Things to Do in Eureka Springs, Arkansas

Downtown’s Victorian streets wind around Basin Spring Park, the spring Native Americans knew for healing long before the resort town arrived. The park has a historic bandshell and hosts drumming nights in summer and fall. The Eureka Springs Historical Museum sits nearby in the restored 1889 Calif House at 95 S. Main St.

★ Good to know Park once and ride the trolley. The Red Route loops downtown in about 20 minutes, and other routes reach the Passion Play and Lake Leatherwood.

Architect E. Fay Jones designed this wood-and-glass chapel for retired schoolteacher Jim Reed, and it opened in 1980. It stands 48 feet tall with 425 windows. The American Institute of Architects gave it its Twenty-five Year Award in 2006.

★ Good to know It’s open March through December and closed January and February except for weddings; it can close early for events, so call ahead for a late-day visit.

The Crescent opened in 1886 on the hill above downtown. From 1908 to 1924 it was mostly the Crescent College and Conservatory for Young Women. Later came Norman Baker, whose morgue still figures in the hotel’s ghost stories, and today it bills itself as America’s most haunted hotel.

★ Good to know You don’t have to stay the night to take a ghost tour; the hotel runs several, including a shorter one for kids.

The seven-story Christ of the Ozarks statue was dedicated in 1966. The Great Passion Play started on the same grounds in 1968, and an estimated 7.7 million people have seen it. The grounds also hold a Bible museum, a Holy Land tour, a section of the Berlin Wall and 18 miles of mountain bike trail.

★ Good to know The statue and trails are free and open every day of the year; the play runs on select nights from Good Friday into early November.

This nonprofit sanctuary has taken in abused and abandoned big cats since 1992. Tigers, lions, bears, leopards and cougars live on its 459 acres, many in grassy habitats built after a 34-cat rescue in 2012. It holds Verified status from the Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries.

★ Good to know You can also stay the night: the refuge rents on-site lodging.

The depot at 299 N. Main St. runs narrated excursions behind a 1940s-era diesel locomotive. There’s a working turntable, steam engines on display and the Eurekan dining car for lunch and dinner trains.

★ Good to know The trains are seasonal, running from mid-April through October, so check the schedule before you plan around a ride.

This 1,610-acre city park holds an 85-acre spring-fed lake behind one of the country’s largest hand-cut native limestone dams, built in the early 1940s. More than 25 miles of trails circle it, including seven downhill bike runs. The marina rents boats and fishing gear, and there are cabins and campsites.

★ Good to know The park is on the National Register of Historic Places, so look for the old stonework as you walk the dam.

Blue Spring pours about 38 million gallons of cold water a day into a trout-filled lagoon. The grounds sheltered Cherokee people during the Trail of Tears. Gardens and a bluff shelter listed on the National Register ring the spring.

★ Good to know The tour route is accessible for wheelchairs.