Termas de Fiambalá

The Termas de Fiambalá in Catamarca Province are a chain of fourteen thermal pools rising up a hillside of volcanic rock at the base of the Andes, each pool hotter than the one below — from 28°C at the lowest to 43°C at the summit — fed by geothermal springs emerging from the volcanic complex above and overlooking the Fiambalá Valley and the sand dunes of the Dunas de Tatón 7 kilometres below. The site is managed without lighting, without noise, and without a clock in sight, which is the correct approach to a place that has been drawing people for its thermal properties since pre-Columbian times.

The Termas de Fiambalá are one of the most distinctive thermal complexes in Argentina, located in the Puna de Atacama foothills of Catamarca Province at 1,700 metres altitude. The fourteen pools are fed by springs emerging from the Nevado del Fraile volcanic complex above the site, heated by the geothermal gradient of the Andean volcanic zone to temperatures ranging from 28°C to 43°C along the chain. The Fiambalá Valley below the termas is a small-scale Catamarca wine region — Torrontés and Bonarda grown between 1,300 and 1,600 metres — with a handful of artisan bodegas accessible by dirt road. The combination of extreme desert landscape (sand dunes visible from the highest pool), thermal bathing, and high-altitude wine produces a sensory sequence available nowhere else in the country.