I%26#39;m scouting locations for Fall 2007, but don%26#39;t know the area at all! Can you help me get some sense of whether I%26#39;m looking in places that will suit my purposes?
I%26#39;m looking for a place for a weekend meeting for a large group of outdoors-oriented women, who like to hike, horseback ride and whatnot when they%26#39;re not in the meeting. It%26#39;s a a big group -- requiring something like 80 rooms and meeting space, so the property would have to have good-sized capacity.
Branson looks really big, Eureka Springs looks like it has charm and at least one hotel that could take us. But I thought the Hot Springs area might also be a good bet and lots to do around there.
Any thoughts?
Hot Springs, Eureka Springs, or Branson?
The Arlington in Hot Springs is a definite possibility. It%26#39;s an Arkansas version of a grand old hotel. %26#39;Grand%26#39; may be a stretch but it%26#39;s definitely an interesting place. They have a bath house in the hotel and also some rooms with direct piping to the hot mineral water in over-sized tubs. The hotel backs up to the National Park and there is some pretty good hiking there. They have a ball room and other meeting rooms. The HS downtown is a mixed bag...some nice art galleries and a restored bath house but also some less well kept places. Eureka%26#39;s downtown is smaller in scale and less hectic than HS and the steep terrain and small shops are entertaining to those who enjoy that sort of thing. I think Branson is one big tourist trap but others love it.
Hot Springs, Eureka Springs, or Branson?
All things considered, I%26#39;d have to say Hot Springs would be my first choice among those three given the factors you mention in your post. Branson has lots of hotel properties that could accommodate your group, and there are plenty of outdoor activities nearby, but it%26#39;s painfully crowded much of the time -- it%26#39;s like being in Dallas or LA or Atlanta or DC when it comes to traffic, with few of the offsetting advantages.
In the abstract, Eureka Springs is probably my favorite place to visit of the three, it%26#39;s extremely remote, making travel there a challenge, and your hotel/meeting facility options would be much more limited than HS or Branson. While it%26#39;s a beautiful area, and you%26#39;d no doubt find plenty to do, the range of options would be greater in either of the others.
Hot Springs is big enough that it has plenty of hotels with the facilities to accommodatd your group, a wide range of outdoor activities (26 miles of day-use hiking trails in the park), has two lakes practically right in town (Lake Catherine and Lake Hamilton), is within an hour or so of several Arkansas state parks, has enough entertainment options for a weekend stay, etc. Much of the city is actually within Hot Springs National Park -- the oldest federally protected area in the National Parks system. There%26#39;s also a lot more historical interest there -- it%26#39;s been an important spot for hundreds of years; Native Americans knew about and used the natural Hot Springs, Hernando de Soto most likely explored the area in the sixteenth century, and it%26#39;s been under federal protection since 1832 -- four years longer than Arkansas has been a state, and forty years longer than Yellowstone, nominally the first ';national park';. It was common second home and vacation spot for wealthy businessmen, gamblers, and mobsters from Chicago in the 1920s and 1930s, was a common site for baseball teams%26#39; spring training in those days, and was home to a federal Army-Navy hospital for many years. Eureka Springs, while similar in some respects, was kept small and relatively undeveloped by its inaccessibility, while Branson was just a small town on a lake until relatively recently -- the 1960s saw the development of a handful of permanent music show theaters, and development boomed in the 1980s and 1990s, but there wasn%26#39;t much of anything there before that.
I second the the nomination for Hot Springs. Branson routinely gets tied up in horrible traffic jams and I don%26#39;t think hiking is easily accessible. I helped organize a statewide, professional recycling conference with a trade show etc. at Hot Springs some ten years ago for three hundred. The Arlington not only easily accommodated our meeting needs, but is a beautiful vintage old hotel with a renovated 1940%26#39;s decor. It is right across the street from historic Bathouse row in the National Park, the original hot springs among the rocks of the city park and the old promenade from which you can walk to access the Sunset Loop hiking trails on the ridge lines around the town (see http://www.hikearkansas.com/ and/or Time Ernst, Arkansas Hiking Trails as the best Arkansas guide with maps). There are also riding stables nearby you could easily bus to. Garvan Woodland Gardens on the south side of Hot Springs is the premier state arbortetum and flower garden run by the University of Arkansas and located on Lake Hamilton (http://www.garvangardens.org/tour/). It also makes for a beautiful if less ardous hike on its 200+ acres. Only caveat on Hot Springs--don%26#39;t schedule when the Harley Davidson Assoc. has its conference/meeting in mid September. The riders are generally older and friendly but the noisey bikes may be annoying to some.
Hot Springs, hands down. I have stayed many times at the Arlington Hotel - www.arlingtonhotel.com - and I love the turn of the century spa. It couldn%26#39;t be better for a group - the hotel is huge - pool out back on the SEVENTH FLOOR notched right into the mountain. The covered hot tub is big enough for a real crowd. Drink the water - it fell as rain more than 3000 years ago. Downtown is charming and the pancake joint across the street is the best in town. I can%26#39;t say enough about the beauty of bath house row in the national park - just out the front door from the Arlington. Also the Lobby bar is first rate with big band music on the weekends. Heaven on earth!!!
