Ainsworth Hot Springs

Mineral water in a horseshoe-shaped cave above Kootenay Lake, British Columbia.

Hontanar

Bathing: Indoor / Outdoor
Established: 1930
Accommodation: Hotel on site

Ainsworth Hot Springs sits on a bench above Kootenay Lake in the Selkirk Mountains. Its defining feature is a horseshoe-shaped cave, followed on foot through waist-deep mineral water and steam, that returns bathers to a large open pool with a view down the lake. A cold plunge fed by mountain water completes the circuit.

Balnevia view

Why visit

Few thermal baths anywhere let you walk into the rock itself; the cave, the terrace pool and the cold plunge make an unusually physical bathing ritual.

The water

Thermal water

Source: Cave spring
Mineralisation: Calcium, magnesium and sulphate mineral water
Character: Mineral water flows through a horseshoe-shaped rock cave before reaching the open terrace pool; a cold plunge is fed by mountain water.

History

The springs were used by the Ktunaxa long before silver prospectors arrived in the 1880s and tunnelled into the hillside, leaving the passages that became the bathing cave. A resort has operated here since the early twentieth century, and since 2015 the property has been owned by the Lower Kootenay Band (Yaqan Nuʔkiy).

Practical information

Open year-round with a hotel and restaurant on site. Towel and swimsuit rental is available; the cave is warm and humid, and time inside it is best kept short.