Photo by Kaldari, via Wikimedia Commons (CC0)
🇬🇹 Guatemala · Quetzaltenango (Xela)
Photo by Kaldari, via Wikimedia Commons (CC0)
🇬🇹 Guatemala · Quetzaltenango (Xela)
♨ Temperature
45°C
⛰ Altitude
2600 m
⚗ pH
6.7
💧 TDS
480 mg/L
🌊 Flow rate
—
📅 Established
Natural springs; pools built 1940s
✓ Verified on 2026-07-22
Fuentes Georginas are natural volcanic hot springs concealed in dense cloud forest above the city of Quetzaltenango (Xela), Guatemala's second city, at an altitude of 2,600 metres in the western highlands. The springs are fed by the geothermal system of the Siete Orejas (Seven Ears) volcano, an extinct stratovolcano whose hydrothermal activity continues despite the absence of recent eruptions. The springs emerge steaming through layers of tropical fern, bromeliad, and hanging moss, pooling in a series of natural stone-edged basins at temperatures of approximately 40–50°C. The site was formally developed in the 1940s during the presidency of Federico Ponce Vaides and named after María Georgina García — hence 'Georginas', not to be confused with Georgia the country. The experience of arriving at the site through winding mountain road, emerging into a cloud-forest clearing where steam rises between the trees, is one of the most atmospheric thermal arrivals in Central America.
| Sulphate | 185 mg/L |
| Sodium | 68 mg/L |
| Bicarbonate | 220 mg/L |
| Calcium | 42 mg/L |
| Silica | 35 mg/L |
Fuentes Georginas sit in the western Guatemalan highlands, a landscape of ancient Maya culture centred on the K'iche' people, whose traditional capital at Q'umarkaj is less than 20 kilometres away. The volcanic landscape of the highlands — a chain of stratovolcanoes including Santiaguito, Santa María, Tajumulco, and Atitlán — has shaped Maya cosmology, agriculture, and settlement for over three thousand years. Geothermal energy is understood in K'iche' tradition as the breath of the earth — 'k'ax k'ol k'u' — a life-force expression.
Fuentes Georginas is a beloved weekend destination for the population of Quetzaltenango, Guatemala's most indigenous city, where K'iche' Maya culture, Spanish colonial architecture, and contemporary urban life coexist. The drive up the mountain to the springs — through markets, milpa corn fields, and highland villages — is itself an experience of the layered Guatemalan landscape. The thermal pools, filled with steam and surrounded by dense cloud forest, provide a contrast to the urban bustle of Xela that is both geographical and temporal.
The springs at Fuentes Georginas are managed by the municipal government of Zunil and operate on a minimal-infrastructure model: the thermal water flows naturally into pools without pumping or heating, and maintenance is funded by entry fees distributed to the local municipality. The surrounding cloud forest is protected as part of the Sierra Madre buffer zone, preserving the ecological context of the geothermal site.
Websitewww.visitguatemala.com
AddressFuentes Georginas, Zunil, Quetzaltenango, Guatemala