Eureka Springs, Arkansas-tips on visiting?

After spending most of 6 months at the deer lease, its time I made a deposit in the family account. She wants to go to Eureka Springs. I know nothing about it but it must have shopping, restaurants, wine etc. or she wouldnt be interested. Going Spring Break. Any ideas on things to do and where to stay? She wants me to do some of the planning/research, which I assume is punishment for my extended time at the lease.

Great place! Close attractions are the war eagle mill, pea ridge battle field, roaring springs trout hatchery. Christ of the Ozarks is awesome.

Take a good pair of walking/tennis shoes. It’s a very hilly area. There are benches outside of shops for husbands and kids to sit on while women shop.

Wife and I love going there. Shops are pretty neat to go rummaging through. Highly recommend eating at Rogues Manor. Expensive, but oh my god it was fantastic.

Never been there but my wife loves Hot Springs. It has everything you’ve mentioned and then some.

War eagle mill and War Eagle Cavern are must see's.

I’m from that area. Just let me know if any questions. We will be in NW Arkansas for a month this summer with one week in Eureka Springs. Got tickets for the Passion Play. Looking forward to seeing.

https://www.thrillist.com/travel/nation/visiting-eureka-springs-arkansas-pride
I went a couple times in the early 2000's. Neat town. Don't know what it's like now.

Had a buddy who used to own a lot of land in Eurukea Springs we would deer hunt up there, but in the warmer months we would go up and float many of the rivers in canoes, always a good time.

Use light tackles like plastic grubs on small jig and you can catch all the small bass and smallmouth you want;

https://www.eurekasprings.com/waterworld/

Make a float trip or three.

Eureka springs is a major gay town. 15 years ago it was bad. I cant imagine how much worst it is now. My wife and my 10 year old daughter were standing in line at a restaurant. Two dudes in front of us while one of the dudes starts sticking his hand up his boyfriends but. Bad enough my wife had to see but but my daughter too! Never in my life have i seen so many open gay people in any place as Eurekea springs. And i lived in Calif

I heard it was that way for a period of time. We've taken a number of family vacations and day trips to Eureka Springs during the past ten years. Have seen some obviously "left-footers" but nothing like you saw. That's too bad. I wouldn't like it either.

Passion Play is a must. Ozark Mountain Hoedown for a show. Shops downtown to blow money. Branson's about 60 miles north. Lots of family oriented shows. Recommend Dolly Parton Stampede (had to drop the Dixie due to wokeness), Baldknobbers. More shops to blow money.

Thanks for the feedback so far guys, keep it coming. Anything specific on a place to stay? Thought a little about staying further out but shes leaning towards being close to the action.

How about the Crescent Hotel?

it's haunted!

The Bavarian Inn....used to stay there on some Porsche driving trips.

Some of the rooms have pink heart-shaped jacuzzis....pretty weird....

Neat place to visit except for the gay lgbqrstxuv stuff. I would highly recommend a trip to dogwood canyon a little north of there.

Keep going east once you get up there and go to Yellville/Mountain Home. Great sights, great fishing, etc.

Charlie

Ill check it out. Even better if its haunted.

If you like hiking in caves there are some up there that are worth going to see. I like the one in Blanchard Springs but there are some closer.

I was going to take a road trip in that area. On Pea Ridge battlefield- how long does it take to drive through if you stop and read about 1/2 of the markers?

Let me add that Hot Springs is a nice place to visit. There is a small casino there also if you wife likes them.

If you enjoy folk music, Mountain View is the place to be especially on weekends. Also home of the Ozark Folk Center.

I would plan 3 hours. But you could do it in an hour running.

Be sure to check out the visitors center and video first.

Take your time and enjoy.

Working on a place to stay. Anyone know about the New Orleans Hotel. Cant get through to the Crescent(maybe the ghosts took over.)

Booked a room so no turning back. Looks like a lot to do but keep the ideas coming if you want. Thanks for the feedback.

Any more restaurant suggestions? Nice to know ahead of time so she knows what shoes to pack. Of course she could buy shoes there….

https://www.grottoeureka.com/

Make sure you get a reservation.

Love the marrow bone appetizer.

Pizza place at the Crescent Hotel.

The hotel is worth a visit.

Drive over to War Eagle Mill for lunch and have beans & cornbread, then cobbler.

The Filling Station in Eureka Springs for breakfast.

Turkeyhunter, youre my kind of guy. You seemed "in the know" so I planned to pm you for ideas. It seems youre gonna just lay em out on here so go ahead. Grotto looks great. I forgot the other place someone suggested and it looked good too. Thanks.

Mud Street Cafe and Local Flavor Cafe are two other good places. No need to PM this stuff. If anyone else goes they will have this information. We are going again in June and stay there for a week. Then move around some. Always wanted to see the Passion Play and we will this time.

If near Springdale and have a hankering for Italian head to Tontitown and eat at Mama Z's Cafe. Tontitown was settled by Italian immigrants. It’s family cooking.

We are here. Oh goodness, may regret this. Second glass of wine and that’s my normal limit!!! Haven’t eaten yet, so two glasses there. She’s, and others, pushing for the drag show. Never been. Haven’t had 4 glasses wine in a long time, so we will see. I hope no pictures to follow.

I’m afraid to ask what a drag show is.

Wilson Combat and Nighthawk guns are produced in Berryville, Arkansas, just east of Eureka Springs. And from what I remember, it was a nice small town to see

We'll see how he fits in if this is it. He may have a lot to talk about on the deer lease next year. He also might be looking for a new lease it he liked it too much. LOL

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUse...Underground-Eureka_Springs_Arkansas.html

Don’t worry, we skipped the drag show. But just the fact that we considered made me wanna go to church.

