Arkansas has one certified dark sky place in our directory: one dark sky park, Buffalo National River, certified in 2019.
The DarkSky International place types guide (opens in new tab) describes a dark sky park as land with notably dark, star-filled skies that is protected for its scientific, natural, educational, cultural or recreational value.
Check the moon phase before you book. A full moon makes faint objects much harder to see, as Great Basin National Park's stargazing page (opens in new tab) points out. Summer nights show the Milky Way at its densest, and winter brings Orion and the Pleiades (Great Basin National Park (opens in new tab)).
Every listing links to its own page with coordinates, certification details and visiting notes, so you can compare places and plan a route across several nights.
Meteor showers give more reasons to go: Great Basin National Park lists (opens in new tab) the Perseids in August, Orionids in October, Leonids in November and Geminids in December as good chances for shooting stars.
Before you go, see the Arkansas dark sky laws for how local lighting rules protect these skies.
Buffalo National River is a river park in the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas, certified as an International Dark Sky Park in 2019. Campgrounds line the river, with fees, and pavilions, group sites and some individual sites can be reserved. The park has no entry fee and its page features a night sky viewing section; the mailing address is in Harrison.
See also the dark sky lighting law for Arkansas.