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Staycations encourage travelers to stay close to home. It’s the perfect idea to spend your spring break staycation in Arkansas with your family. Towns and communities across Arkansas are full of fun adventures and escapes within driving distance of any corner of the state.
How to Plan a Staycation
When you consider details for a spring break staycation, look for day trips. Whether you pull a one to two-hour circumference from your house or pick a destination and then look at the activities nearby, a staycation is a great way to explore multiple areas with one home base.
- Start where you live. Get online and look at a map, use an app on your phone, pull out an atlas, and draw a circle within a reasonable driving distance for a day trip.
- Research what is available within that radius. Use trip planning websites, this website and Arkansas Tourism website to start your search!
- Write down the ideas that seem enjoyable. Make sure you include everything from indoor and outdoor fun to extreme adventures, shopping spots and new restaurants.
- Make a plan. Get input from your fellow travelers or surprise them and make a daily adventure guide.
Photo used with permission from Arkansas Parks and Tourism
How to Organize a Staycation
Tackle a spring break staycation like you would any other vacation planning. Note your time frame for travel, ask your travel partners for ideas of fun, research and research some more. Then, just have fun!
- Consider a day of rest. Whether this is the first day of your vacation or last, allow children to watch TV, play outside and grow-ups do nothing. Include some time to reset. Look for spa treatments, quiet places to read a new book or nap in a hammock.
- Take the Hometown Scavenger Hunt Challenge and compete as a family or invite another family to join the competition.
- Get outside. Living in the Natural State offers many opportunities to hit a trail, walk a new path, or bike a new adventure. Don’t use the whole time away to stay indoors. Get out and explore!
- Learn something new. Arkansas has museums in every corner of the state covering everything from agriculture to funeral services to rural doctors, fire trucks, toy trains and antique cars.
- Try something new. Vacation is a great time to make memories, so don’t fear the new adventure. Part of vacation is eating at new places you “don’t have back home.” Treat a staycation the same way. Try a new coffee shop, different ethnic food, afternoon treat shop, and splurge a little in your local town.
- Assign a category to each day – rest, outdoor, shopping, play, eat new things. Having a variety for each day makes it easier to determine a plan. Pick something to do from your research that you’ve never done before. Whether it’s in your hometown or requires a little bit of a drive, you will be glad you made a new memory.
15 Spring Break Staycation Experiences in South Arkansas
- Canoe the Caddo River | Glenwood or Arkadelphia
- Lakeport Plantation | Lake Village
- Find the Gurdon Light | Gurdon
- Historic Washington State Park | Washington
- Queen Wilhelmina State Park and Talimena Scenic Byway | Mena
- Clinton’s Birthplace Home National Historic Site | Hope
- Ron Coleman Mining | Mt. Ida
- Crater of Diamonds State Park | Murfreesboro
- McCollum-Chidester Museum | Camden
- Hot Springs National Park | Hot Springs
- Gangsters Museum | Hot Springs
- Historic Baseball Trail | Hot Springs
- Cossatot State Park Natural Area | Gillham
- Nashville Firehouse Museum | Nashville
- South Arkansas Museums to Explore
15 Spring Break Staycation Experiences in Central Arkansas
- Rattlesnake Ridge | Roland
- Daytrips in Little Rock
- Petit Jean State Park and Coffeehouse | Morrilton
- Pinnacle Mountain | Maumelle
- Breath It in Salt Cave | North Little Rock
- Off-Road Adventure Park | Rosebud
- Lindsey’s Resort | Heber Springs
- Mount Holly Cemetery | Little Rock
- Pickles Gap Village | Greenbrier
- Plantation Agricultural Museum | Scott
- Jewel Moore Nature Reserve | Conway
- Collins Creek and Bridal Veil Falls | Heber Springs
- Marlsgate Plantation | Scott
- Old Mill | North Little Rock
- Burns Park | North Little Rock
15 Spring Break Staycation Experiences in Eastern Arkansas
- Blues History Tour | Pine Bluff
- Arkansas Post National Site | Gillet
- Johnny Cash Boyhood Home | Dyess
- Arkansas Entertainers Hall of Fame | Pine Bluff
- Museum of the Grand Prairie | Stuttgart
- Jackson Memorial Museum of Funeral Services | Newport
- ASU Museum | Jonesboro
- Crowley’s Ridge Parkway National Scenic Byway | St. Francis/Helena-West Helena
- Craighead Forest Park | Jonesboro
- NEA Hobbies Racetrack | Jonesboro
- Lake Charles State Park or Powhatan Historic State Park | Powhatan
- Delta Gateway Museum | Blytheville
- White’s Mercantile and Wilson Cafe | Wilson
- Hemingway-Pfeiffer Museum | Piggot
- Freedom Park | Helena
20 Spring Break Staycation Experiences in Northwest Arkansas
- The Best of Fayetteville
- Coler Mountain Bike Preserve | Bentonville
- Peel Mansion | Bentonville
- Museum of Native American History | Bentonville
- Siloam Springs Kayak Park and beyond | Siloam Springs
- Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge | Eureka Springs
- Quigley’s Castle | Eureka Springs
- Wild Wilderness drive-thru Safari | Gentry
- Blue Springs Heritage Center | Eureka Springs
- Eiffel Tower and locket wall | Paris
- Glory Hole Waterfall | Fallsvillle and Edwards Junction
- Villines Homestead Trail | Ponca
- Van Winkle Hollow in Hobbs State Park | Rogers
- Crystal Dome and Mystic Caverns | Harrison
- Woolsey Wet Prairie Sanctuary | Fayetteville
- Historic Cane Hill | Cane Hill
- Tanyard Creek Nature Trail | Bella Vista
- Trolley Car Museum | Fort Smith
- War Eagle Caverns and Gem Mining | Rogers
- Pea Ridge National Military Park | Pea Ridge
15 Spring Break Staycation Experiences in North Arkansas
- Abbey Road Beatles Statue and Rock N Roll Highway | Walnut Ridge
- Natural Bridge | Clinton
- Indian Rock Cave | Fairfield Bay
- Greer’s Ferry Dam | Greer’s Ferry
- Mountain View Music, Dulcimer Shoppe and Ozark Folk Center | Mountain View
- Sylamore Scenic Byway and Swinging Bridge | Allison
- Ghost Town | Calico Rock
- Mellon’s Country Store | Mountain View
- Motor Speedway | Batesville
- Serenity Farm Bread | Leslie
- Ozark and St. Francis National Forest multi-use trails
- Sam’s Throne | Mt Judea
- Rush Ghost Town | Rush (inside Buffalo National River Park)
- Devil’s Canyon and Bushwack Trail | Mulberry
- Jacob Wolf House | Norfork
Other Sources to Research:
- 4 Incredible Arkansas Destination Cities
- Arkansas Delta Road Trip
- Arkansas Family Destinations
- Horseback Trail Riding in Arkansas
- Ozark Road Trip
- Arkansas Moon Trees
- Arkansas Quilt Trails
- 8 Mountain Bike Trails in Central and Northeast Arkansas
- Arkansas Women Outdoor Network
- Bike Trails of Arkansas
- Arkansas Game and Fish Nature and Education Centers
- Arkansas State Parks
- Recreation.gov – lake and camping reservations
- Alltrails.com – waterfall and hiking trail information
- Arkansas Roadside Attractions
All images used with permission from Arkansas Parks and Tourism
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