Most national parks are separated from civilization a bit. There’s the park, and then there’s nearby “gateway communities” where the outside world tries to support and benefit from the park. But, Hot Springs is a little different. It has places that are very nature-oriented and away from it all, but at the same time, parts of the park feel like they’re just part of the local town.
There are several things to enjoy at the park, provided you have a few bucks. First, there’s the famous row of bathhouses where you can soak in water from natural hot springs. Across the street, there are private shops, and down the road a bit, there’s a visitor’s center for the local town where you can get hot water to take home and drink. Up another road, there’s a large hill you can drive up with a lookout tower at the top (with an admission fee), scenic views on the way up, and several hikes. The surrounding parts of the park have a campground, hikes, and other activities to enjoy.
While the park is more urbanized than most national parks, this most southern portion of the Ozarks has a fair amount of natural beauty to enjoy both in the park and nearby, so it’s still worth a visit even if you mostly crave a more wild experience.
Getting There In An EV
Quick Facts and Tips:
- Thanks to a forward-thinking entrepreneur in Arkansas, Hot Springs National Park is a fairly easy park to visit in an EV. There’s a pocket of private land mostly surrounded by the park, and it has a nice charging station. It’s trailer friendly, too.
- The park is pretty close to I-30 and is easily reached from charging stations along that route. Even pulling a trailer with a Bolt EUV (~120 miles range), I was able to easily get from Hope, AR and get all the way to Little Rock from the local chargers.
- There are two other DCFC stations in the town of Hot Springs. One is at a car dealer, and the other is at a parking lot on Carpenter Dam Rd.
- The Hot Springs Visitor Center (Just outside park boundaries and next to Bathhouse Row) has Level 2 charging, along with a number of local hotels. Most of these stations are not trailer friendly.
- The park’s official campground has full hookups at all sites, but be sure to check ahead of time to be sure they allow EV charging. It’s generally a good idea to not pull more than 30 amps (7 kW @ 240v, 6.2 kW @ 208v) from RV pedestals to avoid issues.
Links For Further Park and Nearby Information
- Official Park Website
- City of Hot Springs Tourism
- Arkansas state tourism page for Hot Springs
- Lake Hamilton Tourism
- Franklin’s Charging
- Ouachita National Forest
- Ozark-St. Francis National Forests
Here’s a great video with more information about the park: