Chico Hot Springs Resort & Day Spa

Recommended to me by a neighbor as soon as she found out I was going to be traveling to Yellowstone, this resort is close enough to the northern park entrance and you can save some money here. I had booked during a busy season and the only room left had a shared bath. The historic building was old and lacked amenities such as TV, fridge, minibar, and quality bath products.
On the upside, there is a non-​chlorinated hot springs pool that is open late. The staff was helpful and friendly throughout my stay.
The overpriced dining room served over-​seasoned food which makes me think the main ingredients are low quality and have to be covered up with excessive seasoning.

The hot springs running through Chico are truly rejuvenating! I speak the truth. I was recovering from a rocky trail fall… the warmth of the springs allowed me to show up for dinner that night, and hike the following day! The view of the surrounding snow covered mountains (in June!) is incredible, especially if your room in up on the hill. And we got a tour of the hot house garden where they grow the delicious vegetables we were served at the restaurant.
The dining room is cozy and inviting. We not only had wonderful food, but very attentive service thanks to Kelby and Alli. Afterwards, we had a nightcap in the Saloon. What a blast. They had the fabulous «Band Of Drifters» playing the night we stayed. And Beau, master bartender, is true Live Entertainment!
Our daughter and son-​in-​law have been frequenting Chico for almost a decade… now we know why. We loved every minute of our stay!

We had a great family 2 day stay here. Beautiful, well-​maintained classic spot.
We had two top-​notch dinners and service in their restaurant. Solid wine list and prices, too.
The Spa was perfect. The gift shop was solid.
Every single staff member we encountered was super positive and friendly.
The only reason I give it four stars is the Saloon. I had three negative experiences with the bartenders, particularly the female one. It was all the more frustrating because it’s a great bar… and the only option while you’re at Chico.
They should lose the attitude. If they ever left Chico and visited another place, would they want to be snivelled at for not living there? Not cool. I’m sure there are a bunch of other locals that would be great bartenders and appreciate the influx of guests/​customers/​tourists and the money they bring to the area. So smile a little and realize you’re in the customer service industry… as you count your $ 400 in cash tips on a Friday night.

Chico is the heaven on earth! Just left and already can’t wait to come back. The saloon is really fun and the pools are a dream. Love this place!

Love going to hot springs. Montana is the best place for them too, but I’m partial because I’m a resident.
Chico has excellent accommodations, people are a little nervous about sharing bathrooms if you stay in the more affordable rooms and I have to say – these remodeled bathrooms are gorgeous and clean and I never saw anyone else or had to wait and I even went in the middle of the night in my pjs.
The rooms are cute with lovely antique furniture. The beds are fairly comfortable. The staff is wonderful. The pools are awesome. The public bath/​shower area at the pool is pretty good. But they’re public. So it’s normal.
The setting is here is great and I really enjoyed the breakfast buffet. The eggs were wonderful, potatoes perfectly seasoned and cooked, OJ tasty, everything you’d want!
The bar is great – bartenders fun and helpful. They serve great drinks and know how to have fun with their customers. There is a pool table, shuffleboard and lots of space to hang out. After 9pm I think you can’t have anyone under 21 in there – even babies. Which kinda sucks but then you’re wondering why I have my baby in a bar and well, I’m just that kinda mom.
Have fun!

The good: cheap rooms, their hot springs water is pretty awesome, fun bar, beautiful area
The bad: having to share a bathroom, old yet «historic» facility, always seems pretty crowded, seems to draw snobby out of staters who think they are «all that»
The good outweighs the bad.

Had a very good experience. Food was good, room was clean, atmosphere was relaxing. Just what we were looking for

This is a pretty chill place in the middle of nowhere. The hotspring cement-​pool is nice to spend the day in. You can get drinks from the bar and wade around or lay out. Full shower facility too. Then in the evening the main restaurant opens up, and damn – that food is insanely good. Whoever the chef is will be poached for my private kitchen the day I become rich. Don’t remember the beer I had but it was good too. I ate at the bar and the bartender is a really cool guy. I stopped through here for one afternoon/​evening in May. I want to go back in the winter when the hotspring pool will be perfect.

Wonderful place. Cool history and great food. Loved how the walls were covered with people and stories about the resort.
The people working there were wonderful. Watched an event finishing up in the restaurant. A rehearsal dinner to a wedding. It was obvious the event planner at the resort had planned everything perfectly as the wedding party left they were raving about the evening.
The saloon is a hoot. Baseball hats hanging everywhere. Great beer on tap and a jukebox to keep your toes tapping.

