Idaho Springs Colorado Hot Springs Hotels: The Closest Soak to Denver (2026)
Thirty-two miles west of Denver, one resort owns every drop of thermal water in town — geothermal caves at 108–113°F / 42–45°C under a hillside, and a 1905 building its own owners call quirky. Here is what the Idaho Springs hot springs actually cost, who can go in the caves, and where to sleep if the resort's rooms aren't for you.
Idaho Springs is a one-spring town. Indian Hot Springs at 302 Soda Creek Road is the only property here with thermal water, and the only place within about an hour of Denver where you can soak and sleep on the same deed.
Visit Denver's distance-ordered list puts it 32 miles from the city and the next commercial spring, Hot Sulphur, at 97 — call it the closest by a wide margin rather than the only one.
The caves are the draw and they are strict: 108–113°F / 42–45°C, gender-specific, 18 and over with valid ID, phones and conversation banned, swim attire optional on weekdays and mandatory on weekends and holidays.
Day rates from the operator's own table, August 2026: pool $30 weekday / $35 weekend / $40 peak, caves $35 / $40 / $45, the pool-plus-caves Refresh pass $60 / $70. Third-party guides quote lower figures that contradict each other — why we ignore them.
A stay includes free pool-or-caves access on weekdays, but on weekends only one complimentary pool slot per day — the caves still cost you, at 20% off (the booking trap).
Want a modern room? Four ordinary motels sit 0.29 to 0.57 miles away on Colorado Boulevard, starting with Club Hotel. None has thermal water, and Columbine Inn's cottage 'private hot tub' is a regular tub.
The real trip-wrecker is not the rooms, it is eastbound I-70 on ski-season Sundays between roughly 1pm and 6pm.
Hotel data and prices checked August 2026. Nightly rates are a snapshot for 10–13 November 2026, two adults.
Idaho Springs Colorado Hot Springs Hotels, Compared
Six properties, one of which has the water. The rest are judged on the only thing that matters here: how far you walk to reach it, and what you have to pay once you arrive.
Its own geothermal wells, undiluted — the operator states caves 108–113°F / 42–45°C and the domed mineral pool 96–102°F / 36–39°C, all of it 'varies with the geothermal well flow'
Domed mineral swimming pool, gender-specific walk-in caves cut into the rock in the early 1900s, private indoor baths, outdoor cedar tubs, and Club Mud (closed at time of checking)
Weekdays: 'Full weekday access to our mineral water pool or caves', including arrival and departure days. Weekends: 'one complimentary time slot in our main mineral pool per day', everything else at 20% off
No thermal water. The outdoor hot tub is heated, not geothermal
Outdoor hot tub and sauna on site; Indian Hot Springs is a 25–30 minute drive over the ridge and down I-70
Nothing thermal included, and the resort day pass is a separate drive and a separate ticket
5/5 (317)
$242
Nightly rates are a snapshot for a 10–13 November 2026 stay, two adults, and move with ski season and weekends. Springs prices, temperatures and access rules are as published by the operator in August 2026.
Which One Is for You
Three questions sort this town: do you want the caves, do you want a modern room, or are you driving up from Denver for the day and only need somewhere to sleep afterwards.
Each property is judged on what its own operator publishes: thermal claims, measured distance to the springs, and what a room actually includes.
Source temperature
113°F / 45°C
The geothermal caves run 108–113°F / 42–45°C; the covered mineral pool is a much milder 96–102°F / 36–39°C.
When to soak
Year-round
The real obstacle is I-70 eastbound on Sunday afternoons, not the weather.
Day entry
$30–45 by day and facility
Indian Hot Springs' own weekday/weekend/Summit tiers for the pool and the caves, checked August 2026.
Elevation
7,526 ft
Altitude shortens comfortable soaking time — drink water.
Kids
mixed
The caves are 18+ with ID; the covered pool takes families.
Nearest airport
Denver (DIA)
About 65 minutes by road.
The Hotels, One by One
Ordered by distance to hot water, starting with the one address that owns it.
