Photo by Lu Brito, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
🇦🇷 Argentina · Mendoza
♨ Temperature
43°C
⛰ Altitude
1240 m
⚗ pH
7.1
💧 TDS
3400 mg/L
🌊 Flow rate
30 L/s
📅 Established
1892
✓ Verified on 2026-07-22
Termas de Cacheuta is one of Argentina's oldest and most atmospheric thermal resorts, situated in a dramatic gorge of the Mendoza River where the Andes front range meets the wine country. The springs, used by Huarpe indigenous people for centuries before Spanish colonisation, were developed as a resort in 1892 for Mendoza's growing prosperous class. The original 1892 hotel building was destroyed by a flash flood in 1934 — the rebuilt facility preserves the thermal tradition in a setting of exposed red rock canyon walls and the rushing mountain river below. The combination of Andean thermal springs, Malbec wine tours, and Aconcagua mountain scenery makes Cacheuta a uniquely Argentine experience, reached from Buenos Aires by a 90-minute flight plus 40-minute transfer.
| Chloride | 1450 mg/L |
| Sodium | 920 mg/L |
| Sulphate | 680 mg/L |
| Calcium | 210 mg/L |
| Sulphur | 12 mg/L |
The Cacheuta springs were documented by the Spanish chronicler Padre Juan Fernández Campón in 1752, who noted that Huarpe warriors bathed their wounds in the hot river springs. The 1892 resort, built during the Argentine Generación del Ochenta development boom, was a showpiece of the Mendoza oligarchy. A catastrophic flood in 1934 destroyed the original complex, but the springs continued to flow; the resort was rebuilt as a functional public spa in the 1960s and renovated again in 2008.
Cacheuta embodies the Argentine concept of 'termalismo' — a serious, medically-grounded approach to thermal bathing that combines hydrotherapy with physical rehabilitation, distinguishing Argentine spring culture from the pure leisure focus of North American or European spa tourism. The resort's canyon setting in the Mendoza wine country creates a cultural synthesis unique to Argentina: mineral spring therapy combined with high-altitude Malbec viticulture, creating the 'health and wine' excursion circuit for which Mendoza is renowned.
The Mendoza River canyon setting imposes natural limits on resort expansion — the site is flanked by the river and cliff faces on all sides. Spring extraction is governed by Mendoza provincial water law and monitored by the Departamento General de Irrigación. The resort operates a water recycling system where cooled thermal water is used for irrigation of the resort's garden and reintroduced to the Mendoza River at regulated temperatures to protect aquatic fauna.
Phone+54 261-490-1600
Websitewww.termasdecacheuta.com
AddressRuta Provincial 82 km 38, Luján de Cuyo, Mendoza, Argentina