Bonneville Hot Springs Resort & Spa Review

Since my boyfriends family is from the Columbia gorge area, we knew we wanted to try the Bonneville Hot Springs Resort & Spa at some point as it’s only about a 40 minute drive from where we currently live now. My husbands brother had a free night certificate for working with the resort for business and decided to give it to us as a wedding gift along with a $50 gift card for anything in the resort. Good thing, because I wouldn’t have paid for their ridiculous $200-$250 nightly fee otherwise.

Upon pulling up and walking inside, it looks nice and cozy. Something you imagine a resort to look like in the gorge or mountain area. But the rooms for a resort need quite a bit of updating, especially with the price they charge. To me, it doesn’t feel like a resort, but I guess I have nothing else to compare it to because I’ve never actually been to one. The natural hot springs hot tub on the deck was nice, but the hot tub was far too small to be relaxing with anymore than 2 adults. His brothers and nephews stopped by to use the hot tub after work, which was fine, but there’s no way all of us could have fit.  I like that they don’t use chemicals that cause your skin to dry out and feel tight after sitting in there for a half an hour to an hour. And we got a nice view of the parking lot from our deck, which I figured would ruin any romantic gestures.

The bed was fine and comfortable, and the TV was a regular tube style TV. For a resort, that should be the first thing that’s upgraded. I compare the rooms to a shilo inn, but nothing that qualifies it to be called a resort other than the fact it has a spa room that charges an arm and a leg for a simple massage and beauty applications. We did not partake in that, since we didn’t really need it.

We decided to head down to the restaurant for dinner and noticed that the menu had about 6 things on it, none of which appeared appetizing to my husband. He asked the waitress if that was all they had and they said yes, but there was an additional menu for the bar area. I wouldn’t have minded having the salmon dinner in the dining room but we headed over to the bar after he decided that he’d much rather prefer something on their menu. The waitress kindly told me that I could order the salmon over there, but I didn’t want to make it too difficult for them, so I just stuck with the halibut and fries, which BTW were not cooked at the right temperature in the deep fryer since they were soggy and lacked flavor. My husband ordered the Bonneville bacon burger and he shared a bite with me and I was kicking myself for not ordering that or my salmon as I originally intended. The burger had so much flavor and was mouth watering. Probably one of the best burgers I’ve tasted and I am not even kidding! When we pass through the area to go visit his family, we’ll definitely be stopping there for lunch just to have a burger. YUM!

I didn’t get a chance to try out the pool that’s also filled with natural hot springs because check in time is after 4pm and we didn’t get there until 6, in which we had dinner and then enjoyed the hot tub in our room on the deck. I hear it’s really great, but not exactly big enough to accommodate a busy resort.

I was also hoping that the miniature golf would be under a covered area since it rains in the pacific northwest about 9 months out of the year. You’d think this would be a no brainer, but I guess they wanted it to feel authentic and outdoorsy in a wooded area. So unfortunately, since it was pouring buckets, we didn’t get to play.

Other than that, the experience was fine and I am grateful that I got a chance to try it out even if it didn’t exactly fit my standards of a resort. Guess that’s what happens when you’ve stayed in luxury hotels in Vegas.

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