Geothermal caves, 18+
Indian Hot Springs
3.9/5
302 Soda Creek Road, south off Colorado Boulevard along Soda Creek · 7,505 Google reviews
Hot springs on-site
Water
Its own geothermal wells, undiluted — the operator states caves 108–113°F / 42–45°C and the domed mineral pool 96–102°F / 36–39°C, all of it 'varies with the geothermal well flow'
Pools
Domed mineral swimming pool, gender-specific walk-in caves cut into the rock in the early 1900s, private indoor baths, outdoor cedar tubs, and Club Mud (closed at time of checking)
Room includes
Weekdays: 'Full weekday access to our mineral water pool or caves', including arrival and departure days. Weekends: 'one complimentary time slot in our main mineral pool per day', everything else at 20% off
Kids
Pool and private baths all ages; caves 18+ with valid ID; Club Mud 16+
The only property in Idaho Springs with thermal water on the deed, and the closest one to Denver anywhere in Colorado — Visit Denver's distance list puts it at 32 miles and the next commercial spring at 97.
The caves are the reason to come: passages driven into the hillside in the early 1900s, gender-specific, 'a designated quiet area, talking, cameras and cell phones are prohibited', swim attire optional on weekdays and mandatory on weekends and holidays.
The buildings are old and the operator says so: the historic rooms were 'Built in 1905' with 'classic steam radiators, original water closets (½ bath)', of The Lodge it writes 'While updates are on the horizon', and site-wide it asks guests to 'respect the quirks of our building as we renovate'.
It also warns that 'there are some areas that do not offer wheelchair access' and that it closes facilities 'from time to time' for repairs. A Colorado Historical Grant restoration — new water systems, outdoor pools, electrical and mechanical work — is scheduled to begin in 2026 per the town tourism board.
1601 Colorado Boulevard, west end of the main drag · 83 Google reviews
Walk to the springs
Water
No thermal water. Its own website makes no hot springs, mineral water, hot tub or spa claim anywhere
Pools
None on site; Indian Hot Springs is 0.29 mi away in a straight line, walkable in well under 15 minutes
Room includes
Nothing included — a soak here is a day pass at Indian Hot Springs, $30 weekday or $35 weekend for the pool
Kids
All ages
The nearest bed to the water that isn't the resort itself: 0.29 mi / 0.47 km straight-line from 302 Soda Creek Road, both addresses geocoded through OpenStreetMap Nominatim in August 2026.
Describes itself as a 'modern Victorian Guest House with an historic event space' and an 'easy walk to restaurants, shopping' — the modern-room answer to the resort's 1905 plumbing.
The highest-rated property on this page, though on the thinnest review sample of the four town motels.
2545 Colorado Boulevard, eastern end of town · 266 Google reviews
Walk to the springs
Water
No thermal water. The 'private hot tub' in its suites and cottage is a conventional heated tub — the property makes no mineral-water claim at all
Pools
None; Indian Hot Springs is 0.52 mi in a straight line, a flat walk down Colorado Boulevard
Room includes
Nothing thermal included; budget $30–$40 a head at the resort's pool or $35–$45 for the caves
Kids
All ages
0.52 mi / 0.83 km straight-line from Indian Hot Springs (OpenStreetMap Nominatim geocode, August 2026) — still an easy walk, at the far end of it.
The hot-tub trap on this page: the listing amenity reads 'private hot tubs' and search results repeat it, but that is plumbed water in a suite bathroom, not a spring. Do not book it expecting mineral water.
Family-owned low-rise motel with fridges and microwaves throughout, full kitchens in the suites, a two-bedroom cottage, and heated floors in some rooms.
2622 Colorado Boulevard, on Clear Creek below the Argo Mill · 830 Google reviews
Walk to the springs
Water
No thermal water. Its own site mentions no hot springs, mineral water or hot tubs, and the whirlpool tubs in upgraded rooms are ordinary plumbing
Pools
None; Indian Hot Springs is 0.54 mi in a straight line
Room includes
Nothing thermal included; day passes are bought at the resort gate, no reservation needed Monday to Friday
Kids
All ages
0.54 mi / 0.86 km straight-line from the springs (OpenStreetMap Nominatim, August 2026), set on Clear Creek 'just off I-70, five minutes from Idaho Springs' Main Street' in its own words.
Named for the Argo Mill, not for any spring — the gold mill at the mouth of the Argo Tunnel is a 12-minute walk from the door and the town's other landmark.
Free continental breakfast, free parking, pets welcome, kitchens in the suites, and a fire pit — the practical family base if the resort's rooms put you off.
The strongest review topics here are property, location and nature; bathrooms and sleep run negative, which is the usual trade at this price on this street.
