Indian Hot Springs in Idaho Springs, Colorado

I took my partner here for their early 21st birthday night out. We decided to go here because it was one of the cheaper hot springs in the Denver Metro area. I read the reviews after booking the night (which was not smart on my part but I figured how bad could it be).

​To start out my family and I had called ahead to confirm a credit card and make sure it would be all set (since you had to present it when you checked in). When we got there it was stressful, they said they don't know why the person on the phone said that would be okay and a whole drawn out argument went on about what to do. ​
​Eventually we worked out a refund/charge situation and we continued on. They had me sign some interesting paperwork and I triple checked to make sure everything was in order.

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The weekend discount package we chose included either 2 passes to the thermal caves or one pass to an hour long private bath. Originally we said thermal caves all the way… Then they informed us swim suits were optional and they were not co-ed. This was a huge turn off I feel for obvious reasons. We chose the private bath which we had to schedule. ​

There was a meal coupon for $20 off dinner and some other discounts at various places around the small town. Which I thought was pretty cool, but none of the restaurants were on site, you had to travel to them. This wasn’t too inconvenient since we have a car but if you didn’t it would be unfortunate.

We finally got to our room and were able to park right out front which was awesome. The rooms and floors were not labeled so it took us a while carrying handfuls of items to find the mysterious room. Getting into the room the moment we set the first bag down we had a knock at the door. We were obviously concerned since we just entered the room. It was the same front desk guy I had to work out the credit card fiasco with. He said he messed up something and needed me to sign again. This was a little frustrating but I know mistakes happen.

We stayed in “The Lodge” building. The room featured a king size bed, a T.V., and a bathroom. There was only one overhead light and it was right as you opened the door. Meaning, the only other lights were two lamps (one that didn’t work). I had read in a google review that there wasn’t a mini fridge and I didn’t believe it. I figured, ‘How could a hotel not have a mini fridge in a upgraded room or any room at that’. Well, I was surprised to find just that. We had brought some snacks with us to eat and some minor items to be refrigerated. We were very lucky we left our large cooler bag in the trunk (for grocery shopping) otherwise we would have been out of options. There was a ice machine at the end of the hall that didn’t have a scoop. We found a bucket on the hotel room table that we assumed was the suggested ice scooper. So we made do.

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Next, we checked out the bed. The pillows had just a thin cover on them, there wasn’t really what I would consider a pillow case. The mattress felt like a waterbed, and the comforter was just like the pillow cases... Barely there. (Sneak peek: We found out the underside of the comforter ended up having blood on it).

We decided to start setting things up, finding basic things like the remote to the T.V., plugging phone chargers in, and turning on the lamps. I have to say this journey was starting to turn out like a sitcom. ​
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There were no easily accessible outlets for any use other than the outlets that the lamps and the T.V. were plugged into. We couldn’t believe it, it’s a safe bet that anyone that is staying in a hotel is going to have a phone nowadays. We had to unplug one of the lamps that wasn’t really working anyway and plug one phone in. The only other plug was behind the dresser (that was so low it was almost on the floor) where the T.V. was plugged in.

This photo does not belong to me it is from the Indian Hot Springs website on the front page. This is the link and it is also linked to the image

With all this craziness in sue we headed over to the “hot springs”. The only other hot springs I have been to before is the one in Pagosa Springs, Colorado and Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Both of which you can use without getting a room there (like Indian Hot Springs provided. I was imagining something like the ones I had been to before. Boy was I wrong.

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To rent a locker was 50 cents which we decided was pretty fair. We shoved out stuff in one locker and headed out. We walked through the jungly entrance and found a large pool. I had read another google review that said it was just a warm pool. I thought surely the person had never been to a hot springs and they didn’t know what to expect.

No, they were right. I started to cringe as I saw all the children that were taking up most of the pool. So much for our relaxing weekend.
We waded into the pool and immediately were disappointed, it was not a hot springs at all. We later clarified that it is a mineral pool even though it is advertised as a hot springs. The temperature was around body temp, making any sort of movement out of the water really cold.