I’m in hot springs right now. About to head to the alligator park. We are staying in an VRBO on lake. So far it’s nice and peaceful

Much better place to be.

Love Hot Springs. Coached there for three years and miss the lakes and horse racing. Took the wife there last year and it was her first time to be there and if we were to relocate she gave the thumbs up on it.

It’s pretty, Just got here last night so going to explore some today

https://www.thrillist.com/travel/nation/visiting-eureka-springs-arkansas-pride

FYI in case you didn't know there is a Casino there if you are prone to doing stuff like that. Not a big one and the machines are tight.

The wife and I love the place so much we ended up getting married there. Lots and lots of tourist stuff to do, shopping (downtown), good eating, nature (above and below ground), fishing opportunities (Table Rock lake, Beaver lake, White River), music venues, etc. The room at the Basin Park hotel where we had our reception was used later that evening to host a small but pricey performance by Arlo Guthrie, Alice's Restaurant being the better part of half the show, lol.

War Eagle Mill is really cool, has good breakfast/lunch type food, and is a great place to pick up gift type stuff for friends and family. It's a working grain mill powered by a water wheel.

Lodging varies greatly, with an ample selection. You can stay in an old gas station, rail cars, tree houses, cabins in the woods, modern hotels, historic hotels, vrbo, air bnb,

There are a few caves with some fairly rich history as well. One we visited had smoke stains from the stills that operated there during prohibition.

The trolley system is awesome too. No need to drive anywhere unless you are heading to one of the more distant attractions. For the first trip, I highly suggest lodging on the trolley route. It can be surprising how far out of the town proper you can stay and still be on the route.

The Passion Play is the one attraction I'd recommend, even if not particularly religious. It's quite a production.

Aside from the typical tourist attractions you've had suggested above and no doubt have found online, the one thing we always do is make sure we are there on Monday nights for the outdoor movie night. It's mostly locals, largely service people and shop owners relaxing after dealing with tourists all weekend. It's always some cheesy movie you've seen a thousand times, but it's a good time. They use a parking lot and projector on the side of a building. Obviously this doesn't make headlines on the chamber of commerce emails or anything, so you'll have to look into it specifically if interested.

Yes, wine and shopping are easy to find. Never seen a woman that didn't like the place.

Been there and enjoyed it. Yep, lots of homos there. We also hired a guide and fished the river. Enjoyed that too. Wont go back. Not my kind of place.

Oh boy, no indoor toilet at War Eagle Mill!!! She would of really liked a heads up on that. Figured we would have to head back to town but she gutted it out.

I am glad I read and found this thread. I was/still am considering Eureka Springs as a vacation idea, but sounds like it would be Arkansas' version of Austin.

Any other spots in Arkansas to consider? I like to trout fish, so I would like that to be an option. The rest of the family is down for whatever, and we have a boat if we need to haul one.

it's nothing like Austin. It's a beautiful little town and a good visit. don't worry, even in San Francisco you don't get attacked by gay people. go have fun and don't worry about the other folks, they're trying to have fun too.

Any other spots in Arkansas to consider? I like to trout fish, so I would like that to be an option. The rest of the family is down for whatever, and we have a boat if we need to haul one.[/quote]

Check out Heber Springs and the Little Red river for trout fishing.

If you do go to Eureka let me know. I checked out all the "nice" restaurants and can help you with that. Mostly we did basic sight seeing and walked the town/shops. I agree exactly with what BigBob said about comparing to Austin and the gay situation. If someone hadnt mentioned the gay thing, I wouldnt have even noticed. It seems like some of the restaurant staff could be gay but thats not too uncommon. I heard a decent percent of the locals are gay but all you really notice are all the tourist which seemed pretty "normal" to me. Various attractions for tourist may or may not be "in season". The Passion Play is a must. I think the fishing and trout fishing can be excellent but no first hand knowledge. I think its Beaver Lake that has trout. That White River looks nice and parts of it I think has trout. We will probably go back to mostly fish next time(so keep us posted).

actually, the trout are in the white river. Beaver lake is a warm water lake (surprising given the temp of the river). Excellent striper fishing.

Eureka Springs/ Mountain Home are the Arkansas choices and then the other consideration is Gatlinburg. We are trying something other than the typical beach summer vacation.

Roaring River state park for trout. Only about 20 miles from Eureka Springs.

Absolutely nothing like Austin. Roaring River is just 30 minutes away and has some great trout fishing.

I grew up near Hot Springs. Horse racing, fishing. The list goes on.

I went in 1997 or 1998 but i remember it being a decent place for a 13 year old kid to go.

I went fishing in the white river below beaver lake and caught trout. Went fishing on Table Rock lake ( which was beautiful ) and caught bass. Mountains were awesome. We also went to Onyx Cave, the Passion Play and some inn that had the antlers of a giant elk killed in the area around 1800.


Was memorable as it was the only Vacation we ever took during my childhood.

TxTro, Im surprised anyone your age wouldnt have gone on family vacations. I assume not going on vacations was more the norm back in the day. We would sometimes go to "the Valley" and stay a few days at a little motel with a swimming pool. I learned later in life that Dad used the trips to look for used gin equipment and farm equipment. I cant remember any other vacations. Never missed them though, had a blast all summer long running the neighborhood with my bb gun and playing with neighbors.