2725 Colorado Boulevard, east end of the strip · 34 Google reviews
Walk to the springs
Water
No thermal water and no soaking amenity of any kind stated on its own site
Pools
None; Indian Hot Springs is 0.57 mi in a straight line — the farthest of the four town properties, still under a mile on foot
Room includes
Nothing thermal included; the $10-off-before-10am pool rate at the resort is the cheapest soak from here
Kids
All ages
0.57 mi / 0.91 km straight-line from the springs (OpenStreetMap Nominatim, August 2026), a flat walk the whole way along Colorado Boulevard.
Restored motor-court motel — fridges, microwaves and coffee makers in the rooms, dogs allowed, self parking at the door, and a 4pm check-in rather than the usual 3pm.
Its own homepage is where the town's elevation figure comes from: 'elev. 7,526 ft'.
Only 34 reviews in the data, the thinnest sample on this page; treat its rating as provisional.
30500 US Highway 40, Evergreen — a different town, roughly 20 miles from Idaho Springs · 317 Google reviews
Drive to the springs
Water
No thermal water. The outdoor hot tub is heated, not geothermal
Pools
Outdoor hot tub and sauna on site; Indian Hot Springs is a 25–30 minute drive over the ridge and down I-70
Room includes
Nothing thermal included, and the resort day pass is a separate drive and a separate ticket
Kids
All ages
Listed against Idaho Springs by the booking data, but the address is 30500 US-40, Evergreen — a different town on the other side of the ridge. Its own site positions Idaho Springs as 'a launch point for day trips', which settles the question.
As a hotel it is the best-reviewed property here by a distance: a boutique lodge and treehouses on 10 acres, with a bar, sauna, fire-pit terrace and near-spotless review topics.
Carded only so nobody books it thinking it is walking distance from the caves. If you want a good room and don't mind a half-hour drive each way to soak, this is the one.
Rates shown are snapshots for 10–13 November 2026, two adults, and change daily. Some links on this page are affiliate links; they cost you nothing and don't change our ordering.
Prefer to browse everything bookable in Idaho Springs? Search all stays:
Where the Water Actually Is
Idaho Springs runs along a single street at the bottom of Clear Creek canyon, and the thermal water surfaces at exactly one address on the south side of it. Everything else in town is a walk from that gate.
302 Soda Creek Road
the only thermal water in town
Men's and women's geothermal caves, 108–113°F / 42–45°C, 18+Domed mineral swimming pool, 96–102°F / 36–39°CPrivate indoor Classic and Woodland bathsOutdoor tubs and two cedar tubs, Zuni and ThunderbirdClub Mud clay room — closed at time of checking
Soda Creek Road branches south off Colorado Boulevard, so the walk from town is slightly longer than the straight-line distances below suggest. Pool 8:00am–9:30pm, caves 8:30am–9:00pm, private baths 8:00am–9:30pm, year round.
0.52, 0.54 and 0.57 miles straight-line from the springs. All three are a flat walk along the boulevard, and all three sit near the Argo Mill and the visitor centre.
Evergreen, over the ridge
20 miles away, listed by mistake
Outdoor heated hot tub and sauna, no mineral water
Booking data files this under Idaho Springs. Its actual address is 30500 US-40, Evergreen — a 25–30 minute drive from the springs.
⟷Club Hotel to the resort gate is 0.29 miles; Lift Landing, the farthest town property, is 0.57. All four town motels are under a mile on foot, so no car is needed once you have parked.
⟷Distances here are straight-line, computed from OpenStreetMap Nominatim geocodes in August 2026 rather than walking routes — the real walk is somewhat longer because Soda Creek Road turns south off the main drag.
⟷Juniper Lodge is the only property on this page you cannot walk from, and the only one in a different town.
hot springs on-sitewalk to the springsdrive to the springsno thermal water
Idaho Springs by the Numbers
Every figure below comes from the operator's own published pages or the town's tourism board, quoted rather than averaged.
Cave temperature
108–113°F / 42–45°C
The operator's cave page: 'Average temperature 108–113°F / 42–45°C, varies with the geothermal well flow.' The hottest figure it publishes anywhere.
Mineral pool temperature
96–102°F / 36–39°C
'As a natural geothermal source of water, we are unable to adjust the water heat.' Much milder than the caves, and the only water families share.
Cave admission
$35 weekday
Rising to $40 at weekends and $45 on the operator's 'Summit Pricing' peak dates. Age 18+, reservation recommended on weekends.
Pool admission
$30 weekday
$35 weekend, $40 peak; free for kids 2 and under with a paying adult, and $10 off if you soak before 10:00am.
Distance from Denver
32 miles
Visit Denver's own figure, described as 'just 30 minutes from downtown Denver'; the operator says the same. Third-party guides say 35 miles and 45 minutes — treat 30–45 minutes as the honest range.
