Thermal hot springs have long been highly regarded for their therapeutic and medicinal benefits. Soaking in a hot spring can be wonderfully relaxing due to its warm temperature and high mineral content and there's something especially fun, for kids of all ages, about enjoying water activities in the middle of winter, especially outdoors. I fondly remember a trip I took as a little girl with my family one cold February to enjoy the thermal baths near Budapest, dubbed the City of Healing Waters. Sweet memories of splashing with my sister in toasty water while steam danced above the surface into the cold air remain with me to this day.
Along with Hungary, Canada, Iceland, Japan and New Zealand, the United States is renowned for its hot springs. These are our top ten picks for the most kid-friendly hot spring destinations to visit with the family any time of the year.
1. Allegheny Springs at Omni Homestead Resort (Hot Springs, Virginia)
A two-acre water park at the Omni Homestead Resort is fed by the waters from two major springs that flow through the property from the nearby Allegheny Mountains. Allegheny Springs features a large family pool, two 100-foot water slides, a 400-foot lazy river, a water play zone and sandy beach, a cozy whirlpool, and an indoor pool adjacent to the spa. The spa has its own garden pool and the legendary Jefferson Pools, named after our country's 3rd president who enjoyed these hot springs in 1818. The historic resort provides luxurious accommodations and true Southern hospitality.
2. Crystal Hot Springs Waterpark and Campground (Honeyville, Utah)
A natural hot spring and cold spring fill 3 mineral hot tubs, large soaker pool and an Olympic size pool at Crystal Hot Springs. The swimming pools are open year-round and feature two 365 feet hydro-tube water slides while a campground offers RV and tent sites seasonally March-October.
3. Glenwood Hot Springs (Glenwood Springs, Colorado)
At 405 feet long and 100 feet wide, the large pool at Glenwood Hot Springs is the largest outdoor mineral hot springs pool in the world. It features a large area for wading, playing and socializing along with a diving well and lap lanes, and lays adjacent to a warmer therapy pool and 2 waterslides with over 300 feet of twists and turns. Situated next to the Colorado River and surrounded by the Rocky Mountains, the property also boasts the Spa of the Rockies, a 107-room lodge, the health-based athletic club, a retail store, a poolside grill, and a challenging miniature golf course.
4. Hot Springs National Park (Hot Springs, Arkansas)
Best known for the 47 naturally flowing thermal springs that come out of Hot Springs Mountain at an average 143° F, Hot Springs National Park features eight historic bathhouses built directly over the hot springs on Bathhouse Row, with two bathhouses remaining in operation today. Traditional baths are available to ages 11 and up at Buckstaff Baths, while the Quapaw Baths & Spa offers patrons ages 14 and up the use of thermal pools, private mineral baths and a Steam Cave Experience. The city of Hot Springs is located within the Ouachita Mountain and the Diamond Lakes Region, offering numerous accommodations, attractions, activities and events for a relaxing family vacation.
5. Hot Springs State Park (Thermopolis, Wyoming)
Hot water cascades down colorful terraces along the Big Horn River while the free bathhouse at Hot Springs State Park is open year-round for therapeutic bathing in 104° F water. The park also has 6.2 miles of trails, comfort stations, picnic shelters, boat docks, and a swinging bridge, and is home to a free-roaming herd of 24-27 adult and yearling bison, offering park visitors a unique opportunity to view the “monarch of the Plains” up close.
6. Lava Hot Springs Pools & Water Park (Lava Hot Springs, Idaho)
Lava Hot Springs’ four outdoor gravel-bottom pools are filled with all natural mineral water from underground springs ranging in temperature from 102-112° F. An indoor swimming complex with a 6-lane 25-yard pool, a 1-meter diving board and an AquaClimb Wall is adjacent to the Portneuf Kiddie Cove with a beach entry pool featuring toys, sprays, and slides. Lava's Olympic Swimming Pool and Water Park, open seasonally each summer, boasts a 50-meter outdoor pool, a three platform diving tower, five diving boards, speed slides, and curly tube slides.
7. Mount Princeton Hot Springs Resort (Nathrop, Colorado)
The heart of Mount Princeton is its geothermal springs filling creekside pools within the cool rushing waters of Chalk Creek with hot spring mineral waters ranging in temperature from 70-120° F. The springs also feed the resort’s numerous pools including two upper pools connected by a lazy river and complete with a 400-foot water slide, a soaking pool, an exercise pool, three Japanese style cascading pools reserved for guests 16 years of age and older, as well as an adult-only relaxation pool. Visitors can enjoy a one-day hot springs experience or relax with an overnight stay at the resort with hotel room and cabin accommodations.
8. Old Town Hot Springs (Steamboat Springs, Colorado)
Old Town Hot Springs is a historic hot spring and recreational facility with water from Heart Spring naturally feeding the pools ranging in temperature from 82-103° F. The multi-use complex is open year round and features eight pools, including two 230-foot waterslides, a new 3000 square foot hot activity pool, an aquatic rock climbing wall, refurbished Heart Spring pool, eight lap lanes and more. A fitness center offers weights and a cardiovascular area, exercise classes, massages, locker rooms, a snack bar, and childcare with tennis available in the summer.
9. The Springs Resort & Spa (Pagosa Springs, Colorado)
Feeding water to a mineral water lap pool and 23 soaking pools ranging in temperatures from 87–114° F, the Great Pagosa Spring at The Springs Resort & Spa holds the Guinness World Record title of The World’s Deepest Geothermal Hot Spring. The resort boasts many unique features such as a partially-submerged boardwalk across a pond populated by goldfish and lily pads and even offers hot-air balloon rides. The resort is located on the banks of the San Juan River, and guests can watch kayakers, rafters and tubers bobbing by on the river or look out at the sights of downtown Pagosa Springs. Spa services and overnight room or suite accommodations are also available.
10. Yellowstone National Park (Idaho, Montana, Wyoming)
Known for its wildlife and many geothermal features, the majority of the world's geysers are preserved at Yellowstone National Park including its most famous, Old Faithful. Soaking is permitted during daylight hours in Boiling River in the park's northwest corner, fed by thermal runoff mixing with the cold water of the Gardner River. Nearby Mammoth Hot Springs is a sight not to be missed as steaming thermal features rise above travertine terraces created by calcium carbonate collected from cooling hot spring waters. Also, the Grand Prismatic Spring, the largest hot spring in the United States and third largest in the world, is a picturesque pool of vivid rainbow colors, the result of pigmented bacteria in the microbial mats that grow around the edges of the mineral-rich water.
SEASONAL BONUS: Sol Duc Hot Springs Resort (Olympic National Park, Washington)
Named for an Indian term meaning Sparkling Water, Sol Duc Hot Springs Resort is located within Olympic National Park, named a World Heritage Site for its natural beauty and diversity of flora and fauna. Sol Duc Hot Springs Resort is the ideal place to unplug and unwind after exploring the dramatic and beautiful setting of towering evergreens, glacier-capped peaks, the unspoiled Pacific coastline, rushing rivers and a temperate rainforest. With no televisions in the rustic cabins of the resort, guests will enjoy nature at one of three mineral hot spring soaking pools where water temperatures range from 99-104° F (there's a freshwater pool too). Day use rates are available during the resort's operating season March-October.
