Termas de Fiambalá

The Termas de Fiambalá are a stepped chain of thermal pools climbing a volcanic hillside where the Andes begin, each pool warmer than the one below — from tepid at the bottom to over forty degrees at the top — fed by springs off the volcanic complex above and looking out over the Fiambalá oasis. People have come to this water since pre-Columbian times, and the place still runs quiet.

The complex sits near 1,700 metres in the Puna de Atacama foothills, its managed pools terraced into a gorge where the geothermal gradient of the Andean volcanic zone does the heating and the mineral load differs from standard spring water. The valley below is Catamarca's small, high wine country — Torrontés and Bonarda from artisan bodegas on dirt roads — and the great sand dunes of the valley lie within excursion reach, letting the day run desert, thermal water and altitude wine in one sequence the country offers nowhere else. There is no shade and no pretence up at the pools: red rock, mineral water and silence, best taken as the sun drops behind the ranges.