Town elevation
7,526 ft
Per Lift Landing Motel's own homepage. High enough that a first soak in 113°F / 45°C water should be a short one.
One Spring, One Hotel, and 65 Miles of Nothing Behind It
Idaho Springs has been selling hot water since the 1860s and it still sells it from one address. Indian Hot Springs at 302 Soda Creek Road is the town's entire thermal story: five kinds of soak on one property, a hotel wrapped around them, and no competitor within an hour's drive. Visit Denver's distance-ordered round-up lists it first at 32 miles from the city and the next commercial spring, Hot Sulphur, at 97, with nothing in between. No source states outright that no other exists — the conclusion comes from consistent lists rather than one authority — so the honest phrasing is 'closest by a wide margin'.
That geography is the whole reason this page exists. Colorado's better-appointed springs resorts — Glenwood, Pagosa, Ouray, Steamboat — are all three to six hours from Denver. This one is close enough that a couple can leave work at five, soak at seven and be home by ten, and close enough to stay in, which turns the same drive into a weeknight away rather than a road trip.
The water comes from wells beneath the property and is neither reheated nor cooled. The caves are the headline: passages driven into the rock in the early 1900s, lined with walk-in tubs, men's and women's sides kept separate, run as a quiet zone where talking, cameras and phones are all prohibited, at a stated 108–113°F / 42–45°C. Alongside them, under a translucent dome full of banana trees and ferns, sits the mineral swimming pool at a far milder 96–102°F / 36–39°C, with no lifeguard on duty. Private indoor baths, outdoor cedar tubs named Zuni and Thunderbird, and a clay mud room round out the property. The dome is why the resort runs year-round: 'Thanks to the magic of magma, our sparkling dome, we're open year round.'
The founding date is worth flagging because the operator can't settle it either. Its site meta reads 'Proudly preserved since 1865'; its own history page says the land was bought and the first baths built in 1863 by George A. Jackson, on ground the Ute and Arapaho had used long before that. The contradiction is internal to the business, and we leave it as we found it.
What a Room Includes — and the Weekend Trap Inside It
This is the single most misread thing about staying at Indian Hot Springs, and it costs weekend guests money. On weekdays a stay includes, in the operator's words, 'Full weekday access to our mineral water pool or caves', and 'Weekday guests can soak on day of arrival and day of departure' — so a Tuesday night buys you three effective soaking sessions and your pick of pool or caves. On weekends the same room includes only 'one complimentary time slot in our main mineral pool per day'. Not the caves. One pool slot.
Everything else on a weekend comes at 20% off: caves, private baths, outdoor tubs, Club Mud. The resort totals that bundle, with a 10% gift-shop discount and local merchant deals, as 'Over $90 in added value per night'. The arithmetic for a couple who came for the caves on a Saturday: $40 each at the weekend rate, less 20%, on top of the room. Not a scandal — just not what 'soaking included' sounds like when you're booking.
Reservation rules follow the same split. Monday to Friday the pool and caves take walk-ins. At weekends the pool runs in four time slots and the caves require a reservation, so a Saturday arrival who plans to decide on the day may find both gone. Private tubs and baths are bookable up to 60 days ahead and priced per tub per hour, not per person, on separate summer and winter rate cards.
One more moving part: Club Mud, the mineral clay room, was closed when we checked. The posted notice reads '08/06: The mudroom will be closed until further notice due to upgrades being made in our private bath hallway.' It carries no year. It was live on the site on 10 August 2026, so the closure is current, but whether it began that month or was left up from an earlier season is not something the notice tells you. If the mud room is why you're going, call first.
The Rooms Are Old, and the Owners Say So Themselves
Any honest page about this place holds two things at once: the water is rare, and the buildings are tired. That is not a review anecdote — the operator publishes it. Of the historic rooms: 'Built in 1905… classic steam radiators, original water closets (½ bath), and the warm, familiar scent of aged wood.' A half-bath water closet means the shower is elsewhere. Of The Lodge: 'While updates are on the horizon, The Lodge already provides all the essentials.' Site-wide: 'we appreciate your respect for the quirks of our building as we renovate.'
It goes further than charm-speak. The FAQ warns that 'there are some areas that do not offer wheelchair access', and the calendar page that 'we do need to close certain areas from time to time' for maintenance and upgrades. Anyone booking on the assumption that every facility will be open on their date is booking against the operator's own published warning.
