Fairmont Hot Springs is a small resort community in the Columbia Valley, between Invermere and Canal Flats. The name tells the truth: the hot mineral pools are the headline, but the setting is what makes the stop work, with dry hoodoo cliffs, big valley views, golf fairways, a small ski hill, and Columbia Lake just down the road.
This is not a deep town. Most services cluster around Highway 93/95 and the resort. But a traveler already moving through the East Kootenays can make a good spare day here: soak in the hot springs, hike the Dutch Creek Hoodoos, and look south toward the headwaters country around Columbia Lake Provincial Park.
Fairmont is best treated as a low-key outdoors stop rather than a polished mountain village. Come for warm water and easy scenery, then keep moving through the valley.