and miles of nature trails that transform into a cross-country ski paradise in winter. Be sure to check out the Gideon Putnam’s luxurious Roosevelt Baths and Spa, named in honor of President Franklin D. Roosevelt for his role in helping preserve the Saratoga Springs area, and book yourself a mineral bath and a Muscadine Moonshine Sea Salt Scrub while you’re at it.
Check Gideon Putnam Availability
Emily Pennington is a national-parks expert and self-proclaimed hot-springs addict who’s also a longtime contributor to Outside. To date, she’s visited every U.S. national park and hiked on all seven continents. Her book, Feral, Losing My Way and Finding Myself in America’s National Parks, was published in 2023. When she’s not frantically typing at her keyboard, you can find her exploring every hot spring known to humanity in her new home state of Colorado.
For more by this author, see:
I Visited Every U.S. National Park. My Favorite Might Surprise You.
The Best New Hotels with Easy Access to U.S. National Parks
These 10 National Parks Will Have Timed-Entry Reservations This Year
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Publish date : 2024-10-06 03:45:00
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