Picturesque EUREKA SPRINGS , set on steep mountain slopes in Arkansas's northwestern corner, began life a century ago as a health center. As that role declined, its striking location turned it into a regular tourist destination, given a kitsch edge by its specialty in weddings and honeymoons. It's an enjoyable place to stroll around, filled with tasteful Victorian buildings, and you can ride on the Eureka Springs and North Arkansas Railway through wooded Ozark valleys. Rolling stock includes a magnificent "cabbage-head" wood-burning locomotive, and trips depart on the hour from the depot at 299 N Main St (mid-April to Oct Mon-Sat 10am-4pm; tel 501/253-9623).

Three miles east of town, an incredible religious complex includes the seven-story Christ of the Ozarks - a surreal statue of Jesus with a 60ft arm span - a Bible Museum ($2.50) and a Sacred Arts Center ($2.50). Elna M. Smith, whose Foundation runs the whole show, was so worried that the holy sites of the Middle East would be destroyed by war that she decided to build replicas in the Ozarks, safe from Arab attacks. Minibuses whisk visitors through the two-and-a-half hour New Holy Land Tour (last Fri in April to last Sat in Oct Mon-Sat 9am-3.30pm, Wed 9am-12.45pm; $9 admission includes all attractions) past scaled-down versions of the Sea of Galilee, the River Jordan and Golgotha. Christ's last days on earth are re-enacted with a cast of almost two hundred in the Great Passion Play , in a 4100-seat amphitheater (last Fri in April to Oct nightly except Sun and Wed 8.30pm, after August 7.30pm; $15.75-17.75; tel 1-800/882-7529).

Eureka Springs

• Eureka Springs
• Practicalities

Arkansas cities


All U.S. city guides