Well let me start off by saying that the customer service at the front desk suck. Every interaction with the front desk staff pushed me off the edge.
When we checked in, my dad asked if we could get a room on the ground floor because one of his children has a physical disability (aka me). They stared at me and said they’re completely booked aka «no». Dad then asked if there was an elevator available and they said no. Great accommodations thus far. I can understand if we show up late at night and there are no rooms on the ground level available. HOWEVER, this was not the case. We checked in early in the evening and there were plenty of rooms on the ground floor not being occupied. With the exception of our car, the parking lot in our section was almost empty. Dad said they probably didn’t believe him since I looked young. If that is the case then shame on them. Not handicapped friendly. (STRIKE ONE)
We also asked around for places to eat and the lady at the front desk pointed us to the saloon and the poolside grill. We settled with the poolside grill because the saloon was not appropriate for my brother who is underaged. Food was mediocre at best and has a fast food kinda feel. I later found out through Unilocal that they actually have a third restaurant with higher end food available that we would have enjoyed. The lady neglected to point out this important piece of information… (STRIKE TWO)
There was also one particular lady (middle aged, glasses, caucasian) at the front desk who rolled her eyes at me every time I stopped by to ask her a question or grab a few towels for the pool. Yes, I noticed your passive aggressive behavior. So rude. (STRIKE THREE)
Our hotel room was average but does lack amenities such as a TV, fridge, and microwave. You can hear people next door shower, door closings, and every time someone walks by outside. For ~$ 170/​night, you definitely expect a little bit more. They didn’t even give us conditioner. I tried their hot springs pool which they piped water from local hot springs. Water is lukewarm where I was at and apparently gets a little warmer by the bar side of the pool. However, I never made my way to that side of the pool because it was crowded with loud, rowdy kids and drunk people. Though I like that the water is not treated with chlorine, the thought of sharing untreated water with a bunch of people grossed me out and I left soon after.
I can see this resort as a 4 stars kinda establishment if customer service was better. It has a very serene and beautiful landscape, and I can see it being a good «escape» from city life. However, I didn’t travel this far to be treated like a second-​class citizen.

Review of pool only:
Essentially our standard public pool — locker rooms w/​not quite functional showers, families, noisy kids — but hot. There is a small ultra hot section; the main pool is slightly cooler. The pool is open air but enclosed on all sides by the building, so there is no view. For the adults, there is a bar adjacent to the pool so you can sip a beer while you soak. A novelty perhaps worth checking out if you’re passing through.

The highlight for us was the hot springs pool. I didn’t mind the eclectic mix of people. Our kids, 9 and 7, enjoyed themselves floating around while the husband I enjoyed the saloon beverages poolside. We ate at the fancy restaurant which was way overpriced at best. The rest of our meals we ate at the poolside grill. I loved the espresso at the gift shop especially after driving from NW North Dakota and drinking gas station coffee along the way. (But I’m a coffee snob from Seattle)
My kids took a pony ride — definitely worth the price for the smiles during and afterwards!
Our family participated in a rafting excursion. I had a good time but my kids weren’t as thrilled as I’d hoped.
We stayed in the lodge which was loud, old, and hot but clean.

We did not stay at the resort but we did get a day pass for the «pool». The entire pool was covered in dead flies. There was a large mix of people… families with young children including babies, single people drinking in the pool and poolside, a much (much) older crowd using the hotter pool. The price of admission was not worth it.

We did the «pony» ride at Rockin HK outfitters with our 5 year old daughter. Wrangler Kristi was SO nice, personable and informative…

If you are looking for good views a decent evening of casual dining, this is a good spot. I recommend the cabins, otherwise Chico H.S. is an over priced motel. The pool was crowded with an eclectic mix of people. We chose to not partake.
The ownership seems to have missed the mark when it comes to simple comfort choices. The robes, towels and sheets all felt like sand paper. The cabins had a cheap dorm refrigerator and no microwave. We asked for a microwave and it was vintage!
This place is doing well so something is amiss in terms of caring for the customer. Felt like they are taking the location and hot springs for granted and gouging the consumer without providing simple comfort items.
Can’t say I would go back but a decent experience.

This place is great! We did a soak and had a drink following a great hike at Pine Creek.
I would love to come back, stay longer and try the main dining area.
The facilities were clean and well maintained.
Great destination!

their brunch buffet had me sold!
hot spring was nice and view was amazing. soaked the stress away and stayed in a chalet on the hill with beautiful views of the mountains and quite a few deers came by to visit! being one with nature took on a whole other meaning. i wish we stayed for longer.
the brunch was heavenly. all you can eat for $ 9.99 and let me tell you, it was some of the BEST i’ve had. better than the 5 star hotels. sausages, bacon weren’t too salty like they usually are, think they make it in house. eggs/​salsa combination was so delicious, i kept going back for more. rum french toast was very good as well, their granola is made in house also. so much goodness that it was the most memorable meal on our trip hands down.
great run little inn, a must visit.

