Contents

Balboa & Coronado Golf Clubs
Cortez Golf Club
Cortez Pavillion
Coronado Center & Natatorium
Scenic Overlook
Albert Pike & Airport
Visitors Center & Malvern Ave.
Malvern or Central Via Gulpha Road
Malvern or Garland Public Library Shortcut
Library From Central
Central & MLK Intersection
Movie Theater in Benton
Four Ways to I-30 West
I-40 West
Little Rock

From Isabella to spots in the Village

When you first move to the Village, the winding roads can make it easy to get lost. These directions all start by going west on DeSoto from Isabella, and if followed correctly, are guaranteed to get you where you are going with maximum efficiency.

Balboa and Coronado Golf Clubs

• Left on Balboa, just after the Woodlands Auditorium
• Right at the stop sign on Baleric
• Watch for the golf course signs on the left.
• Coming back, it is easy to miss the left turn on to Balboa from Baleric. It is at the top of a slight hill. If you miss it, just go on down to Ponce and up Ponce to DeSoto. The only bad part is that Ponce is 30 MPH much of the way while Balboa is 45.
  

Cortez Golf Club


• Right on Minorca, at the bottom of the steep hill on Desoto.
• Right at the stop sign on Cortez.
• Watch for golf course sign on left.

Cortez Pavillion

The boat ramp for Lake Cortez and a sample landscape
display are also located at this spot.
• Right on Carmona.
• Watch for the pavillion on a short distance on the right.

Coronado Center & Natatorium


• Left on Baleric, just after the POA building.
• Turn left in front of the Texaco station.

Scenic Overlook


• Right on Minorca.
• Right on Jarandilla.
• Going up a steep hill, watch for the scenic overlook sign on the left.

Hot Springs

Albert Pike Rd. (Hwy. 270) & the Airport (Hwy. 70):


• Go through downtown on Hwy. 7.
• Turn right on Ouachita (where the right lane must turn).
• Follow it on around and it turns into Albert Pike.
• If going to the airport, watch for the signs for Hwy.70.
• Other places to go out Hwy. 70 include Ouachita Outdoor Outfitters, Lake Hamilton high school where some concerts are held, and on down 70 to Glenwood where you can rent canoes to float on the Caddo River.

  Going through downtown and out Ouachita is normally faster than taking Gulpha Road, but coming back, it is normally faster to take Gulpha Road. (See below.)

  Jim Wildhaber offers an alternative route to Albert Pike:

• Take 5 and 7 downtown and turn right at the first fountain -- Whittington.
• Go about a half mile and watch for a large sign that says "West Mountain."
• Turn left and follow the road over the mountain--great views--to the stop sign at Prospect.
• Turn right and follow it. Prospect merges with Grand right at the turn before Grand turns into Albert Pike.

  By taking this route, you miss every red light until you get on Albert Pike.
  You get only two stop signs and one yield sign.

Visitors Center & Malvern Ave.:


• Go through downtown and watch for a large electronic sign on the left. That is the visitors center.
• Turn left on the road past the visitors center then right and you are on Malvern, but there is a better way to get to Malvern--

Malvern or Central via Gulpha Road:



Taking Gulpha Road seems like going out of your way, but it isn't. It is about the same distance as going through downtown, but there are fewer lights, less traffic, and the speed limit is higher.

• Going towards Hot Springs, watch for the signs for Gulpha Gorge Park.
• The Gulpha Road turn is just in front of Mickey's Barbecue.
• When you get through the park, turn right and on up to Hwy.70.
• Hwy. 70 ends right away and becomes Grand.
• Follow Grand to the Malvern or Central street lights.

  Coming back home this way is a little trickier. Where Grand turns into Hwy. 70, you can see two exits on the right. The two exits merge and let you turn left onto Gulpha Rd.

  But a quicker way to Gulpha Rd. is to take the left turn lane where Grand turns into a highway. This lets you go down the road on the left of Hwy.70 instead of taking the exits to the right side, but you are turning in front of traffic coming from Hwy. 70. Most of the time, it's light, but if it looks heavy, take the other exits to the right.

Malvern or Garland Public Library Shortcut:


Out Malvern Ave. is the Garland County Library, the NPMC Hospital, the Hot Springs Country Club, and a connection to Hwy. 240 (MLK) to Central. You can also stay on Malvern to get to I-30. This is faster than taking Hwy. 7 to I-30.

Traffic usually backs up badly at the light at Grand and Malvern, resulting in a long wait. Here is an alternative, though this has a tricky turn to it:

• Take Gulpha Road and Grand, as above.
• Watch for Dodge's gas station on the left (which is often the lowest price for gas, and they have good fried chicken).
• Take the first left after Dodge's.
• At the top of the second hill, the road turns to the right and there are some poles in the middle of the road.
• Turn to the left at the end of the poles. You'll actually be continuing on straight as the road you were on bends right.
• At the second stop sign, you will see the library on the right.
• Turn right and go to the libary or on past the library to Malvern.

• If you are not a fanatic about taking shortcuts, you can still save time by taking Gulpha Road to Grand and then stay on Grand until you get to Malvern and turn left.
• Coming back, it's about as fast to stay on Malvern to Grand because there is a right turn lane at the light on Grand -- no waiting. But if you are coming from the library, might as well take the shortcut back.

The Library From Central:



If you are coming up Central and want to go to the library, you can go all the way up to Grand, turn right and go to Malvern, turn right again and come back to the library, or you can take the shortcut above.

