Photo by ACHETORRES, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
🇨🇴 Colombia · Risaralda, Coffee Region (Eje Cafetero)
Photo by ACHETORRES, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
🇨🇴 Colombia · Risaralda, Coffee Region (Eje Cafetero)
♨ Temperature
66°C
⛰ Altitude
1800 m
⚗ pH
6.5
💧 TDS
1820 mg/L
🌊 Flow rate
35 L/s
📅 Established
Natural spring; spa complex established mid-20th century
✓ Verified on 2026-07-22
The thermal springs of Santa Rosa de Cabal in Colombia's Risaralda department emerge from deep volcanic geology in the Central Cordillera at close to 100°C, then cascade down a 30-metre waterfall into a series of pool systems nestled in cloud forest. The image of a steaming tropical waterfall surrounded by tree ferns and orchids — with pools maintained at 42–68°C — makes this one of the most visually spectacular hot spring settings in South America. The facility includes pools at varying temperatures, full-body volcanic mud treatment areas, and cold freshwater pools for contrast therapy. The coffee-growing region of Risaralda provides the regional setting — visitors often combine the thermal springs with tours of coffee farms (fincas) in the surrounding Eje Cafetero, a UNESCO-listed cultural landscape. The spring water carries elevated concentrations of sulphur, calcium, and bicarbonate, and has been used within Colombian folk medicine traditions for the treatment of skin and joint conditions. Full-body volcanic mud baths using material sourced from nearby volcanic geology are a signature treatment at several of the on-site facilities.
| Sulphur (H₂S) | 3.8 mg/L |
| Bicarbonate | 788 mg/L |
| Calcium | 284 mg/L |
| Sodium | 148 mg/L |
| Magnesium | 68 mg/L |
| Sulphate | 124 mg/L |
The Central Cordillera of Colombia was inhabited by the Quimbaya and Anserma peoples before European colonization — cultures known for their extraordinary goldwork and for a sophisticated relationship with the Andean landscape. The Eje Cafetero region carries the cultural memory of both pre-Columbian inhabitation and the 19th-century Coffee Colonization (Colonización Antioqueña), one of the largest internal settlement movements in South American history. The coffee landscape that surrounds the thermal springs is part of the 'Coffee Cultural Landscape of Colombia' UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The Coffee Region of Colombia has experienced a remarkable cultural reinvention over the past two decades, transforming from a zone associated with the violence of the drug-war era into one of the country's most celebrated domestic and international tourism destinations. Thermal bathing at places like Santa Rosa de Cabal has become central to this reinvention — a distinctly Colombian fusion of Andean nature, agricultural heritage, and wellness culture.
The springs emerge from an entirely natural volcanic-geothermal system in the Central Cordillera, requiring no artificial heating. The surrounding cloud forest at 1,800 metres altitude is part of a biodiversity corridor in one of the world's richest endemic species zones. The Eje Cafetero's coffee farms operate under a range of certification schemes for biodiversity-friendly agriculture.
Phone+57 6 364 7555
Websitewww.termales.com.co
AddressVereda San Ramón, Santa Rosa de Cabal, Risaralda, Colombia