I was here for a wedding for some good friends back in October 2012. Beautiful venue, though definitely a bit remote.
The hotel portion is a mish mash of rooms — some have bathrooms, others have communal facilities, beds are basically whatever they could fit into the room. The hotel likely grew organically over time, adding a wing here, a few rooms there, etc.
Facilities for the wedding were great. Some of my friends stayed in the newer cabins, which are definitely a step up from the older hotel.
My only other hot springs experience in Montana is Fairmont. Chico is definitely more the mom and pop, small operator. Fairmont’s got the polish of a large commercial resort, while Chico’s more small town Montana.
I didn’t actually soak, but the hot springs pool looked a little bigger than a pool you might find in someone’s backyard or a small apartment complex. My friends who did soak seemed to appreciate it.
They do have WiFi (yeah, I’m one of those guys who has a hard time disconnecting from the outside world, even in remote parts of Big Sky), it seems like they set it up themselves. Access points are a hodge podge, and even though they’re all configured to the same SSID, they require logins through a web portal whenever you move from one to the other…
If I were doing it again, I’d probably stay in the cabins, but they’ve got a price premium.

Ask a Unilocal Whisperer
QOTD (Question of the Day)
January 8, 2014
HNY, YW!!! I’m hoping that you can help me to get the new year off to an edgy and adventurous start. You know — something fun, cool, and useful. Whatta ya got, Whisperah?
Mark M.
Salem, Mass.
Hi Mark,
Well, I’d start off 2014 by doing something totally unexpected, something utterly unprecedented, but just not tooooo extreme. Test your limits, but then reward yourself with a special treat.
In other words, try Yellowstone in winter, followed by a day or two of recuperation at Chico Hot Springs, where the wines are vintage, the whiskey is local, the setting is historic, and the waters are healing. Plus, Paradise Valley is lovely in early January, and on a clear blue day, the Absaroka Range is amazingly scenic.
But Chico is above all about rustic bliss, authentic Montana spa culture that is a mix of old, new, and bits and pieces that fall somewhere in-​between. Timelessness, but with a twist. (
)
So ski the continental divide to Old Faithful, passing geysers and frozen waterfalls on the way; watch the stars come out at night while lost in a cloud of steam; stare down bison from atop a speeding snowmobile; photograph wildlife to your heart’s content, and then when you’ve had your fill of Yellowstone in winter, head North to Chico, where the dinner menu is excellent, the breakfast buffet is delicious, and the hot springs at sunrise are superb. The whiskey (RoughStock, from Bozeman) ain’t too bad, either.
CHS is family-​owned, and they run it with a mix of openness and can-​do attitude. Locals come here with the children for swimming in the pool even when the temperatures are subzero outside, and all sorts of others, from writers and film stars to senior citizens and stargazers, seem to populate the hallways and saloon barstoools. Summer might draw a bigger crowd to the pool, but in the deep of winter, you’ll be soaking in good company. Not in solitude, but with enough elbow room to enjoy the big skies and deep snows surrounding you (
).
Have a good time finding your next adventure, Mark. Hope that it takes you to Chico.

yuuuuuuuuck!!! what a waste of gas/​time/​money. I came here on my way back from Yellowstone and thought it would be nice to soak in some hot springs for a bit. what a mistake!
The old, musty, and crowded lobby should’ve been my first sign to turn and leave, but stupidly I thought the hot springs itself would be better. So my friend and I forked over $ 15 and bought two day passes.
To get to the hot springs you have to walk through a bar and the bartender presses a buzzer to let you into the hot springs/​pool area. The bar was dark and again old and musty — the second sign we should’ve just left!
The hot springs itself was a big disappointment. It was just a pool (not even a really big one at that) with murky blue water in it and a ton of kids running around and jumping in and splashing other patrons. The tiles around the pool are old and the grout in between them is dirty and looks like it could use a good scrubbing with some bleach.
Since I wasn’t a guest of the hotel, I had to go into their restroom/​locker room to change into my swim suit. That restroom was really gross. I’ll just leave it at that. I had a icky/​displeased expression on my face which I tried (unsuccessfully) to hide because I didn’t want my friend to think I was annoyed, but I really wanted to just leave right then and there without even getting in the pool.
Getting into the water it felt just like bath water, not as hot as I would’ve wanted it to be. From living in Phoenix I’ve been in some regular pools that were hotter than this! Needless to say, we didn’t stay long. We swam around for a while to try and get our money’s worth, but eventually just gave it up as a lost cause and went home.
never again!