Hot Springs is about an hour and a half from Little Rock. For tourists, there is really more to do in Hot Springs than there is Little Rock. There is historic downtown Hot Springs, the springs themselves, Magic Springs amusement park, the Arlington, and I think some other stuff as well. As for Little Rock, there is the Clinton Library as well as Pinnacle Mountain. The Old Mill is in North Little Rock. Malls...there is Park Plaza but while nice by Little Rock standards is tiny and lacking compared to malls in most urban areas in the country.

Little Rock has a few malls. I don't know how "good" they are, but they each fill a different niche. There's McCain Mall (the most dated of the bunch, but the largest traditional mall in town) just across the river in North Little Rock McCain Mall - North Little Rock, AR 72116 | Simon Malls, Park Plaza Mall in Midtowne (pretty nice) Park Plaza Mall - 501.664.4956, and The Promenade at Chenal (upscale "lifestyle" center, aka outdoor mall) The Promenade at Chenal - Home (http://www.chenalshopping.com/default.asp - broken link) out in west Little Rock. Hot Springs isn't far, about an hour from downtown to downtown. Little Rock has a zoo the kids might like, the Clinton library (which they might not ), a submarine and river boat on the north side of the river, some beautiful parks, historic sites downtown, and will likely have some events going on in the River Market area while you're there. Hot Springs has an amusement park and water park the kids might enjoy, and bathhouse row, Oaklawn, and the lakes.

Shoot up to Mountain View one day and go to the caverns and the Ozark Folk Center. Music on the square on Saturday evenings I think. Go to the Buffalo River and float. Unless you plan to stay in Little Rock the whole time.

Hot Springs is definitely not an hour and a half from Little Rock. Mapquest says 1 hour 2 minutes, but I do it in about 45 minutes all the time.

You could spend a FULL day in Hot Springs and not hit all the options for families.

Your kids would like Magic Springs/Crystal Falls. They have a lot of concerts there too - This season, they have anything from Ted Nugent to Bob the Builder.

Another interesting family spot is the Mid-America Science Museum. I took my 5 yr old last week and we both loved it. They have the largest conical Tesla coil in they world, and the fire it up about every hour. That is quite a sight.

MLPalmer, you probably should've posted this in the Little Rock Metro subforum. I can already sense the Northwest Arkansas bias, and anti-Little Rock sentiment in this thread... I'll try to answer your questions when I get off of work.

I don't see any of that, and I see no mention of NWA before your statement in this thread at all. Contrary to what some people try to believe, Arkansas is not divided into two factions who can't get along . bchris was not very fond of Park Plaza mall, but other than that, I think people have been offering valid suggestions. I do think that people in the Little Rock subforum would be more familiar with smaller attractions in the area, as well as upcoming events.

check this site for some ideas.

Sightseeing: LRCVB

I'd definitely do at least a day/night in Hot Springs as well.

Attractions Hot Springs AR Arkansas National Parks, Museums, Zoos, Wineries, Tours - City Guide