38 listings
Family-Friendly Hot Springs in California
Developed pools where kids are welcome and swimsuits are the norm. Some have adults-only hours or areas, noted on each listing.
We list 38 in California, 8 of them near Calistoga: the hottest is Mercey Hot Springs (up to 106°F) and the lowest listed adult price is Agua Caliente County Park ($7).
Agua Caliente County Park
A San Diego County camping park surrounded by Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, with three geothermally heated mineral pools: an indoor pool with age limits, an outdoor pool and a children's pool. The park is open from Labor Day weekend to Memorial Day and offers hookup sites, tent sites and seven cabins. Non-campers can use the pools for a small per-person fee.
Aqua Soleil Hotel & Mineral Water Pool
A hotel on Palm Drive with a large mineral water pool at about 88F and two jetted mineral pools at about 102F and 104F. The pools are for registered guests, who may bring up to four day guests. Dogs are allowed for a fee.
Avila Hot Springs
A historic hot springs on Avila Beach Drive, two miles from the beach, where oil drillers struck an artesian hot well in 1907. Its 20-by-20-foot mineral soaking pool is about 2 feet deep and kept near 104F, beside a large heated freshwater pool with double slides. Day passes cover both pools, and the site also offers tent and RV camping.
Bashford's Hot Mineral Spa
A seasonal RV park near Niland with six mineral baths, a heated pool and a heated jacuzzi. Its website lists day use at $15 per person from 10am to 4pm and an Oct 15 to May 15 season, but the rates page carries a 2014 date.
Beverly Hot Springs
A Koreatown bathhouse that describes its water as 100% natural mineral hot spring water. Admission covers gender-separated hot pools, cold plunges, steam rooms and dry saunas for up to two hours, with massage and facials sold separately. A co-ed pool is listed as coming soon.
Calistoga Motor Lodge and Spa
A retro-styled motor lodge at the north end of Lincoln Avenue, now part of JdV by Hyatt, with outdoor pools and a hot tub filled with mineral water from Calistoga's geothermal springs. MoonAcre Spa on site offers mud baths and massage. Day passes are sold through ResortPass.
Calistoga Spa Hot Springs
A downtown Calistoga resort built around four outdoor pools filled with geothermal mineral water from a well beneath the property, ranging from about 80 to 104°F. The covered, jetted octagonal Jet Pool is adults only. Pools are for room guests and people booking spa treatments, which include traditional volcanic ash mud baths.
Catalina Spa & RV Resort
A gated RV resort with odorless hot mineral pools and hot tubs across five swimming areas at its Lower and Upper Clubhouses. RV sites start at $45 a night. The pools are for registered guests, and an ADA pool lift is available.
Death Valley Hot Springs
A Tecopa Hot Springs Road resort with a large outdoor geothermal pool ringed by four smaller hot pools of different sizes and temperatures. Four private pools with their own showers are also offered, and everyone on the property needs a $35 guest pass, valid 9am-10pm. Lodging is in bungalows, with an RV park and tent sites.
Desert Hot Springs Spa Hotel
A mid-century hotel on Palm Drive, operating since 1950, built around a courtyard of natural hot mineral pools. It sells pool day passes for 9am-8pm and runs a cafe, bar and spa on site. The hotel's day-pass page and its FAQ disagree on price and minimum age, so confirm before visiting.
Dr. Wilkinson's Backyard Resort & Mineral Springs
Calistoga's resort and spa running since 1952 on Lincoln Avenue, with three geothermal mineral pools, one indoor and two outdoor, set at about 85, 95 and 104°F. The 104°F Hot Spring is adults only. Day visitors can buy pool passes, daybeds and cabanas through ResortPass, and the spa still offers its original mud bath, The Works.
Drakesbad Guest Ranch
A historic guest ranch in Warner Valley in the southeast corner of Lassen Volcanic National Park, reached by a partly gravel road from Chester. Guests stay in lodge rooms, cabins or bungalows with all meals included, and guided rides go to Boiling Springs Lake and Devils Kitchen. The ranch's pool has not reopened since the 2021 Dixie Fire, and the operator says it is still in the planning stages.
Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn & Spa
A large resort at Boyes Hot Springs, just north of Sonoma, built over thermal mineral springs. The adults-only Fairmont Spa has five geothermal mineral pools and a Roman-style bathhouse, while the family Main Resort Pool is also filled with naturally heated geothermal water and open year-round. Day visitors can book treatments or a spa pass through ResortPass.
