Wyoming’s hot springs aren’t the architectural wonders like those built by the Romans – who made it a point to visit a spa (or bath as they called them) at least once a day – millennia ago, but our natural hot waters are every bit as therapeutic, relaxing and healing. Because we have doctors and medications of all sorts, most modern hot springers aren’t looking for therapeutics or healing though.

Granite Hot Springs
Twelve miles down a dirt road (summer) and groomed snowmobile and sled-dog track (winter), Granite Hot Springs is tucked deep in the Gros Ventre Mountains. Jackson Hole Iditarod Sled Dog Tours runs daily roundtrips from their headquarters at the junction of Highway 189/191 and Granite Springs Rd. to the 105-degree public pool at Granite Hot Springs. Arriving at the pool, you won’t be the only one there, but it is big and, in winter, steamy enough you’ll feel you have the whole thing to yourself. Soak a bit, enjoy a BBQ lunch prepared by the JH Iditarod crew, and then soak some more before mushing the team back home.

Saratoga Inn & Resort
Saratoga, a hamlet of 2,000 people on the banks of the North Platte River, has a long hot springs history. Even if they were from warring tribes, Native Americans used to sit peaceably side-by-side in the warm waters, which were considered neutral territory. As more and more people began to come to the area, a public bathhouse and pool were built. They’re still around today, open 24 hours a day/seven days a week and free to soak in, but they’re not that romantic. For that, head to the Saratoga Inn & Resort, a historic hotel with rooms every bit as inviting – think featherbeds, Pendleton wool blankets, river rock fireplaces and warm western décor – as the multiple soaking pools. Saratoga Inn’s main pool is 70-feet long and kept at a constant 100 degrees. River rocks ring the top. Five much smaller private pools are made of river rock and, to really ensure privacy, covered by tepees. If you really want to indulge, the resort even has a spa, golf course and microbrewery.

Thermopolis
Thermopolis’ Hot Springs State Park is the most visited park in the Wyoming State Park system. While families love the herd of buffalo wandering the park grounds and the Star Plunge pool with its waterslides, couples migrate to the unromantically-named State Bathhouse. While the State Bathhouse has an indoor and outdoor soaking pool (both of which require bathers to wear swimsuits), it also has clothing optional private tubs where, not only do you get the place to yourself, but you’re also the total supervisor of your soak, able to pick the water temperature you want. The State Bathhouse is open 8 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. daily.