Entry No. 21 — the Asheville file — filed under: soak
Hot Springs Resort & Spa
The mineral water here leaves the ground at 100-104 degrees — North Carolina's only natural hot springs — and the resort pipes it into private outdoor tubs strung along Spring Creek where it meets the French Broad. Everything rents by the hour: standard tubs on shared decks from $50 for two, jetted deluxe tubs with creekside privacy, and signature cabanas with fire bowls, private mineral showers, and sundecks topping out around $130 after dark. Native Americans found the springs several thousand years ago and Victorian spa hotels followed; these days the Appalachian Trail runs straight down Bridge Street, so some of your fellow soakers walked in from Georgia. Cabins, RV sites, and glamping tents let you stay on the property once you've gone fully liquid.
→ Three more sound baths, soaks & odd wellness in Asheville — never the same twice
The story
The water surfaces at 100 to 104 degrees — North Carolina's only natural hot springs — and people have arranged their lives around it for a very long time: Native American presence in the valley goes back thousands of years, and researchers read Paint Rock, the painted cliff downriver, as a waypoint on the route to the springs. The Buncombe Turnpike brought drovers through in the early 1800s and hotels followed: the Hampton Cottage in 1830, then the Patton Hotel, then — after the Patton burned in 1884 — the four-story Mountain Park Hotel, with 200 electric-lit bedrooms, a bathhouse of 16 marble pools, and North Carolina's first golf course.
The Mountain Park's last act was its strangest: during World War I the property was leased to the U.S. government to intern German merchant sailors — the resort's own history puts about 2,500 men on the grounds, who built a village of scrap lumber and flattened tin cans, including a chapel made of Prince Albert tobacco tins. The great flood of 1916 tore through the grounds, the hotel burned in 1920, and its successor, the Hot Springs Inn, burned in 1977. The town's spa palaces had a combustion problem.
Eugene Hicks bought the property in 1990 and built the version that finally stuck, possibly because it declines to be a palace: private outdoor tubs strung along Spring Creek where it meets the French Broad, rented by the hour and sanitized between soaks, with cabins, RV sites, and glamping tents behind them. Rates run from unjetted standard tubs at $50 an hour for two up to the Cascade and Serenity cabanas — jetted tub, rainfall mineral shower, dressing room, propane fire bowl, sundeck — topping out at $130 after 6 p.m. for four. Because the Appalachian Trail runs down Bridge Street, some of the soakers in the next tub walked in from Georgia.
What it's like
It's about 50 winding minutes northwest of Asheville on US-25/70. Check in at the office on Bridge Street — waiver signed, booking already paid in full — then walk down to your numbered tub by the creek. The hour is genuinely yours: each tub sits behind its own enclosure, and the only real etiquette is being out on time, because the next soak is scheduled behind you. Bring your own towels — none are provided or rented — plus water; deluxe and signature decks carry seasonal heaters or fans, so winter soaking works. Baths run noon to 7:45 p.m. Monday through Thursday and noon to 9 p.m. Friday through Sunday, and the after-6 slots, when the light drops off the ridge, are worth planning around. Expect thru-hikers: the Appalachian Trail walks down Bridge Street past the gate.
The move: Call 828-622-7676 for a post-6 p.m. deluxe tub — jetted, creekside, genuinely private — soak the full hour under the trees, then wander the two blocks of Bridge Street where the AT threads between the storefronts before the drive home.
📍 Before you go Reserve by phone with full payment up front; refunds need 7 days' notice, and changes inside 48 hours aren't allowed. Baths run noon-7:45 p.m. Monday-Thursday and noon-9 p.m. Friday-Sunday; the office keeps 9 a.m.-8:30 p.m. hours. Bring your own towels — they don't provide them. It's about 50 minutes northwest of Asheville on the winding US-25/70.
- 📍 Hot Springs
- 💸 $$
- ⚡ Low-key
- 🌗 Indoor or outdoor
Where: 315 Bridge St, Hot Springs, NC 28743
Hours: Added 2026-08-25 — confirm current hours before you go.
⚠ Seasonal or scheduled — always check before you go.
Pair it with
- Paint Rock — The 107-foot painted cliff sits just north of town off River Road, and it's the same story from the other end — the pictographs mark the route people took to reach the springs you're about to sit in.
- St. Jude's Chapel of Hope — Fifteen miles south down NC 209 in Trust, unlocked around the clock — a 15-minute stop at a 12-by-14-foot chapel that turns the drive home into the second half of the outing rather than dead mileage.
- Zadie's Market at the Old Marshall Jail — Marshall is directly on the US-25/70 route back to Asheville, so dinner and local drafts happen inside a 1905 county jail — the ideal post-soak meal, assuming you're upright.
More weird in Asheville
Good to know
How do I book, and what happens if plans change?
Reserve by phone at 828-622-7676, paid in full at the time of booking, with a digital waiver to sign. Cancel at least 7 days out for a full refund; inside 7 days but more than 48 hours ahead, you can move the booking or take a $25 fee. Within the final 48 hours there are no cancellations or changes at all.
What does a soak cost?
Standard tubs (unjetted, shared deck, individually enclosed) are $50 for two before 6 p.m. and $60 after; deluxe creekside jetted tubs are $60 and $70; the Cascade and Serenity signature cabanas run $100 to $130 depending on party size and time. Every session is 60 minutes. Extra people are $10 per hour each, and children under 12 are free.
Do they supply towels or robes?
No. The resort states plainly that towels are not available for rent — bring your own, for everyone in the party. Bring water too; an hour at 100-plus degrees is dehydrating, and there's no service walking the decks.
How far is it from Asheville, and is it worth a winter trip?
Roughly 50 minutes northwest on US-25/70, which is a curving mountain drive — allow more time after dark or in bad weather. Winter is a legitimate season: deluxe and signature decks have heaters or fans by season and covered roofs, and the tubs run hot year-round. Posted hours can shift with weather and demand, so call before driving out.
Will it be crowded, and who else is there?
Tubs are booked privately by the hour, so you never share yours — but the property fills on weekends and during Appalachian Trail season, when thru-hikers coming off the Smokies use Hot Springs as a resupply and soak stop. Book ahead for evening slots especially; the after-6 tubs go first.
Plan a visit & invite your people →
Further reading: Official site
last checked: 2026-08-25