Wyoming Hot Springs You Can Actually Soak In: Fees, Seasons, Access

Wyoming has more hot springs than most visitors expect, but fewer public soaking pools than the lists online suggest. Outside Yellowstone, where soaking in thermal features is illegal, the places you can actually get in the water come down to two towns and two pools near Jackson: the free State Bath House in Thermopolis, the free 24-hour Hobo Pool in Saratoga, Granite Hot Springs up a Forest Service road, and Astoria Hot Springs south of Jackson.

Here’s how they compare before the detail on each.

Spring	Who runs it	Cost	Season	Getting there
State Bath House, Thermopolis	Wyoming State Parks	Free, 20-minute soaks	Year-round	Paved, in town
Hellie’s TePee Pools, Thermopolis	Private concession in the state park	Paid admission	Check current hours	Paved, in town
Hobo Pool, Saratoga	Town of Saratoga	Free	24 hours, year-round	Paved, in City Park
Granite Hot Springs	Bridger-Teton National Forest fee site	$12 adults, $7 kids 11 and under, cash only	Late May to October 31; early December to March 17	Gravel road in summer; snowmobile, skis, dog sled or fat bike in winter
Astoria Hot Springs, south of Jackson	Astoria Park Conservancy, a nonprofit	Paid, reserved timed sessions	Year-round; check session days	Paved, near Hoback Junction
Star Plunge, Thermopolis	State park concession	Closed since January 2025	Reopening pending	Not open

Fees and dates are as each operator published them in October 2026. Granite’s are the Forest Service’s own figures; the rest change often enough that you should check before you drive.

1. Hot Springs State Park, Thermopolis

Where: Thermopolis, in north-central Wyoming, about 90 minutes south of Cody on US-20.

The water: The Big Spring comes out at about 135°F and is cooled as it runs toward the pools; the bath house keeps its water near 104°F. Thermopolis bills it as the world’s largest mineral hot spring. Flow measurements have varied so widely since the first one in 1900 that the claim is hard to settle, but it is a very big spring. The minerals it carries are what build the orange, white and green terraces.

What to do:

• The State Bath House. Free, with soaks limited to 20 minutes. Under the 1896 agreement by which the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho ceded the springs, part of the water stays free to the public, and the bath house still charges nothing.
• Hellie’s TePee Pools. The commercial pool complex in the park, with slides, hot tubs and a steam room, for a paid admission.
• The Star Plunge. Closed since January 14, 2025, after a dispute between its longtime operator and Wyoming State Parks. A $1.8 million settlement in summer 2026 cleared the way to reopen, but the state still has to inspect the building and sign a new operator, so check before you plan around it.
• Walking the terraces and the park. Free. The Swinging Bridge across the Bighorn River is a town landmark.

Verdict: the most accessible substantial hot springs stop in Wyoming. Worth a half-day. Pair it with the Wyoming Dinosaur Center across town for a full day in Thermopolis.

2. Saratoga Hobo Pool

Where: Saratoga’s City Park on Walnut Street, in the North Platte River valley south of I-80 and west of Laramie.

The water: The main pool runs 101°F to 110°F. The Lobster Pot at one end is about 120°F, too hot for most people for more than a minute.

What to do: Soak. The pool is free and open 24 hours a day, every day of the year, with restrooms and changing rooms on site. The North Platte runs alongside; in summer some people alternate between the pool and a river dunk.

Verdict: one of the great free public soaks in the West, and better in winter, when the steam hangs over the pool. Saratoga is small and quiet; the historic Hotel Wolf downtown is the place to eat afterward.

3. Granite Hot Springs

Where: Bridger-Teton National Forest, about 35 miles southeast of Jackson via Hoback Junction and the Granite Creek Road.

The water: A naturally heated spring feeding a large built pool in a forest clearing along Granite Creek, with changing rooms and a bathroom. No alcohol is allowed, and there’s no drinking water.

Access and fees: The Forest Service charges $12 a day for anyone 12 and older and $7 for kids 11 and under, cash only, since there’s no cell service for cards.

• Summer, usually late May to October 31: drive in on the gravel Granite Creek Road. In spring, call ahead, because late snowmelt can push the road opening back by up to two weeks.
• Winter, early December to March 17: the road isn’t plowed, so the only ways in are snowmobile, dog sled, skis or a fat bike. The pool is open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily in winter. Several Jackson outfitters run guided snowmobile-and-soak days.