Fountain of Youth Spa & RV Resort
An RV resort and villa park near the Salton Sea whose signature Lobster Pot raw mineral spa runs at about 100-104F. There are also three private soaking tubs with adjustable temperatures and separate mineral steam rooms. The pools are included for registered guests.
Franklin Hot Springs
A family-run hot springs on farmland east of Paso Robles, where a 1952 oil survey struck mineral water instead. It has a large spring-fed pool of about 97F, a hot tub of about 100F and a lake for fishing and boating, all on one $10 day pass. The owners say no chemicals are added to the springs, and tent and RV camping is available.
Golden Haven Hot Springs Spa and Resort
A family-owned spa and lodge on a residential street near downtown Calistoga, using mineral water from a geothermal aquifer beneath the property. Its gated, partly covered pool runs about 85-88°F, with two adjoining hot spas at 98-100°F and 102-104°F. There is no day use; the pool comes with a stay or any spa treatment, including shared couples mud baths.
Grover Hot Springs State Park
A California state park 4 miles west of Markleeville with a concrete hot mineral pool fed by six springs and a separate cooler swimming pool, run with a lifeguard on duty. The hot pool is kept at 102-104°F, and pool entry is sold separately from the $8 vehicle day-use fee. The park also has a forested campground, picnic area and trails to a waterfall and Burnside Lake.
Indian Springs Calistoga
A historic Calistoga resort whose Olympic-size Main Pool, built in 1913, is fed by mineral water from on-site geysers that surfaces around 230°F and is cooled in reservoirs. A smaller Adult Pool sits next door and runs about ten degrees cooler than the Main Pool. Hotel guests use the pools; day visitors need a spa booking plus a pool pass.
Keough's Hot Springs
A pool resort south of Bishop, open since 1919, where spring water is cooled by a waterfall into a large swimming pool alongside a smaller hot soaking pool. Day entry is $14 for adults. The property also has RV and tent sites and furnished canvas tent cabins, and Inyo County's visitor site notes that swimsuits are required.
Kosk Creek Hot Springs (Hunt and Kosk)
Rustic hot spring pools of varying temperatures on a private ranch along Kosk Creek near Big Bend in eastern Shasta County. The landowner now sells day passes and campsites through Hipcamp; earlier free access has ended. There is no potable water or trash service, so visitors pack out everything.
Mercey Hot Springs
An off-grid resort in the Little Panoche Valley, 13 miles west of I-5, where salty mineral water emerges at about 112F. Outdoor tubs run 102-106F and are clothing-optional and adults-only, while the heated swimming pool is 85-90F and needs swimsuits. Day use is by reservation from noon to 5pm, and stays range from cabins and Airstreams to RV and tent sites.
Mono Hot Springs Resort
A seasonal High Sierra resort on the South Fork San Joaquin River, reached over the narrow Kaiser Pass Road, with soaks in private bathhouse rooms and an outdoor mineral spa at about 100-104°F. Day bathhouse passes are $25 for adults, and stays in the stone, rustic and tent cabins include bathhouse use. The 2026 season ran May 22 to October 26.
Morton's Warm Springs
A family-oriented summer swimming resort in the Valley of the Moon with two geothermal mineral pools and a toddler wading pool, all around 90-94°F. The grounds along Sonoma Creek have picnic lawns and BBQs, and the deep pool is reserved for adult swim each morning. It is closed for the off-season and reopens May 1, 2027.
Mount View Hotel & Spa
A 1917 art deco hotel on Lincoln Avenue in downtown Calistoga with a day spa. Its mineral whirlpool and hydrotherapy tubs use water from the spa's own geothermal well, which surfaces at about 120°F, alongside a heated pool. Details could not be confirmed on the hotel's own site.
Muir Trail Ranch
A remote guest ranch in the John Muir Wilderness, reached by ferry across Florence Lake and a hike of about 5 miles, whose stays include use of its hot springs baths. Short stays include meals and run about $250-$285 per person per night. Accommodations closed for the season after September 7, 2026, and bookings are closed until 2027.
