Once a healing destination for Native American tribes, Hot Springs, Ark., had evolved into a fashionable health resort by 1921. The town’s restorative thermal waters come from rainwater that is heated deep beneath the earth, not from volcanic activity. Locals embrace the wellness tradition: many make daily visits to the street that fronts historic Bathhouse Row to fill jugs at public fountains fed by the mineral-rich springs.
Sitting prominently at the top of Bathhouse Row, the elegant Arlington Resort Hotel & Spa continues to host tea dances in its Crystal Ballroom, preserving the hotel’s longstanding air of glamour. While the hotel showcases its rich heritage, the spa experience is deliberately unpretentious. Rather than candles and ambient music, you’ll encounter gender-specific treatment areas and a refreshingly old-fashioned approach. Wrapped in a sheet and assisted by a certified bath attendant, guests are thoroughly scrubbed in a traditional ceramic tub before moving through a sequence of treatments: a series of baths, a seated steam in a historic steam cabinet, a hot-towel wrap, a pressurized shower, and a professionally delivered Swedish massage. Many of these services are shared in communal spaces, creating an authentic, slightly eccentric bathing ritual that echoes the town’s long-standing spa culture.