British Columbia · Developed pools
Halcyon Hot Springs
Halcyon’s terraced mineral pools look across Upper Arrow Lake toward the Monashee Mountains. Hot and warm pools, a cold plunge and a seasonal swimming pool make it a developed resort stop on the Arrow Lakes route.
Historical source coordinate; not a trailhead. Accuracy and datum have not been independently verified. Historical water readings describe source samples, not safe soaking temperatures.
A lake-view soak between Galena Bay and Nakusp
Halcyon sits on the east side of Upper Arrow Lake in the West Kootenay, between Galena Bay and Nakusp. The pools look out across the lake to the mountains beyond, and that view is the thing most visitors remember.
The springs were known to the Sinixt and Ktunaxa peoples, and accounts record that First Nations people helped Robert Waldron Sanderson locate the source.
The lithium sanatorium
Halcyon has the strangest history of any spring in the province. Sanderson bought 400 acres of crown land in 1890 and built a hotel with wooden "plunges" for soaking in the superheated mineral water. By the late 1890s new owners had expanded the property and added a bottling plant that shipped the mineral water to the United States and the United Kingdom.
It was later restored as a sanatorium by Brigadier-General Dr. Frederick Burnham, a British Army surgeon who banned smoking and drinking on the property and promoted the water's unusually high lithium content as curative. The resort achieved international recognition on that basis. Those therapeutic claims are historical and were never clinically established.
Fire, then four decades of nothing
The hotel burned to the ground in 1955, killing Dr. Burnham. The site then lay undeveloped for more than forty years. Reconstruction began in 1998, the resort reopened in 1999, and the modern facilities were completed in 2003.
So the Halcyon you visit is a modern rebuild on a site with a century of history behind it — worth knowing before arriving expecting a heritage building.
Opening hours & season
Day drop-in 9 am–5 pm; evening drop-in 5–10 pm
Adults only 9–10 pm. Day and evening admission sessions are separate; drop-in capacity is limited.
All times are local to the spring. Checked 2026-10-01; this is not a live opening-status display. Closure notices override regular hours.
Our take
Best for travellers drawn to a lake panorama and a comfortable place to linger. Its managed setting is part of the appeal, especially for a trip built around accommodation and relaxation.
Editorial assessment based on published information. No firsthand visit or customer score is implied.
Before you go
Sources & record notes
Geoscience BC’s 2016 compilation · 6 historical sampling records · Source name: Halcyon. References recorded in the dataset: Souther 1973; Souther 1976; Philips 1994; Grasby 2000.
Source notes: 29a; 29b; Elworthy 1923
Sources used for this guide
- Halcyon Hot Springs — history
- Wikipedia — Halcyon Hot Springs, British Columbia
- Arrow Lakes Historical Society — the story of Halcyon Hot Springs
- MonteCristo Magazine — BC's West Kootenay hot springs
Written from the published sources above. Operator hours, access rules and closures change; the official link is authoritative.