1. Mountain Harbor Resort & Spa, Mount Ida
Mountain Harbor Resort & Spa has been owned and operated by the Barnes family since 1955, and that family feel permeates the entire 900 acres of the resort. Hal Barnes developed the land and resort along the shores of Lake Ouachita, and today, the resort is owned and managed by Bill Barnes and his daughter Stephanie Barnes Beerman.
Located 30 miles west of Hot Springs, this resort has a wide selection of luxury cabins and lodgings, a restaurant, a fleet of boats to rent at the Mountain Harbor Marina, houseboat rentals, and lakeside conference and wedding venues.
“Our lodging has actually grown because we now not only have our lodging units that you can rent, but we also have a condominium project,” said Barnes Beerman, the director of marketing and communications. “My dad started that in 1982, and the condos are all individually owned units that we can manage and rent out. We also have private homes that are rented out.”
Besides the miles of outdoor wonder and the boating and fishing on one of the cleanest lakes in America, Mountain Harbor Resort & Spa offers Arkansas’s only lakeside spa experience. The Turtle Cove Spa offers treatments ranging from massages to facials, and it has been rated the number-one spa in Arkansas by Spas of America and Spafinder.
While dining in at the Lodge Restaurant isn’t currently possible due to COVID-19, the restaurant does offer breakfast and dinner for pick-up or delivery straight to your cabin — plus a wildly popular Thanksgiving buffet that sells out every year.
“Christmas is a big time of year at Mountain Harbor,” said Barnes Beerman. “We have 2.4 million Christmas lights all over the property, and on the day after Thanksgiving, Santa comes and flips the switch to turn on all the lights on the property. We are like the traditional summer lake resort. Families and whole generations come back here year after year.”
Pro Tip: The Lodge Restaurant closes after Thanksgiving for the winter, but the cabins all have full kitchens. Do your grocery shopping ahead of time, and if you want wine, you’ll have to get your liquor and libations ahead of time, too. The Mountain Harbor Resort & Spa is located in a dry county, but it’s only about a 10-minute drive from the nearby wet county.
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