Three years ago—when I was young and dumb—I wrote a piece reacting to Travel and Leisure naming Hot Springs as one of its “coolest small towns on the East Coast,” titled, “Is Hot Springs the Coolest Small Town on the East Coast? A Short Investigation.” In my piece, the young, dumb me does what so many young, dumb writers do. They attempt to have a hot take.
Mine was that while Hot Springs was a very nice small town that I had a great weekend in (it’s also important to note that I wrote this after visiting Hot Springs exactly once, which is admittedly very, very annoying), compared to the other small towns on this list—Cape May, NJ; Kennebunkport, ME; Gettysburg, PA—Hot Springs was far too quaint, punching above its weight class with it’s only handful of places to eat, drink, and stay.
I need to emphasize once more how young and very, very dumb I was. And I need to rectify myself, because now, after actually living in post-COVID Asheville for more than one year, Hot Springs is one of my favorite places to eat, drink, hike, and stay in Western North Carolina. It’s absolutely worth the hype.
To start, the fact that Hot Springs is on a list with Gettysburg, Cape May, and Kennebunkport is actually asinine on the magazine’s part. Gettysburg, with a population of 8,468, is home to a titular college and has not only a major Civil War battle, but also a movie named after it. The population of Kennebunkport is 3,629, and it’s the summer home of the Bushes (yes, the Presidential Bushes). Cape May has a permanent population of 2,757, but it’s got name recognition as the bottom-most town of the illustrious Jersey Shore, and in the summer, the population typically sits anywhere between 40 and 50,000.
Hot Springs has a population of just 538. I’ve been to Gettysburg, Cape May, and Kennebunkport, and none of them could be described as quaint. They might seem like small towns if you live in them, but all three are bustling tourist destinations with name recognition. Hot Springs, comparatively, feels more like a hamlet or a village, the kind of place that actually feels like it could be relatively easily—if push came to shove (or as it happens, if push came to flood)—cut off from civilization the way the others couldn’t. You have to sort of know about Hot Springs to find your way there, versus say, open a history book.
However, after actually spending quite a bit of time in Hot Springs, I can see exactly why Travel + Leisure included it. There’s something to be said about a small town that invites you to unplug and doesn’t overwhelm you with a multitude of options, especially when so many of the options turn out to be tourist traps. As the younger, dumber me bemoaned all the way back in 2022, Hot Springs truly does only have a handful of places to eat, drink, etc., but all of them are solid.
Big Pillow Brewing feels—to me, a non-local (for context)—like the hub of Hot Springs. It’s a nice little brewery with a great outdoor space, a handful of tasty beers, and an on-site taqueria. But what I love most about Big Pillow is that they have an impeccable music selection, typically on the folksy/country side, which is great if that’s your thing (it happens to be mine), but also fits the general vibe of the town.
If you want food or shopping options, Vinyl Pies has solid pizza, and I always find something I don’t but do need at Bluff Mountain Outfitters. Hot Springs used to have a couple of more options, but Hurricane Helene did some damage. Still, in a town of its size, a brewery and two food options is pretty solid, especially because Hot Springs is the type of place that invites you to stay in and cook.
While most of my sojourns into Hot Springs are day trips, since it’s just under an hour ride to Asheville, my favorite weekends there are the ones I’ve gotten mountain houses or AirBnBs, where you could wake up, cook yourself a breakfast from provisions you purchased at the Hillbilly Market, take a morning hike at Lover’s Leap or my beloved Laurel River Trail, and then spend the afternoon listening to Shania Twain and Caamp at Big Pillow, before enjoying a steak on the grill, and ideally, a hot tub with some mountain views.
Small towns don’t have to have every amenity under the sun. That’s part of their charm, and something my younger self hadn’t learned yet.
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