There is a plan behind the mess. The town tourism board reports that the resort won approval for a Colorado Historical Grant, with improvements beginning in 2026 — new water systems and outdoor pools, kid-friendly areas, upgraded electrical, water and mechanical systems, accommodation work. The operator calls it a seven-year plan. Together those two things predict what a 2026 visitor should expect: real construction, staged closures, and a property better afterwards than during.
If none of that appeals, the alternative is cheap and obvious: sleep on Colorado Boulevard and buy a day pass. Club Hotel at 0.29 miles is closest, Argo Inn and Suites adds kitchens and breakfast, Columbine Inn and Lift Landing are plain motel rooms at motel prices. You give up the included weekday soak and the walk back to bed damp. You get a modern bathroom.
Who Can Go Where: Caves, Pool and Kids
The age rules split by facility, and this is where family plans come apart. The geothermal caves are adults only: 'Must be 18 years of age or older', with 'Valid ID needed for entry' — so a 17-year-old cannot enter with a parent, and an adult without ID cannot enter at all. Club Mud is 16 and over. The mineral pool and the private baths take all ages, with the caveat that 'Guests under the age of 16 without a valid driver's license or permit, must be accompanied or supervised by an adult since there are no lifeguards on duty'. Kids 2 and under swim free with a paying adult.
The operator's own summary is fair — families are welcome, 'both the mineral pool and private baths are excellent options for visitors of all ages' — but in practice a family of four books the pool or a private bath and the caves become a swap: one parent soaks while the other supervises.
The other rule that catches people is dress. In the caves, 'Swim attire optional on weekdays' and 'Swim attire mandatory on weekends & holidays'. On a Wednesday evening the men's and women's caves are effectively clothing-optional, gender-separated spaces; on a Saturday they are not. Decide which version you want before you pick a night.
Altitude belongs in the same paragraph as the temperature. Idaho Springs sits at 7,526 feet and the caves run up to 113°F / 45°C. A visitor who flew into Denver that morning is at altitude, dehydrated from the flight, and about to sit in water hotter than a hot tub in a room with no ventilation to speak of. Short first session, water between rounds, and save the long soak for day two.
Getting There, and the I-70 Problem
From downtown Denver it is 32 miles and, per both Visit Denver and the resort, about 30 minutes; third-party guides say 35 miles and 45. Take 30–45 minutes as the honest window. From Denver International Airport it is a different proposition — roughly 56 miles and an hour to an hour and five, because DIA sits on the far northeast edge of the metro and you cross the whole city before you start climbing.
None of those numbers survive contact with eastbound I-70 on a winter Sunday. Idaho Springs sits at the bottom of the ski corridor, and returning Summit County traffic backs up through the Idaho Springs–Georgetown stretch on weekend afternoons — reporting puts the worst window at roughly 1pm to 6pm and the delay at two to three hours. Westbound Saturday mornings are the mirror image. Soak Sunday morning and leave before lunch, or soak Sunday evening after the wave has passed. Check COtrip.org or 511 either way.
Winter is otherwise the better season here, not the worse one. The caves are underground and indifferent to weather and the pool is under a dome; what closes is everything else. Mount Blue Sky, 13.4 miles southwest, carries the highest paved road in North America at 14,266 feet, and its byway runs late May to early September at best — shut for the 2024 and 2025 seasons for repairs, and reported reopening in 2026 with the upper fee gates opening May 22 and timed-entry reservations required. That comes from news coverage rather than a Forest Service page, so check recreation.gov before planning around it.
Year-round, the town's other landmark is the Argo Gold Mine and Mill at the mouth of the Argo Tunnel, built between 1893 and 1910 to drain the mines above Central City. It runs tours rather than producing gold, and it is a 12-minute walk from Argo Inn and Suites, which is named after it.
How This Page Was Put Together
Every price, temperature and rule quoted here comes from indianhotsprings.com, read on 10 August 2026 — but not in the ordinary way. The site is a React single-page app that serves nothing to a plain reader: a straight fetch returns a 2,817-byte shell with an empty body. The figures and quotes above were read out of the site's own JavaScript bundle, which carries the full page text and the live pricing objects. The quotes are verbatim operator strings; page attributions are inferred from the app's route names.
That matters because the third-party numbers are a mess. Guides variously claim the pool is '$18–$22 adults', 'day pass $22–28', 'day pass $25–30', and the caves '$18–$22' — mutually contradictory, and all below the operator's own table. We print only the operator's figures: pool $30 / $35 / $40, caves $35 / $40 / $45, Club Mud $25 / $30 / $35, Refresh combo $60 / $70, across weekday, weekend and 'Summit Pricing' peak dates. Which dates count as Summit lives only on the resort's calendar page.
