On Walkabout At: Riverbend Hot Springs, New Mexico

My wife and I really enjoy checking out various hot springs.  Besides the US we have tried out various hot springs in Korea, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand.  To our surprise one of the best hot springs experience we have had was when we recently stayed at the Riverbend Hot Springs Resort in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico:

I had heard about this resort from a friend in El Paso who had stayed here and also read about in New Mexico magazine.  After hearing and reading good things about the resort my wife and I decided to spend a couple of nights at the resort.  There are a few hot springs resorts in Truth or Consequences but this one is unique because it is located right on the Rio Grande River and is beautifully backdropped by Turtleback Mountain:

My wife and I had no issues checking in when we arrived and were taken to the King Suite that we reserved:

The King Suite was really a beautifully furnished and clean room.  The kitchen had everything you would expect from a suite, a stove, microwave, sink, and fridge:

The kitchen and living room and combined in one room.  The living room half of the room has a sofa, a lamp, and a coffee table:

The bedroom is in an adjacent room and like the rest of the suite it colorful and beautifully furnished:

The bathroom is connected to the bedroom.  It is small, but we really like the Southwestern style decor they used to decorate the bathroom:

The price for this room was $90, which I thought was a really fair price considering the size, cleanliness, and decor of the room not to mention free access to the hot springs pools outside.  Really the only negative thing I had to say about the room was that the entrance into the bathroom was too small for a tall guy like me.  I hit my head a few times walking into the restroom.

Something else I liked about the King Suite was that it was located adjacent to the courtyard area in the middle of the resort:

Most of the other rooms in the resort are located outside of the walled courtyard area and require visitors to walk a short distance to reach the hot springs.  The King Suite is located literally right across from the pools:

There are two types of pools at the resort, public pools and private pools.  For the public pools there are three of them located under a covered building:

The public pools are free to all guests that stay at the resort and there is a fee for using the pools for day visitors:

Then there are two more public pools located adjacent to the Rio Grande River.  The pools under the building are slightly hotter than those located right along the river.  However, those pools provide some really nice views of the Rio Grande River and Turtleback Mountain:

The private pools the resort has are by reservation only and cost a fee even for guests staying at the resort.  The three private pools vary in temperature from 105-108 degrees.  Each of the private pools is walled off from each other look out over the river:

My wife and I received a free private pool voucher since we booked multiple nights at the resort in the King Suite.  We decided to try out the hottest pool called the Rio:

The private pool was quite nice but it may not be worth paying the extra money for if you are staying at the resort and have free access to the public pools.  However, if you have a small group and are looking for a pool to hang out together with some privacy then it would probably be worth the fee.   My wife and I actually bought some extra time in the pool because our two year old was having a great time playing in the water.  Young children can not go into the pools but we brought a small tub that we put water into for her to splash around in.  So while she was splashing in her little tub my wife and I were enjoying the pool.  The water in the pool is not the hottest we have been in but it was still a hot enough temperature to really relax in and feel quite good coming out of.

I highly recommend that anyone traveling on I-25 between El Paso and Albuquerque to spend the night here and check out the hot springs if you need to spend the night some where for your drive.  I additionally recommend that anyone who lives in the area to check this place out.  The service is great, the rooms affordable & clean, and the hot springs pools relaxing.  The only negative I can really think of is the that starting in 2012 children under age 12 are no longer allowed to stay at the resort.  So that means that for families like ours we will no longer be able to stay here again until our kids get older.  So we are a bit disappointed about that and we will have to check out one of the other hot springs resorts the next time we are passing through TorC.  However, for those without young children I would be surprised if you can find a better hot springs resort in TorC than Riverbend Hot Springs.