Stretching across 28,000 acres in the upper Ozarks, Beaver Lake offers 487 miles of clear shoreline framed by towering limestone bluffs. Anglers chase striped bass, kayakers glide into quiet coves, and twelve Corps-managed parks provide boat ramps and picnic spots. The reservoir was completed in 1966 for flood control and power generation.

Blue Spring Heritage Center occupies 33 acres west of Eureka Springs, where a natural spring releases 38 million gallons of water daily into a trout-filled lagoon. Wooden walkways wind past native gardens to a bluff shelter listed on the National Register of Historic Places, once a stop along the Trail of Tears.

Cosmic Cavern near Berryville began in 1845, when a prospector searching for lead stumbled onto the cave instead. A guided walking tour winds past two bottomless underground lakes and a nine-foot soda straw, the longest known in the Ozarks. A newer passage called Silent Splendor, found in 1993, added a fresh chamber of pale, near-transparent formations.

Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art opened in Bentonville on November 11, 2011, founded by Alice Walton and designed by architect Moshe Safdie around a pair of spring-fed ponds. General admission remains free, and the permanent collection spans five centuries, including Norman Rockwell's Rosie the Riveter and Asher Durand's Kindred Spirits.

Victorian storefronts, gingerbread cottages, and serpentine streets give the Eureka Springs Historic District its storybook feel. More than 100 preserved buildings earned the entire city a place on the National Register of Historic Places in 1970, and today the walkable hillside neighborhood teems with galleries, cafes, and boutique hotels.

Inside a century-old stone church, illusionists Sean-Paul and Juliana Fay have staged their magic and mentalism show since 2011, entering through the building's original bell tower. Their act has landed them TV spots on Penn & Teller: Fool Us and America's Got Talent, along with performances at Hollywood's Magic Castle. Vaulted ceilings and chandeliers set the stage inside.

Civilian Conservation Corps crews carved this 1,600-acre park out of the Ozark hillside during the 1930s, hand-laying the limestone dam that still holds back the spring-fed lake today. More than 25 miles of trails wind past the water for hiking and mountain biking, and the entire park now sits on the National Register of Historic Places.

Ten cables stretch across the Ozark hillside at this canopy tour just outside Eureka Springs, with the longest reaching 2,500 feet and riders soaring up to 250 feet above the ground. Guides lead groups of up to 12 through the treetops, and travelers who prefer solid footing can pan for gems or rent an e-bike back at base.

This Branson theme park grew from an 1880s-style mining village beside Marvel Cave and, since opening in 1960, has expanded to more than forty rides winding through wooded hillsides. Outlaw Run, once the world’s steepest wooden coaster, dives at 81 degrees, while resident artisans forge iron and blow glass for onlookers.

Railroad tycoon Richard Kerens built this domed rotunda in 1904 as a memorial to his mother, later adding a full nave that was dedicated as St. Elizabeth of Hungary Catholic Church in 1909. A bell tower completed the following year became the building's signature feature, since it's the only church in the country entered by walking through one.

Architect E. Fay Jones designed this glass-and-timber chapel in 1980 for retired teacher Jim Reed, creating a 48-foot lattice of local pine that supports 425 windows and 6,000 square feet of glass. Resting on a native-stone base, the airy sanctuary hosts daily visitors and weddings amid Ozark woods.

Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge traces its start to 1978, when the Jackson family took in an abandoned lion cub named Bum. By 1992 the rescue had grown into a formal nonprofit sanctuary on roughly 460 acres south of town, now home to more than 100 big cats, most of them tigers, living out their lives in spacious enclosures.

Grotto Wood-Fired Grill opened in 2015 after chef Rodney Slane and his wife took over a former dive bar and discovered a natural spring flowing beneath the old stage. That spring now runs through the dining room, while a genuine cave in back keeps the wine list at a steady temperature. Dishes come off an oak-fired grill, including cedar-plank salmon.

Chef Britt Evans, a sixth-generation Eureka Springs native, has run this Main Street restaurant since 1991, blending regional Ozark ingredients into a menu with international touches. A balcony overlooks the town's main drag below, and the Sunday brunch draws a steady crowd for dishes like mahi tacos and crab cakes.

Ermilio's Italian Home Cooking serves family recipes inside a converted Victorian house on the Historic Loop, with a first-come, first-served seating policy that often means a wait at the upstairs bar. Regulars favor the marinated pork chop with porcini mushrooms and the homemade meatballs in red sauce, all paid for in cash only.

Ken and Rachel McGarity pour proper pints of Guinness inside their family-run Irish pub on Highway 62, pairing shepherd’s pie, fish and chips, and bacon-cheddar burgers with shelves of whiskey. Ten TVs, live music nights, and a kids-eat-free policy keep the casual dining room lively.

Mud Street Cafe occupies the original street level of downtown, one floor below current Main Street, inside a building dating to 1888. The name recalls the mudslides that once plagued the road above before it was rebuilt. Open for breakfast and lunch since 1995, the cafe is known for self-serve coffee blends and a rotating dessert case.

A two-room log cabin built around 1864 for the Gaskins family now houses this steakhouse, which took root on the property sometime in the mid-1980s. Prime rib remains the signature order, and the wine list has earned recognition as one of the best in Arkansas. Many diners finish with the chocolate bread pudding.