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Hot Springs Guide · California
This guide to hot springs in California shows which springs you can actually sleep beside, and what a room buys you in the water. It covers the main regions, wild free springs, family rules and where to book.
Yes. Hot Springs Guides lists 56 resorts and spas, 30 wild or natural springs and 6 public pools and parks in California.
They cluster in four zones: Northern California wine country around Calistoga, Ukiah and Wilbur, the Sierra and Eastern Sierra from Mono to Benton, the Central Coast around San Luis Obispo and Big Sur, and the Southern California desert at Desert Hot Springs, Murrieta and Temescal Valley.
These springs all have lodging attached, from resort hotels to cabins and tub campsites. The last column says what a room gets you in the water.
| Hot spring | Region | Stay | What a room includes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Calistoga | Napa Valley | Resort hotels | Soaking included, pools 80–104°F / 27–40°C |
| Desert Hot Springs | Southern desert | Spa motels | Pools with a room, day passes sold separately |
| Wilbur Hot Springs | Northern California | Off-grid lodge | Springs open day and night to registered guests |
| Vichy Springs Resort | Ukiah | Rooms and cottages | Rates include mineral baths and soaking pool |
| Mono Hot Springs | High Sierra | Cabins and camping | Bathhouse free for cabin guests |
| Murrieta Hot Springs | Riverside County | Resort | 24-hour hot spring access with a stay |
| Sycamore Mineral Springs | Central Coast | Resort | In-room mineral tubs, 24 private hillside tubs |
| Mercey Hot Springs | Fresno County | Cabins and camping | 19 tubs at 102–106°F / 39–41°C on site |
| Drakesbad Guest Ranch | Lassen Volcanic NP | Guest ranch | Pool at 96–103°F / 36–39°C, all meals included |
| Benton Hot Springs | Eastern Sierra | Inn rooms and tub campsites | 13 private spring-fed tubs at campsites and rooms |
Glen Ivy Hot Springs in Temescal Valley is day-use only, with no lodging on the property's site.
Calistoga's water leaves the ground at 230°F / 110°C from 4,000 feet down, per Indian Springs' own FAQ, and resorts blend it into pools of 80–104°F / 27–40°C. Soaking is included with a room at the resorts with their own wells. Non-guests usually need a treatment to get in, at around $50-75 with conditions.
Indian Springs Calistoga has an Olympic-sized mineral pool built in 1913 and welcomes hotel guests of all ages, while children are excluded from the day-pass route. Calistoga Spa Hot Springs is the family pick, with four geothermal pools including a 12-18 inch wading pool, open to guests from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Dr. Wilkinson's Backyard Resort names its three pools by temperature, with the 104°F / 40°C Hot Spring run as an adults-only zen zone.
Away from town, Wilbur Hot Springs is an off-grid, solar-powered health sanctuary in an 1,800-acre nature preserve about 2.5 hours north of San Francisco, where day use and overnight stays both need a confirmed reservation and the springs stay open day and night to registered guests. Vichy Springs near Ukiah, founded in 1854, pours naturally warm carbonated mineral baths, and room rates include the baths, a hot soaking pool, a seasonal Olympic-size pool and a 700-acre private reserve.
Desert Hot Springs sits over one famous split aquifer, with hot mineral water on one side of the fault and award-winning drinking water on the other. The hot aquifer reads up to 180°F / 82°C per the local historical society, and spa motels blend it into pools of 90–104°F / 32–40°C. The soaking season is the desert winter, October through May, because July and August afternoons routinely pass 107°F / 42°C.
Most properties here are adults-only, 18+ or 21+. The family holdout is Desert Hot Springs Spa Hotel, all ages, with eight pools in a palm courtyard open 24 hours to hotel guests. Two Bunch Palms draws from a 600-year-old aquifer into a rock grotto with pools at 99°F / 37°C and 104°F / 40°C, with mineral pool access included in a room. The Spring Resort & Spa gives room guests unlimited soaking, while day visitors need a 50-minute-plus treatment.
For a hot springs stay within a drive of Los Angeles, Murrieta Hot Springs in Riverside County sells rooms beside its own pools. Its geothermal mineral pools each hold their own temperature, overnight guests get 24-hour hot spring access with their stay, and day passes start at $109, with local resident passes from $59.
