Labor Day weekend to Arkansas from Dallas area

Hi, we plan to go to Arkansas in Labor day weekend, but have no idea on how to plan the detail. should we just go to Hot spring for the entire weekend or do we have enough time to visit other places? I read other thread suggested Eureka spring, we are interested too. well, for a first time visitor to Arkansas, can someone suggest a 3 day itienary? thanks.

Labor Day weekend to Arkansas from Dallas area

Well, it all depends on what kind of things you like to do... Hot springs has the old bath house row, with historical hotels, stores, restaurants. And There also is the lakes, hamilton is right in the heart of hot springs, there%26#39;s a couple of boating activities that are fun like ride the ducks, and the belle of hot springs river boat , dinner cruise, and there is magic springs , a theme park with a built in water park. Alot of people like to stay at the old historic hotels, They get mixed reviews. I would look up the hotels listed on this web site and figure what%26#39;s best for you. There is enough to do there to keep you busy for 3 days.

http://www.belleriverboat.com/

http://www.rideaduck.com/

http://www.nps.gov/hosp/

The last link is for hot springs national park info.

And as far as eureka springs, it might be a bit far from texas..

But it is really a unique place to go.

So you might want to take a peek at this web site.

http://www.eurekasprings.com/

There are also a few things in little rock that might be fun as well, like the clinton library, the river market, and a few historic sights .

http://littlerock.about.com/

http://www.littlerock.com/

arkansas also has many great parks as well...

http://www.arkansasstateparks.com/

Narrow it down a little and we should be able to help more..

Labor Day weekend to Arkansas from Dallas area

If you are interested in history come to Little Rock for your three days. The number one attraction is the Clinton Presidential Library. The Old State House Museum and the Historic Arkansas Museum are all within walking distance of each other in the River Market Area. Many fine restaurants and clubs are also nearby as well as several hotels.

The Arkansas Arts Center and the MacArthur Military Museum are both in MacArthur Park.

Links to these can be found on this site:

http://www.littlerock.com/

Little Rock has beautiful neighborhoods with old restored homes. For tour information here%26#39;s the site of the Quapaw Quarter Association:

http://www.quapaw.com/AboutUs.htm

Hot Springs in the summer is all about lakes and boats. The old downtown area is interesting but not something that can occupy you for more than a day.

Fordarama and oldcpa have some excellent recommendations. I live in NWA and frequent Eureka Springs when I don%26#39;t have time to spend the night else ware (was just there for the afternoon of the Fourth of July). Eureka is nice but some may find a whole weekend there boring if you do not enjoy the outdoors.

If you only have the weekend to spare I recommend that you either go to Hot Springs OR Little Rock. Both have more than enough to keep you occupied for a weekend.:-) I am not sure of your age and if you are traveling with children but I am thirty-something married w/child and love to go to Little Rock for the weekend when I can. There are many things to do with or without family. I am not trying to downplay Hot Springs though; I just haven%26#39;t been there in a few years. Also if I remember correctly Hot Springs is only about thirty minutes from Little Rock.

if you want bigger city activities, go to Little Rock. If you want scenery and outdoor activities, go to northern Arkansas.

But if you are driving, you may not want to drive the 7 hours from Dallas to Eureka Springs. I%26#39;m assuming you are driving?

Western and northern Arkansas are very pretty. I would vote for Eureka Springs - check out the Buffalo River area too.

If scenery is what you want, you can still experience it if Hot Spings is where you decide to go. Look into accomodations atop Queen Wilhelmina State Park - I believe it is the highest point in southern Arkansas. There is a lodge up there - Castle in the Sky mountain lodge. You could stay there on your way back to Dallas.

if you stop to eat in Fayetteville - ask around for the Tex-Mex place where you can watch them make the tortillas through the window - some of the best Tex-Mex food I have ever had - and I live in Texas! I%26#39;ll try to find out the name, if that%26#39;s the area where you go.

it all just depends on what you want to experience

Thank you all for the informative reply, we are a couple in our 40%26#39;s with a teenage boy , driving from Dallas. We really don%26#39;t have particula idea on what to do, just want to experience some new place that%26#39;s different. From reading all the reply, I guess we will go to Little Rock and Hot Springs half and half for the 3 days long weekend, one night each. And later plan a longer vacation to Eureka Spring as scienic is always our first choice. By the way, is Embassy Suite in Hot Spring at a good location for us visitors? (we have Hilton point to use). Also want to know when/where for Fall Foilage in Arkansas? I think Arkansas is the closest places to Dallas for a peak of Fall Foilage, am I right?

We%26#39;ve stayed at the Embassy Suites and think it%26#39;s a good hotel. It%26#39;s within a short walk to HS bathhouse row.

Arkansas is the best place for fall foliage

Here%26#39;s a web site for fall foliage:

arkansas.com/calendar/fall_foliage_pg1.asp

There is also a embassy suites in west little rock that is nice , if you need to use points while in little rock, Embassy Suites Little Rock

Located at I-430 and I-630 in west Little Rock, in the heart of the financial and shopping district. Situated among rolling hills and green forests, the natural surroundings continue inside to the atrium%26#39;s lush greenery and sparkling stream filled with beautiful fish. Just 15 miles west of the airport and 9 miles west of downtown, we are conveniently located just minutes away from all of central Arkansas%26#39; attractions. We offer over 14,000 sq ft of flexible meeting space and world-class catering services. It is really easy to find and to get back on the freeway to downtown Little rock where the river market district is.

embassysuites.com/en/…

thanks, CPA and Ford, for your quick response. I am going to book the two Embassy suites today, sounds like they are in the right location.

also thanks for the link, I didn%26#39;t know you have this kind of info., I thought only the northeastern states has Fall foilage calendar. we will plan one weekend in Oct. to AR for it. We just moved to Dallas area last summer, can%26#39;t wait to explore the neighboring states.

The west LR Embassy Suites is far removed from the sites in downtown. It is also in the most, congested traffic areas in town. It is a good hotel but unless you have business in west LR I suggest you look at hotels in the downtown area. In particular there%26#39;s a Courtyard right in the middle of the River Market district.

So down town is tourist place? will check that area, I hope they don%26#39;t charge parking.