We tried to find an open spot but it was hard to find. After not even 5 minutes a kid sprayed me in the face with their squirt gun. I couldn’t believe it, these parents let their children bring large squirt guns into a semi-small pool. This was not the only time this happened. Over the course of our trip we got sprayed and splashed close to ten times. One little kid repeatedly did it while the parent was there and I asked them to please stop and the parent just stared at me… Then they would scream… high pitched screaming.

Not to mention the staff was continually doing maintenance right on the side of the pool. Literally, about 1 foot away from the edge. They decided to spray the foliage around the sides resulting in us being covered in whatever they were spraying. After awhile we decided to come back later to hopefully be able to enjoy it with less children and less staff spraying us with things (which didn’t happen even when we went later).

We went out to use the food coupon, we decided to go to the Two Brothers Deli which wasn’t bad. They didn’t accept the coupon which was extremely annoying since it was our only chance to go out for food. But they gave us around a 10%. We played a chess game they had laid out and sat for awhile.

This is not my image the link is attached to the photo

We looked around downtown (which was basically the whole town). The stores weren’t great, but I found a car magnet that said, “I love my rescue” which I purchased, of course. Looking around the rest of the town by car there really wasn’t much else except for a really, really rough road (that was labeled but it was understated). After the stress of trying to turn around to get off of it since it lead to a dead end we headed back to the lodge. ​

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While watching some T.V. we timed our next venture to the mineral pool in order to maximize our time before our scheduled private bath. Again, the experience even though it was later at night was about the same as before. We started doing some silly water dances that scared people off so we could have more space. Honestly, we were enjoying ourselves throughout the day even though we were shocked by most of it. 

This is not my photo the link is attached to the photo.

Now, for the most important part (well one of them) the private bath! We were given a key to a room that contained a cold shower and a almost closed off space that had a deep bath in it. The water was around 106 degrees which for an hour is a long time to be sitting in that heat continuously. 
We assumed it was nude so I mean what the hell. But then we got to thinking… There wasn’t really a drain per say, there was one that sort of moved the water around slowly. Not enough to not wonder how often that actually drain it, while people are sweating for an hour while naked.

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I am claustrophobic so the small enclosed space that almost looked like a Turkish bath that was dripping water onto your head in immense heat was a little overwhelming to say the least. We ended up having a good time with it as well but I really wish they would have escorted you so you could test the bath water or at least tell you what the actual temp was so you didn’t burn your skin off for too long. ​

For the finale, we got back tried to find a water fountain since they only sold some CBD water and aspirin water in the vending machine… why by the way? Especially since there were so many children there. 
We attempted taking a shower, the water came out of the shower head so hard it felt like it was beating my skin off. They only had one tiny bar of soap to share, which was fine but ya know. There was some shampoo that made my hair feel really weird (which I guess is fine since I forgot mine).

Long story short, we then ate some snacks and watched House Hunters of course. That’s when we discovered the blood on the comforter which we promptly pushed on the floor. Because NO WAY! (We actually forgot to report it on our rush out of there… Sh*t… But how did they not notice it before???). After deciding who would plug their phone in the lamp outlet closest to the bed so we could set an alarm and drifted to sleep.  ​

Honestly, we had a good time because we enjoy each others company and wanted to celebrate my partner. We laughed about all the interesting things that happened. It was nothing we couldn’t handle since were weren’t expecting anything luxury by any stretch of the imagination.

RATING: 3/10
I do not recommend this establishment. 

Best part: Laughing about the craziness, and the private bath.

Worst part: The screaming children squirting and splashing water at us. Well, and the blood on the comforter which we saw later there was another spot on the bottom of the mattress.

Also a side note: I didn't take more pictures due to all the times we were in the water. If you would like to check out more picture go to.