Murrieta Hot Springs Resort
A historic hot springs resort in Murrieta with lodging and more than 20 pools fed by geothermal spring water found on the property, posted at roughly 50°F to 104°F. Most pools use untreated mineral water, while the Blue Lagoon, Oasis, Roman Spa, Vitality Plunge and indoor bathhall are treated. Day passes are sold to families, with separate adults-only areas including a terrace with a panoramic sauna.
River Oaks Hot Springs Spa
A day spa in Paso Robles that rents geothermal artesian mineral tubs by the hour, either private covered rooms indoors or semi-private open-air tubs outdoors. Soaks cost $30 per person per hour, and the Sip & Soak package adds a wine-tasting flight in an outdoor tub. Massages and facials include a 30-minute indoor soak.
Roman Spa Hot Springs Resort
A downtown Calistoga hotel with three soaking pools filled with geothermal water from the resort's own wells: a large outdoor pool at about 92-96°F, an outdoor jetted hot tub at 103°F and an indoor jetted pool at 100°F. The Baths at Roman Spa offers mud baths made with geothermal water, volcanic ash and peat. Pools are soaking-only, with no diving or splash games.
Sam's Family Spa Hot Water Resort
A family-run hot-water resort and RV park on Dillon Road east of Desert Hot Springs, with four chlorine-free mineral spas, swimming and wading pools, a dry sauna and two steam rooms. The spas are drained, cleaned and refilled every morning. Day passes cost $25 on weekdays and $30 on weekends, are sold first come, first served, and kids of all ages are welcome.
Shoshone Village (Shoshone Inn & RV Park)
A small desert village with an inn, RV park and campground around a naturally warm mineral spring swimming pool. Inn guests use the pool free, and it sits beside the RV park and a short wetland trail through endangered pupfish and vole habitat. Shoshone is about a mile from the southeast entrance to Death Valley National Park.
Sky Valley Resort
An RV resort east of Desert Hot Springs whose sulfur-free hot water supplies 12 pools and spas, including a tub at about 104F. The pools are for resort guests, and no day pass is published. Its sister property, Caliente Springs, is a 55+ resort.
Sycamore Mineral Springs Resort & Spa
A resort near Avila Beach built on sulfur mineral wells struck by oil prospectors in 1886. Its 24 private hillside hot tubs sit on wooden decks under sycamore and oak trees and are rented by the hour, from $25 per person on weekdays. A group lagoon with waterfalls and a mineral swimming pool are also bookable, and every guest room has its own mineral tub.
Tassajara Zen Mountain Center
A San Francisco Zen Center monastery at the end of a 14-mile dirt road in the Ventana Wilderness, with a historic stone bathhouse on the hot springs. The baths have indoor and outdoor plunges, steam rooms and a sauna; they are clothing-optional and separated by gender. Guests visit only in the summer season, from late April to early September, by reservation.
Tecopa Hot Springs & Campground
An Inyo County park in the Tecopa Valley with two bathhouses, each with separate enclosed pools for men and women, fed by artesian water of about 102F. Bathing is in the nude only, under a county code. A concessionaire took over under a 10-year agreement and sells $15 day soaking passes, plus more than 200 RV and tent sites.
The Oasis at Death Valley
A pair of hotels at Furnace Creek in Death Valley National Park, the Inn and the Ranch, each with a spring-fed swimming pool held at about 87F. The Ranch pool is open 8am-11pm to guests of both hotels, and the public can buy pool passes at the Ranch desk. The Inn's historic tiled pool is for Inn guests and sits beside a spa and poolside cafe.
UpValley Inn & Hot Springs
A Lincoln Avenue hotel, formerly a Comfort Inn, whose outdoor swimming pool and whirlpool are filled with mineral water from its own geothermal well. A cedar dry sauna and steam room are included with the pool. Non-guests can buy a day pass through ResortPass.
Vichy Springs Resort
A historic resort and country inn in the hills east of Ukiah, operating since 1854 and listed as California Historical Landmark #980. Its signature is 14 tubs of naturally carbonated mineral water at about 90F, alongside a 104F hot pool and a seasonal 25-meter swimming pool. Day visitors pay by 2-hour, 3-hour or all-day blocks and can use trails on the 700-acre reserve; bathing suits are required.
Warner Springs Ranch Resort
A historic ranch resort in the Warner Valley of north San Diego County built around the Warner Hot Springs. The resort's own site lists the hot mineral pools, casitas, spa, dining and golf as closed for remodeling, with only the gas mart open. No reopening date has been published.