The state of Arkansas in the USA is known for its hot springs, particularly in the town Hot Springs. The area is America’s first national park as there was set aside by congress back in 1832. Up until the 1940s the Hot Springs National Park was used primarily for medical purposes, but nowadays people visit the area to relax in one of the many natural hot tubs. There are lots of places in the area where you can get cheap holiday deals and make the most of the thermal ‘healing’ baths, whether in your hotel or the beautiful lakes.
For a private spa experience, you can stop by Swan Song Spa which offers candles and couples Jacuzzis as well as massages and various treatments including moxa-n-crystal clay facials and a full body pirate’s masque. There are many other places where you can bathe in the springs, such as the Sabai Massage Therapy on Hobson Avenue which offers massages, facials and body treatments as well as the hot springs. Turtle Cover Spa, which is situated on Lake Ouachita, is Arkansas’s only full service lake spa. You can choose from options including a couples massage session, the Wilderness Pavilion or gather in the hot springs with a group of friends. The Rose Garden Spa and Salon offers packages which can include a one hour full body massage, a bathing session, body wraps and sugar gloss; these packages are great for those holidaying in a group.
Lake Ouachita, Lake Hamilton and Lake Catherine are known as Hot Springs’ three Diamond lakes. The biggest of the trio is Ouachita which has over 200 small islands in it, where many people enjoy a picnic or even camp. The lake is 40 miles long with 970 miles of shoreline, and as well as bathing people use it for water sports such as scuba diving, sailing and fishing for striped and largemouth bass fishing. Surrounded by 1.6 million acres of forest, there are plenty of hiking trails when you decide to take a break from the hot springs. Lake Catherine is often used for swimming, skiing and boating as well as its brilliant angling opportunities. Lake Hamilton is the most popular, and is mostly residential though tubing, jet skiing and water skiing are common activities.
There are plenty of cheap flights to the area, and lots of do as well as using the hot springs. The area has a lot of history so the Gangster Museum of America is an interesting place to visit. You can learn all about Al Capone, Lucky Luciano and Owen Vincent Madden through the various exhibits and the audio-visual showcase. It allows you to take a unique look at America’s most notorious mobsters who visited the hot springs in the 1920s to 1940s.