Free hot springs in the US: where to soak without a fee

"Free" on this site means no fee to soak, and that's narrower than "free trip." A few of the springs below still cost something: trailhead parking, an overnight camping permit, or a seasonal day-use charge for the surrounding recreation area rather than the spring itself.

Fifth Water Hot Springs in Utah is the clearest example: the soak costs nothing, but the Forest Service charges $10 for a three-day parking pass at the Three Forks trailhead. Kirkham Hot Springs in Idaho is simply a fee site, $5 per vehicle for day use, covered by an America the Beautiful interagency pass or an annual Boise National Forest day-use pass. Radium Hot Springs in Colorado looks like a typical free BLM hike, and the soak itself has no separate charge, but the BLM charges a day-use fee across the surrounding recreation area from April 1 through November 30. Overnight camping at backcountry Conundrum Hot Springs, also in Colorado, needs a paid permit even though the day hike in is free. Which agency manages the land decides which of these applies; our guide to checking legal access walks through the five land types.

All of them are still worth the drive. But "free" here is a claim about the soak, not the whole trip.

Free almost always means unmanaged, too. Nearly every spring on this list has no staff, no posted water temperature and no treatment of the water. The hot end of a pool can scald, and warm untreated freshwater can carry Naegleria fowleri, so test each pool by hand before getting in and keep your head above the surface. Hot water also lowers blood pressure, and drinking while soaking raises the odds of fainting in a shallow pool. A developed site with staff and posted temperatures is the safer choice for kids or a first soak; the free list below suits people who accept those trade-offs. Our hot spring safety guide covers each risk in detail.

If you're searching for a free hot spring near you, start with whichever of these four states is closest: Idaho and Oregon cluster in the Pacific Northwest, Utah and Colorado in the Mountain West.

Idaho. Eight of the eleven springs in Idaho's guide are free, more than in any other state we cover. Sunbeam Hot Springs and Boat Box Hot Spring both sit roadside on Highway 75 near Stanley, no hike required. Jerry Johnson Hot Springs and Goldbug Hot Springs each need a real hike, 1.4 and 2 miles one way, while Rocky Canyon Hot Springs swaps the trail for a river ford with no bridge. Trail Creek Hot Springs is the shortest approach, a 0.1-mile scramble, and Bonneville Hot Springs charges nothing for the soak or the parking, though the campground road closes for the season. Frenchman's Bend Hot Springs rounds out the list, free but reached by 11 miles of Warm Springs Road, the last 7 on dirt. Only Kirkham and Pine Flats charge a day-use fee, and Burgdorf is a paid, reservation-only resort. Full details on all 11: hot springs in Idaho.

Oregon. Oregon's free list is short: three springs, two of them an easy walk from the road. McCredie Hot Springs near Oakridge splits across both banks of Salt Creek, with no day-use fee on either side. Wall Creek Hot Springs, also called the Meditation Pool, is a 0.3-mile walk to a main pool and a smaller, cooler pool nearby, also free. Hart Mountain Hot Springs, inside a remote wildlife refuge in southeastern Oregon, is free too, with free camping at the adjacent campground, though it's a long drive and the refuge has closed roads there during extreme fire danger. Everything else on Oregon's list either charges a day-use fee (Umpqua, Terwilliger, Paulina Lake) or is a private resort. Full list: hot springs in Oregon.

Utah. Utah spreads its free springs between one well-known hike and several roadside soaks. Fifth Water Hot Springs, also called Diamond Fork, is free to soak but charges $10 for a three-day parking pass at the trailhead. Red Hill Hot Springs in Monroe and Inlet Park hot springs in Saratoga Springs are both roadside and free, no hike required. Meadow Hot Springs sits on private pasture land where the owner asks for a donation rather than a fixed fee. Baker Hot Springs and remote Gandy Warm Springs are both free BLM soaks in the state's West Desert. Full list: hot springs in Utah.

Colorado. Colorado is mostly a resort state for hot springs, but it has one free roadside soak and two conditional ones. Penny Hot Springs near Redstone is roadside on the Crystal River, free with no fee at all. Conundrum Hot Springs, deep in the Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness, is free for a day hike, but the trip is 17 miles round trip, and camping overnight at the springs requires a paid permit. Nathan's Hippy Dip, a riverside soaking spot in Pagosa Springs, is free too, but it has historically been left open by its private owners rather than formally designated public access, so treat it as informally tolerated rather than guaranteed. Radium Hot Springs, the third undeveloped soak on that list, isn't counted here: the BLM charges a day-use fee across its recreation area from April 1 through November 30. Full list: hot springs in Colorado.

Free hot springs aren't the only free soak on this site; several waterfalls and swimming holes in other states we cover cost nothing either.

Bald River Falls in Tennessee's Cherokee National Forest is about as easy as free waterfalls get: a 90-foot drop visible right from a road bridge, no hike, no fee. Arkansas goes further: every Arkansas state park is free to enter, and the Ozark National Forest falls in our Arkansas guide, from roadside Natural Dam Falls to the hike-in Twin Falls of Richland Creek, don't charge for day use either. See the full list in waterfalls in Arkansas.

Our swimming holes in Texas guide lists Blue Hole in Georgetown, a free city park with no entrance fee, though nearly every other spot in that guide charges a day-use fee or runs on reservations. Swimming holes in Arkansas skews more free: six of the nine spots in that guide, including Lee Creek and the National Park Service's Steel Creek and Buffalo Point access points, don't charge anything at all.

Free access usually rests on goodwill or a thin land-manager budget, and it can disappear when visitors treat it carelessly. Idaho's Skinny Dipper Hot Springs is the clearest example: the Bureau of Land Management closed it in 2016 after unauthorized pool construction was ruled a public-health hazard, and the current closure order runs through February 2027 (BLM, Federal Register notice, Jan. 14, 2022). Meadow Hot Springs in Utah works the opposite way so far, staying open only because the private landowner keeps allowing it, with a donation box and a swimwear-required rule rather than any government protection.

Every free spring on this list runs on the same rules: pack out all trash and skip glass near the water. Don't expand parking beyond what's already cleared, either. None of that guarantees a spring stays open, but crowding and litter are what closed springs in Idaho and Utah.

This guide draws on the fee, access and land-status details already compiled in our Idaho, Oregon, Utah and Colorado hot springs guides, and in our Arkansas, Tennessee and Texas waterfall and swimming-hole guides, each sourced to the U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, NOAA and individual land managers, linked throughout their own pages. We haven't visited these springs ourselves. It reflects free-or-fee status as currently listed on those pages, not a lifetime guarantee; land managers change access and fees without much notice. Last checked September 2026.