Nevada has at least 24 documented hot springs, most of them free wild soaks in the open desert rather than developed resorts. 16 are free and 8 are paid sites. Spencer Hot Springs near Austin and Soldier Meadows near Gerlach are two of the best known, both free primitive soaks reached by dirt roads across the basin and range.
The Black Rock Desert around Gerlach holds a remote grouping of free wild soaks, including Soldier Meadows Hot Springs, Trego Hot Springs, and Double Hot Springs, reached by dirt roads across the playa north of town.
Central Nevada around Austin holds classic desert soaks such as Spencer Hot Springs and Diana's Punch Bowl, set in wide sagebrush basins. The remote north near Winnemucca and Denio adds free pools like Kyle Hot Springs and Bog Hot Springs.
The developed springs cluster near Reno and Carson City, where David Walley's Hot Springs Resort and Steamboat Hot Springs offer paid pools and spa facilities, a contrast to the free desert soaks that define the hot springs in Nevada elsewhere.
Nevada is defined by free, remote desert soaking more than any developed resort scene. Many pools sit on open public land reached by long dirt roads, with no facilities and no fees, rewarding visitors willing to drive the basin and range. The high desert means cool nights and star-filled skies, and spring and fall bring the easiest access, since summer heat and winter mud can make the back roads to these soaks difficult.
Highlights are drawn from the hot springs documented in this directory. Others may exist across Nevada's vast desert backcountry.
Classic desert soak: Spencer Hot Springs near Austin offers free primitive tubs and pools on open sagebrush land, among the most visited documented desert soaks in our records in central Nevada.
Black Rock Desert pools: Soldier Meadows Hot Springs near Gerlach is a free cluster of wild pools on the edge of the Black Rock Desert, reached by dirt roads north of the playa.
Historic resort spa: David Walley's Hot Springs Resort near Genoa has drawn bathers since 1862, with mineral pools and a spa at the base of the Sierra near Carson City.
Geothermal healing center: Steamboat Hot Springs near Reno channels natural geothermal water into private soaking tubs at a long-running wellness center south of the city.
Remote playa soak: Trego Hot Springs near Gerlach is a free roadside ditch soak along the old railroad grade across the Black Rock playa, popular with desert travelers.
Sagebrush basin pool: Diana's Punch Bowl near Austin is a dramatic free thermal crater and nearby soakable pool set in a wide central Nevada valley.