Some things we deliberately do not print. A search snippet claims '68 hotel rooms and 4 fully equipped creek-side cabins'; the operator publishes categories and rates but no counts, so that stays out. A review headline names an individual owner; the operator names only 'the Lee family', owners since 2014 and previously of Hot Sulphur Springs. The operator also publishes four overlapping temperature ranges across its cave, tub and bath pages, and only the caves at 108–113°F / 42–45°C and the pool at 96–102°F / 36–39°C are firmly attributable, so the rest are described loosely rather than pinned to specific tubs.
Lodging distances are straight-line, from OpenStreetMap Nominatim geocodes on 10 August 2026, not routed walking distances — the real walk is longer because Soda Creek Road branches south off Colorado Boulevard. All four town properties are comfortably under a mile on foot, which is why we say 'walk' rather than a minute figure. One correction to the source data: the booking harvest filed Juniper Lodge & Treehouses under Idaho Springs. It is at 30500 US-40 in Evergreen, roughly 20 miles and a ridge away, and it is carded here as a drive for that reason.
Idaho Springs Hot Springs Hotels: Questions
What are the geothermal caves at Indian Hot Springs actually like?
Narrow rock passages driven into the hillside in the early 1900s, with walk-in tubs set along them, men's and women's sides kept entirely separate. The operator states the water averages 108–113°F / 42–45°C and varies with the well flow. It is run as a quiet zone — talking, cameras and phones are all prohibited — and entry is 18 and over with valid ID. Swim attire is optional on weekdays and mandatory at weekends and on holidays.
Is soaking free if you stay at Indian Hot Springs?
On weekdays, largely yes: a stay includes full weekday access to the mineral pool or the caves, and weekday guests can soak on both arrival and departure days. On weekends it is much less than that — one complimentary time slot in the main mineral pool per day, with the caves, private baths, outdoor tubs and Club Mud at 20% off. A weekend guest who came for the caves should budget for them (the details).
How far are the Idaho Springs hot springs from Denver, really?
Visit Denver lists 32 miles and 'just 30 minutes from downtown Denver', and the resort says the same; independent guides say 35 miles and 45 minutes. Plan for 30–45 minutes and you will be right most days. From Denver International Airport it is about 56 miles and an hour or so, because you cross the whole metro first. The exception is eastbound I-70 on ski-season Sundays, which can add two to three hours between about 1pm and 6pm.
Are the rooms at Indian Hot Springs as rough as reviews suggest?
The operator does not argue the point. Its historic rooms were 'Built in 1905' with steam radiators and 'original water closets (½ bath)'; of The Lodge it writes 'While updates are on the horizon'; site-wide it asks guests to 'respect the quirks of our building as we renovate'; and it warns that some areas lack wheelchair access and that facilities close periodically for repairs. A Colorado Historical Grant restoration begins in 2026. If a modern bathroom matters more than a bathrobe walk to the pool, sleep at Club Hotel and buy a day pass.
Can kids go in the caves at Idaho Springs?
No. The caves are 18 and over with valid ID required at entry, and Club Mud is 16 and over. Children are welcome in the mineral pool and the private baths — the pool runs a much gentler 96–102°F / 36–39°C — but anyone under 16 without a driver's licence or permit must be supervised by an adult, since there are no lifeguards. Kids 2 and under swim free with a paying adult.
Is there anything closer to Denver than Idaho Springs for a hot spring?
Not commercially. Visit Denver's distance-ordered list puts Indian Hot Springs first at 32 miles and the next entry, Hot Sulphur Springs Resort & Spa, at 97 — a 65-mile gap with nothing in between. We could not find a source stating outright that no other spring exists closer, so treat it as the closest by a wide margin rather than an absolute. Everything else in Colorado, including Glenwood, Pagosa, Ouray and Steamboat, is a multi-hour drive.
Do any other Idaho Springs hotels have hot springs or mineral water?
None. Club Hotel, Columbine Inn, Argo Inn and Suites and Lift Landing Motel are ordinary town lodging, all within 0.6 miles of the resort gate, and none of them claims thermal water on its own website. Watch the wording on Columbine Inn in particular: its suites and cottage advertise a 'private hot tub', which is a conventional heated tub in the unit, not mineral water.