Glen Ivy Hot Springs in Temescal Valley is day-use only, 18+, with 19 pools on 14 acres and day passes from $65, so it works as a day trip rather than a stay. For a bed beside the water, the overnight option is Desert Hot Springs, about 18 minutes by road from Palm Springs airport (PSP), where spa motels pump their own hot mineral wells.
Mono Hot Springs sits at about 6,700 feet on the South Fork of the San Joaquin River, reached over Kaiser Pass at about 9,300 feet, and opens late spring through fall depending on snow. The Old Pedro pool runs about 106–107°F / 41–42°C and the Rock Garden about 104°F / 40°C, with the bathhouse free for resort cabin guests, $20 per adult as a day pass, $10 for children 11 and under and half price for registered campers. There is no gas past Huntington Lake.
Sycamore Mineral Springs in the San Luis Obispo area has in-room mineral tubs and 24 private hillside hot tubs. Mercey Hot Springs in Fresno County offers cabins and camping on 144 acres with 19 tubs at 102–106°F / 39–41°C. Drakesbad Guest Ranch in Lassen Volcanic National Park is an 1880s ranch with a pool at 96–103°F / 36–39°C and all meals included. Benton Hot Springs in Mono County has 13 private spring-fed tubs at tub campsites and inn rooms, and Sierra Hot Springs near Sierraville is a non-profit with mineral pools, a sauna and lodging, reservations required.
On the Big Sur coast, Esalen runs cliffside ocean-view baths for overnight guests and workshop participants. One to skip for now: the California Hot Springs resort in the Sierra foothill town of that name has 13 natural rock pools, a sauna, 49 guest units and a main lodge planned, but it is currently closed for renovations with no firm reopening date.
Yes, but they are wild springs with no lodging and no facilities. Montecito Hot Springs sits at the end of a 2.5-mile path, runs about 112°F / 44°C and has several pools, so arrive before 8 am to beat crowds. Gaviota Hot Springs is in Gaviota State Park off Highway 101, 0.7 mile from the parking lot, and is warm rather than hot. Deep Creek Hot Springs in San Bernardino National Forest takes a six-mile hike from Arrowhead Lake Road, though a shorter 2.5-mile route crosses private land with a fee.
The cheapest managed soak in the region is Grover Hot Springs State Park, where admission is $10 and camping is on site.
In Calistoga, Calistoga Spa Hot Springs has a 12-18 inch wading pool with a waterfall, and Indian Springs welcomes hotel guests of all ages to swim and soak, though children are excluded from the day-pass route there.
In the desert, Desert Hot Springs Spa Hotel is all ages, with day-pass pricing tiered from age 3. Most other Desert Hot Springs properties are 18+ or 21+, and Glen Ivy is 18+. Calistoga's mud-bath rituals and several pools are adults-only, so check the pool rules before booking with kids.
These six properties pipe real thermal water into their own pools, so the soak comes with the room.
Four geothermal pools from 80–104°F / 27–40°C, a shallow wading pool for kids and complimentary soaking for guests from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Geysers on the property feed an Olympic-sized 1913 mineral pool, and guests of all ages soak free with a room.
Mineral water from the geothermal aquifer under the spa feeds the pool, and some of the 28 rooms add in-room spa tubs.
A rock grotto with mineral pools at 99°F / 37°C and 104°F / 40°C, drawn from a 600-year-old aquifer, with pool access and daily wellness programs included.
Three mineral pools including a 104°F / 40°C outdoor pool, with unlimited soaking for room guests in an adults-only setting.
Eight pools of different temperatures around a palm courtyard, open 24 hours to guests, and the family holdout in a mostly adults-only town.
Every card links to its full write-up on Hot Spring Stays. Outside California, the nearest desert soak on the site is Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, where 8 of 11 hotels have thermal water on site.
Source: Hot Springs Guides, Mono Hot Springs, Murrieta Hot Springs, Glen Ivy, Wilbur Hot Springs, Vichy Springs.
California
7 with water on site
Water leaves the ground at 230°F from 4,000 feet down, and half the town pipes it. The sorting question is who is allowed in the pool.
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California
10 with water on site
One small city, two aquifers, roughly 50 commercial geothermal wells, and almost every pool is adults-only.
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New Mexico
8 with water on site
A whole town over a 100–115°F aquifer: the densest cluster of hotels with their own spring water in the US.
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