The New Mexico hot springs road trip — 16 open soaks in the West's most clothing-optional state

The numbers: why New Mexico is the free-spirit state

• 18 springs mapped, 16 open. Skip two: the listing literally named Hot Springs in the town of Hot Springs is closed and has zero reviews — it's the directory's worst name trap, don't chase it. Hacienda del Camino Real & Hot Springs in Radium Springs is temporarily closed; at 4.8 from 68 reviews it was the highest-rated spring in the state, so check its status before you drive there.
• 6 of 16 open springs are clothing-optional — the highest share of any state we track. Faywood Hot Springs, Manby Hot Springs, Black Rock Hot Springs, and San Antonio Hot Springs (by custom) run suits-optional around the clock; the Ojo Caliente Round Barn and Riverbend Hot Springs go clothing-optional after dark. Read our clothing-optional etiquette guide before you go — and note that everywhere else in New Mexico, suits are the default.
• 7 free, 2 $$, 7 $$$. The free seven are real soaks, not consolation prizes — including the 4.6-rated Montezuma Hot Springs on a paved road.
• 9 resort/spa, 7 primitive/backcountry. The state sits almost evenly split — you'll alternate between built pools and canyon rocks within the same day.
• Five open springs have campgrounds on site — Faywood, the Round Barn, Blackstone, Riverbend, and Jordan — so a soak-by-day, camp-by-night itinerary works across all three legs.
• The crowd has spoken. Riverbend Hot Springs (4.8 from 4,641 reviews) is the most-reviewed spring in New Mexico and one of the most-reviewed in the entire directory. Hoosier Hot Springs & Inn (4.9 from 197) is the highest-rated spring in the state. When a small inn beats a resort that outdraws it 20-to-1 on reviews, both are worth your time.
• Truth or Consequences holds four commercial soaks in one town — Riverbend, Blackstone, Hoosier, and Fire Water — the densest paid cluster in New Mexico. The Jemez Mountains hold the densest free cluster, with three free or cheap canyon springs within a few miles.

Leg 1: The Jemez corridor — canyon water near Albuquerque

Start from Albuquerque and run north into the Jemez Mountains, where the volcanic caldera feeds a string of springs along the canyon road. Base yourself in Jemez Springs, which holds three springs within minutes of each other. Spence Hot Springs ($$, 4.1 from 525, short walk) is the workhorse — easy access, steady crowd, the spring most people mean when they say "Jemez". Jemez Hot Springs ($$, 4.6 from 920, clothing required, paved road) is the better-rated, more built-out option — and notably one of the few New Mexico springs where the policy is explicitly suits-on, so the etiquette is unambiguous. San Antonio Hot Springs (free, clothing-optional by custom, 4.4 from 18) is the quiet third — but not a short walk: the last stretch is a steep, exposed 0.7-mile hike-in, the Forest Service road to it closes seasonally, and the reviews are thin, so treat it as a detour, not a destination.

The leg's hike is McCauley Spring (free, 4.6 from 29, hike-in listed at 5 miles) — the rating-per-review is excellent but the sample is small and the walk is real. This is the trip's first filter: if the hike sounds like the point, New Mexico is your state. If it sounds like a chore, the T-or-C leg will suit you better.

Leg 2: Taos and Ojo Caliente — the northern loop

Head north to Ojo Caliente, where the two resort entries of the leg sit minutes apart. Ojo Caliente Mineral Springs Resort & Spa ($$$, 4.5 from 4,198) is the northern anchor and the second-most-reviewed spring in the state — the one big-name destination property in New Mexico. (It's a drive-up: the operator's directions run north from Santa Fe on US-285 for 50 miles, then 0.4 miles on NM-414 to the resort.) The Ojo Caliente Hot Springs Round Barn ($$$, 4.6 from 40, clothing-optional after dark, campground on site) is the smaller, stranger sibling — a genuinely unusual soak, and the campground makes it a natural overnight.

East of Ojo, the two free northern soaks reward the driver who keeps going. Montezuma Hot Springs (free, 4.6 from 441, paved road) is the best free value in the north — easy to reach and the rating holds across 441 reviews. Ponce de Leon Springs (free, 4.3 from 17, short walk) is the quieter northern stop; thin reviews, but the access is easy.