Verdict: the most dramatic soak in Wyoming, especially in winter, when the approach is half the outing.

4. Astoria Hot Springs

Where: Along the Snake River near Hoback Junction, south of Jackson.

The water: Several pools fed by the Astoria springs, run by the Astoria Park Conservancy, a community nonprofit.

Access: Timed sessions, booked online, with a paid admission; sessions sell out, so reserve ahead. It’s open year-round. Check the conservancy’s booking page for current days and prices.

Verdict: family-friendly, well kept, and much easier than Granite. The right choice for Jackson-area visitors who don’t want the snowmobile commitment.

Closed, or not for soaking

A few places still show up on Wyoming hot springs lists that you can’t use:

• The Star Plunge in Thermopolis, closed since January 2025 and waiting on a new operator, as above.
• The Chief Washakie Plunge at Fort Washakie, on the Wind River Reservation, abandoned in 2010 over structural problems with the building. The Shoshone Hot Springs Board has worked on plans for a replacement.
• The Wedding of the Waters, five miles south of Thermopolis, is where the Wind River becomes the Bighorn River. It’s a fine stop on the Wind River Canyon drive, but there’s no hot spring there.

Yellowstone: look, don’t soak

Yellowstone National Park has some of the most spectacular geothermal features on earth, but soaking in its thermal features is illegal and dangerous, and people have died trying. Many of the springs are near or above boiling, and the crust around them can be thin.

The one legal soaking spot the park used to have, the Boiling River near Mammoth, where hot water mixes with the Gardner River, closed in 2020, and the June 2022 flood destroyed the rock-lined pools and changed the river channel. The Park Service has said it doesn’t know if or when they could be rebuilt. For a hot soak near Yellowstone, use the commercial pools outside the park or the Wyoming pools above.

The 1935 home-movie footage of Yellowstone embedded in our Cody, Wyoming guide shows period visitors interacting with Yellowstone hot springs in ways that current Park Service rules no longer permit, for good reason.

What to bring

• Swimsuit, PackTowl Personal quick-dry camp towel, insulated water bottle, sunscreen.
• Chaco Z/1 Classic sandals for the walk between pool and parking, grippy on wet stone, dries in minutes.
• A wool layer for the cold-air contrast on winter visits. A Pendleton blanket from the truck is not overkill at 6,000 feet in January.
• Cash for Granite, where cards don’t work.
• For a winter trip to Granite: full winter layers for the ride in and out, and a dry set of clothes for afterward, because wet hair freezes fast at the trailhead.

A note on hot springs etiquette

Wyoming’s public pools run on shared norms that mostly don’t need enforcing when visitors follow them:

• Suits required at the developed pools. None of these is clothing-optional.
• Quiet voices. Hot springs draw people who want quiet.
• No glass. Broken glass in a soaking pool means draining and cleaning it.
• No soap, shampoo, or sunscreen in the water. Rinse off first where there are showers.
• Pack out everything you pack in, including apple cores.
• Rotate in busy seasons. If you’ve been at a popular soak for an hour and people are waiting, finish up.

The best time to go

October through April is when these springs earn their reputation: 100°F water with snow piled around the deck is the signature Wyoming soak, and the contrast between hot water and cold air is far sharper in winter. Summer visits are perfectly good, just quieter. Granite builds the winter timing into the trip: from early December the road is closed to wheeled vehicles, so the only way in is roughly ten miles by snowmobile, skis or fat bike, an all-day outing before you even reach the pool.

A short ranking

If you can only visit one Wyoming hot spring:

• For the substantial experience: Hot Springs State Park, Thermopolis.
• For the winter adventure: Granite Hot Springs, snowmobile-in.
• For free, small-town and atmospheric: the Saratoga Hobo Pool.
• For families: Astoria Hot Springs.

With a full week in Wyoming, Thermopolis fits on the way to or from Cody, and Saratoga on the way to or from Laramie.

Related reading on this site

• Cody, Wyoming: a local’s guide to the East Gate of Yellowstone
• Jackson, Wyoming: an honest guide to Tetons, Yellowstone, and the town
• Pinedale, Wyoming: the Bridger Wilderness gateway
• 9 Wyoming ghost towns worth the drive
• Wyoming’s best horse packing trails

Further reading

• Wyoming State Geological Survey publications on the state’s thermal springs (technical reference).
• Wyoming State Parks site for Hot Springs State Park and Star Plunge status.
• Bridger-Teton National Forest Granite Hot Springs page for current access conditions.