PS: If you have many people waiting for flights in and out of Little Rock you might consider a post conference group tour of the new $160 million Clinton Library as a part of the shuttle bus trip back to Little Rock Airport--library is within three miles of the airport. Best Clinton Info link: arkansas.com/in-the-spotlight/clinton-librar… The latter also has links to Clintons boyhood home sites in Hot Springs and other places.
OK, now another question: What if this is a group of people who like rustic and rural? Hot Springs looks a little too city for a crowd who likes to be on the fringe of things. It doesn%26#39;t have to be in the middle of nowhere -- they just wnat to feel like it%26#39;s not in a city.
Well, if you really want to be in the middle of nowhere, Eureka Springs is your choice. But everyone in your party will have to burn a minimum of two hours each way getting there and back that they wouldn%26#39;t by going to Hot Springs. Granted, there%26#39;s plenty of rural and rustic to enjoy along the way, but it is remote. I don%26#39;t think of Hot Springs as being particularly citified -- there are about 40,000 people in the city, and probably no more than 100,000 in Garland County -- not Dogpatch, but not New York or LA either. You don%26#39;t have to go more than a few miles outside of Hot Springs to be in extremely rural and rustic areas, but you have the comforts and conveniences of modern life at hand in ways that you don%26#39;t in Eureka Springs. As I%26#39;ve said before, I love Eureka Springs and would generally pick it over Hot Springs for a personal trip for myself, but I think for group of the size you mention Hot Springs gives you the best compromise -- all the things you%26#39;ve mentioned as being important are available there or very close by, but in a town that%26#39;s big enough to offer a variety of activities, places to stay, places to eat, etc. If you haven%26#39;t already, check out the virtual tour at http://www.hotsprings.org/virtual-tour/ . Photo H in the gallery for Downtown and Bathhouse Row is about as urban as HS gets.
Rackensack, those are nice pictures. Thanks!
I take it no one recommends fringes of Branson, eh? I took a look at the Big Cedar Lodge site on someone%26#39;s recommendation on TA. Looks nice, but figured it would be a drive to get there...
Some additional information would be helpful in making recommendations: Where does the trip originate? There are comments about Eureka Springs being too far away. This might not be the case. Do you need a large conferennce center? How much free time are people going to have? Is it just a couple of hours in the evening? Will people want to go out on the town in the evening? Do the people in your group like to shop? What type of shopping interests do the group have - fine art, quilts, fine jewelry, antiques, outlet malls, reasonably priced specialty stores, etc.? Do you want Ozark rustic lodging or a multi-star facility with amenities on-site? Is cost a consideration? Are you looking for light, moderate or strenuous hiking? None of the locations you mentioned came to mind for hiking and horse back riding. Instead, I would recommend: Roaring River State Park - Missouri - relatively close to Eureka Springs and Branson, Mountain View - Dry Creek Lodge at the Folk Center has conference faclities - North of Little Rock, Devil%26#39;s Den State Park - South of Fayetteville, AR, Dogwood Canyon nature park - near Branson, Mulberry River Mountain Ranch - South of Fayetteville. The Best Western Inn of the Ozarks in Eureka Spring has conference facilities. Big Cedar, Chateau on the Lake, Kimberling City and Indian Point accommodations all near downtown Branson put you near the happenings of Branson but keep you out of the traffic of Route 76. At each of these locations, nature abounds around you and several are on the lake. Also, look at lodging on Lake Hamilton in Hot Springs. While the Arlington is nice, it is in the heart of downtown - the hiking trail in the national park is very short for an avid hiker. Need to look at what time the shops/activities close in Eureka and Hot Springs - some will close at 5 others 9. I attended a weekend conference in Eureka, but it could have been anywhere because we were on the outskirts of town, our meals were included and we did not have ample time to see the sights. Check out Tim Ernst on the internet - he has many books, pictures and recommendations of hiking trails in Arkansas. I have been to all of the locations you mentioned and here is what I like most of each: Eureka Springs - quaint Victorian village built into a steep hillside, unique specialty shops with quality products (priced accordingly), natural hot spring spa. Branson - camping on Indian Point overlooking the lake, Silver Dollar City theme park, evening music shows, outlet shopping. Hot Springs - natural hot spring spa, free hot springs water - bring your own container, Hot Springs national park. This national park preserves the history of the hot springs spas. One is still operating and one has been restored as a museum. The exterior of the others can be viewed but they are not open.
Thanks, Arkansas traveler. Those descriptions really help give me a feel for things. Since I made the first post, I%26#39;ve had a chance to talk to the Big Cedar folks, and they%26#39;ve sent me their literature. It%26#39;s right up our alley, though the prices are a bit on the high side.
We%26#39;re starting from wherever we fly in. It%26#39;s a national group, of about 150 people, so if it were Big Cedar, for example, we%26#39;d fly into Springfield, and an hour%26#39;s drive or shuttle wouldn%26#39;t be a bad trip.
Looking at Hot Springs, and reading your description as well as the others%26#39; it just doesn%26#39;t seem quite what we%26#39;re looking for. We usually leave an afternoon or two open for on-your-own outdoor activities like hiking, horseback-riding. If there%26#39;s tennis, some play tennis. Shopping is always recreational -- jewelry, clothes, gifts.
I found another spot on the web near the Ouachita Lake called Mountain Harbor Resort, which may have enough space for us. Hard to tell until I call them. Ever been that direction, just outside of Hot Springs?
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