Then Taos County's clothing-optional pair, both on the primitive end. Manby Hot Springs (free, clothing-optional, 4.1 from 106, hike-in 3.4 miles) and Black Rock Hot Springs (free, clothing-optional, 4.2 from 98, short walk) are the trip's wildest water — name-collision warning: Nevada has a different Black Rock Hot Springs; ours is the Taos County one. Manby takes a real hike, while Black Rock is a short walk: independent trip reports put it about 0.3 mile from the parking area near the John Dunn Bridge (BLM publishes no mileage). Both are suits-optional by policy, not by rumor. Read the etiquette guide first.

Leg 3: Truth or Consequences and the southwest — the spa town

Drive south down the Rio Grande to the trip's anchor town. Truth or Consequences — the only town in our directory with four commercial soaks inside its limits — and you can hit all four in a day. Riverbend Hot Springs ($$$, 4.8 from 4,641, clothing-optional after dark, campground on site, paved road) is the state's most-reviewed spring and the town's headline — soak in the evening when the pools go suits-optional. Hoosier Hot Springs & Inn ($$$, 4.9 from 197) is the highest-rated spring in New Mexico — small, and the inn stay is the draw. Blackstone Hotsprings ($$$, 4.6 from 816, campground on site) and Fire Water Lodge Hot Springs Spa ($$$, 4.6 from 407) round out the town — both solid, both paved-road easy.

From T-or-C, the southwest gives you the trip's two outliers. Faywood Hot Springs ($$$, 4.6 from 707, clothing-optional, campground on site, paved road) is the full-experience outlier — the one place in the state where you get resort infrastructure, a campground, and an explicit clothing-optional policy all at once. Jordan Hot Springs (free, 3.9 from 26, hike-in, campground on site) near Magdalena is the remote one — the lowest rating of the open set, but it's also the most backcountry spring in the state, and the rating reflects the effort more than the water. Before you drive to Radium Springs, recheck Hacienda del Camino Real — temporarily closed, and its 4.8 rating says it was worth visiting when open.

The 7-free strategy

New Mexico's free seven beat most states' paid lists. The north gives you Montezuma (4.6/441, paved) as the easy anchor, Ponce de Leon (4.3/17) as the quiet add-on, McCauley (4.6/29) as the hike-in reward, and the Taos pair — Manby (4.1/106) and Black Rock (4.2/98), both clothing-optional — as the wild finish. San Antonio (4.4/18) fills the Jemez leg, and Jordan (3.9/26, campground on site) anchors the remote southwest. Our free hot springs guide covers the national picture; in New Mexico the free set includes a 4.6-rated paved-road soak, which is better than most states manage at any price.

Where the money goes

Spend at the crowd-validated three. Riverbend (4.8 from 4,641) is the one the whole directory validates — the state's most-reviewed spring by a wide margin. Ojo Caliente (4.5 from 4,198) is the northern destination resort. Hoosier (4.9 from 197) is the splurge — the highest rating in the state at a small inn where the stay is part of the soak. The value play is Faywood (4.6 from 707) — resort water, explicit clothing-optional policy, and an on-site campground, all at $$$ but with the free sleeping arrangement.

Practical notes

• The name trap: the directory contains a listing literally named "Hot Springs" in a town called Hot Springs — it's closed, has zero reviews, and isn't going anywhere. The real soaks are in Truth or Consequences (four), Jemez Springs (three), Taos County (two), and Ojo Caliente (two). Don't chase the name.
• Clothing policy matters here more than anywhere else. Six of the 16 open springs run clothing-optional at least part of the day — but that means 10 don't. The Round Barn and Riverbend are suits-required by day and optional after dark; everywhere else, the policy is what it says on the page. When in doubt, the etiquette guide is the document of record.
• Verify before you drive. Hacienda del Camino Real is temporarily closed and worth rechecking. Montezuma and Ponce de Leon are paved-road easy.
• Winter: New Mexico is in our winter-soaking set — see the winter hot springs guide. The Jemez and Taos legs are mountain winter; T-or-C stays mild.
• Campgrounds: five open springs have campgrounds on site — Faywood, the Round Barn, Blackstone, Riverbend, and Jordan. The budget trip is real: free soaks in the Jemez and Taos, campgrounds in the south, and resort money only at Riverbend and Ojo.