Eureka Springs: indulge in spa treatments and commune with the past in this well-preserved Arkansas town

Travel America, Sept-Oct, 2004 by Barbara Gibbs Ostmann

Have a day to play in Eureka Springs? Treat yourself to a wellness getaway in one of Arkansas' most famous spring towns. All those people in the late 1800s who flocked to Eureka Springs had to be onto something. They put up with arduous transport through the rugged Ozark Mountains and lived in muddy tent camps once they got there just to have a chance to take the waters.

Today there's no need to rough it. Eureka Springs is packed with historic hotels, charming B&Bs, top-notch restaurants, and shopping galore, plus variety of spas, baths, and treatments--something to pamper every whim.

Eureka's mineral springs were known to the Native Americans long before the white man "discovered" them in 1856. By the time the town was rounded on July 4, 1879, the population had soared to 10,000, and the big boom period was on. The boom was followed by a lull, until the hippies re-discovered Eureka Springs in the 1960s. It soon morphed into an arts colony and tourist destination as the town rebounded with renewed vigor and lots of renovation and restoration.

These days, 125 years after its founding, Eureka Springs is known as a wedding and honeymoon mecca as well as a hub for forays into the scenic Ozarks. It offers a myriad of ways to relax, refresh, rejuvenate, and renew.

Known as both Little Switzerland and America's Victorian Village, Eureka Springs lives up to both descriptions. Gingerbread houses are perched on steep hillsides, and there are no square corners at any of the intersections in the historic part of town. A scenic drive along the winding Historic Loop passes renovated homes, several of the town's namesake springs, and a bevy of shops, galleries, restaurants, hotels, and spas. The entire downtown area is on the National Register of Historic Places, and the National Trust for Historic Preservation named Eureka Springs a Distinctive Destination in 2001.

Where to begin your spa experience in a town that is brimming with options (more than a dozen spas at last count)? The Crescent Hotel (www.crescent-hotel.com, 800-342-9766) and its New Moon Spa is perhaps the best known. The 1886 hotel, which has been a cancer hospital and female college during its various lives, was bought in 1997 by Elise and Martin Roenigk, the same year they bought the 1905 Basin Park Hotel, in the heart of the Spring Street business district. The Roenigks have poured millions into renovation of both hotels and in the process have become the town's fairy godparents. The Crescent is a registered National Trust Landmark and National Trust Historic Hotel.

At the New Moon Spa (www.newmoonspa.com, 800-599-9772), you can try Swedish massage with aromatherapy, moisturizing facials with eye pads, hydrotone therapy tub, Vichy shower, body wraps, body scrubs, mud and thermal packs, scalp treatments, sauna, and tanning. A new bridal studio opened this spring, offering hair and nail care and plenty of pampering for the entire bridal party.

For a traditional bath house experience, don't miss the historic Palace Hotel and Bath House (www.palacehotelbathhouse.com, 479-253-8400). Sitting in the antique, wood-barrel steam cabinet with eucalyptus-scented steam billowing around your head, you can view the brilliant fall foliage on Magnetic Mountain in front of you, with the Christ of the Ozarks statue towering above it all. The treatment rooms and clawfoot tubs are original, dating to 1901.

At Suchness Spa (www.suchnessspa.com, 479-253-2828) in the historic New Orleans Hotel on Spring Street, Catherina Bernstein has created an oasis of Far Eastern mood, music, and massage. Most of the emphasis is Thai, with hints of India and other Eastern cultures.

Whether or not the spring water is actually therapeutic, taking the time to slow down and relax is. Use your day in Eureka Springs to revitalize and recharge--you deserve it.

Contact: Eureka Springs, (866) 947-9387; www.eurekasprings.org.

Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism, (800) NATURAL; www.arkansas.com.