Hot Springs, Arkansas is one of the best places in the country to learn about the history of America’s spa, which naturally grew up around hot springs. Of course, Native Americans were the first to use the hot springs in this area. The United States government discovered the richness of the hot springs in this area in 1803, when it was exploring the new territories that were part of the Louisiana Purchase.
Western medicine didn’t have much to offer at the time, so hot springs were the treatment of choice for conditions like rheumatism and arthritis. The settlers arrived in 1807, and a town of rustic baths quickly emerged, with wooden channels that transport the thermal water down the mountainside to the settlements below.
To protect the springs from the entrepreneurs who claimed them as their own, the US government named it the Federal Reserve in 1832. This was a precursor to the National Park System, effectively making Hot Springs the oldest park in the world. National Park System. – Older than Yellowstone by 40 years!
Unfortunately, there was no compliance for the designation, so fifty years later, many lawsuits had to evict private citizens who said they “owned” the springs. By 1878, the springs and the mountains that surrounded them were permanently reserved as a Hot Spring Reserve.
This, and a great fire that swept through most of the city, brought great changes to Hot Springs. It went from being a rough border town to a posh spa town in the 1880s, with luxurious Victorian bathhouses and more beautiful roads and scenery. This was the heyday of the 19th century spa, which was popular in the United States and Europe, and continued into the 20th century.
Between 1912 and 1923, Victorian wooden bathhouses were gradually replaced by magnificent brick and stucco houses, several of which had marble walls, billiard rooms, gymnasiums, and stained glass windows. Eight large bathhouses built between the years 1892 and 1923 still stand on the Grand Promenade known as Historic Bathhouse Row, designated a National Historic District in 1987.
They are standing… but most of them are no longer open. As Western medicine became more effective in the 1940s and 1950s, bathhouses deteriorated. Only one, the Buckstaff Bathhouse, managed to remain in continuous operation since 1912!
Classically designed, with imposing Doric columns and urns adorning the front of the building, the building epitomizes the Edwardian style and is the best preserved of all bathhouses. It still offers the traditional bath ritual that was originally a three week, 21 bath ‘cure’ that begins with a 20 minute hot tub and
05
of 07
Las Brisas, Chile
Directly adjacent to the Chilean Sea, Las Brisas lagoon always offers the perfect Instagram-ready blue hues that Mother Nature sometimes misses just a few feet away. On two acres, the sandy saltwater pool feels bite-sized next to some of the largest lagoons on the list. Still, its transparent aquamarine waters cover the same surface as 16 Olympic swimming pools.
06
of 07
Laguna Bahia, Chile
Right inside the lagoon in San Alfonso del Mar is Laguna Bahía, a standard resort pool on steroids where you can windsurf and stand up paddleboard without leaving the all-inclusive resort. At just over 150,000 square feet, the pool works its way through the central complex and offers ample poolside lounge space.
07
of 07
Marina Sands Skypark, Singapur
As the largest rooftop infinity pool in the world, the Marina Sands Skypark offers some spectacular views of Singapore’s glittering skyline and the surrounding sea. Its scale is as impressive as the view, and it stretches across three Olympic-size swimming pools (it would take Michael Phelps a minute and 10 seconds to swim from end to end). Standing 57 stories tall, you can relax on a semi-submerged bed to soak up the sun and make Icarus proud.