Coming up Central, watch for the old building(s) on the left with the striped awnings. That is where you turn right on Belding. You'll also see a traffic light at the next intersection. If you miss the turn at Belding, you can turn right at the light and circle around. Better print out this map or write down the street names. It's easy to get turned around. When you get to Malvern, it's just a quick right turn and left turn to the library.

On a side note -- The street at the traffic light leads to the Prince Of Peace ("POP") church where one Saturday night a month they have the POPs Concert featuring two musical groups or soloists. Admission is $5 and is well worth it most of the time.

Central and MLK:


MLK is Martin Luther King freeway (270). Central is the same as Hwy.7. If you are going anywhere around this intersection or even further down Central, you don't want to go through downtown and down Central, especially if anything is going on at the race track. At best, Central will be badly backed up at MLK.
• Take Gulpha Road to Grand to Malvern
  (Take the Malvern shortcut if you wish.)
• Go out Malvern past the country club and watch for the 128 turn-off on the right. A bank office is on the corner.
• Turn right on 128 and go down to 270 ("MLK") and turn right to get on it.
• Watch for the Hwy. 7 exit.

Movie Theater in Benton

Before the Wal-Marts in Hot Springs were expanded to include groceries, we used to go to the Wal-Mart in Benton to grocery shop. It's still no longer to Benton than it is to either Wal-Mart in H.S. -- about 30 minutes.

The movie theater in Benton is far superior to anything in H.S. It has stadium seating and better sound.

The normal way to get to the theater USED TO BE to stay on 5 straight until it runs into the I-30 service road, then turn left, but now the service road is one-way.

So now you have to take the shortcut: When you get near Benton, the road splits (to the right you come to a traffic light and from there you go to a bridge over I-30), or stay straight and you run into I-30 very shortly and you can only turn right. You need to be familiar with that split in the road because for the shortcut, you have to take the last road to the left before the split. That is Dogwood Drive. Follow it all the way to the theater shopping center. You can come back the same way, or on the I-30 service road.

To The Highways

Five Ways to I-30 West:

There are several ways to get to I-30 going west. Of course, to I-30 going east, you just go to Benton, but that is how we also used to go all the time to get to I-30 west before learning a faster route.

One advantage of coming and going through Benton is that it is easier and you avoid going through Hot Springs. While it is a little longer, it is faster because you are on I-30 longer doing 70.

Here are other ways to come and go:

A. Take Hwy. 7 all the way to I-30. You have to drive through Hot Springs, which is time consuming. You can also get stuck behind slow traffic on the winding, mostly 2-lane Hwy. 7, so this is slow.

B. Take the Gulpha Road shortcut to get to Malvern Avenue (see above). Take Malvern all the way to I-30. This is a less direct route than Hwy.7, but you avoid most of the H.S. traffic, Malven is a less twisty road, and it is 4-lane most of the way.

C. From the East gate (or Balboa gate), turn right on Hwy. 5 to Hwy. 128 on the left. Stay on 128 until it comes out on Hwy. 70. Turn left on 70 and follow it to I-30. This is the faster route than the ones above because you avoid H.S. completely, and it is more direct than going through Benton.

D. A shortcut on the last shortcut is to turn LEFT on Hwy. 5 when you come out the East Gate, go a two miles and turn right. This road is called the "Owensville C/O" (cut-off). Follow it for about 5 miles and it runs into Ira Williams road and bears to the right. Very shortly after that you come to Hwy. 128. Turn left and proceed as above (in C). You cannot go as fast on this road as on 128 because it twists and is a tight squeeze for two cars abreast, but it is HALF the distance of going down 5 to 128 and out to the same point.

I-40 West:


Some people go across the Village and up 7 to I-40. An easier drive is to take Hwy. 5 towards Benton and turn left on Hwy. 9, just past the fire station. Take Hwy. 9 up to I-40.

Hwy. 9 doesn't twist around as much as Hwy. 7, and instead of driving west across the Village at 30-45 MPH, when you get up to I-40, you are driving west at 70 MPH.

This is the faster way to go even if you are eventually going up Hwy. 7 north of I-40, which is probably the most scenic drive in the state.

To Little Rock:


A ton of stores and restaurants are in West Little Rock just off Shackleford. To get there, take I-30 and get off on 430 and watch for the Shackleford exit.

If you are going to the Shackleford area, or if you just can't stand to be on I-30, below is a back route you can take. This road is 45 MPH most of the way and only one stop sign before you get to LR. Traffic is normally pretty light.

1. Take 5 towards Benton, but turn left on Hwy. 9, just past the fire station.

2. Stay on 9 until you reach Paron. When you see the "Paron" sign, take the next right, which turns (right) onto a road which eventually becomes Kanis. If you miss the first turn in Paron, take the next one, which is the same road.

3. When you reach LR, Kanis runs into Chenal Pkwy. and has a stop sign. Turn right onto Chenal and stay on it as it goes into the Shackleford shopping area.

This route is easier driving, but probably not any faster (and may even take longer) than going I-30. But if you find yourself in the Shackleford area around 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. needing to head back to HSV, this route back to the Village may be much faster than going down 430 to I-30, which can back up for a couple of miles.

Going back, you may not remember where to turn on to Kanis, so here's a tip: Go out Shackleford until you see an Acura dealer on your right. Just past that is a gas station on the right and the Kanis Road turn-off on the left.

Then just follow this road back to Hwy. 9 in Paron and turn left on 9, back down to 5, right on 5, etc.