Serra Negra Hot Springs

Serra Negra Hot Springs draws mildly radioactive radoniferous spring water in the highland spa town of Serra Negra in the Circuito das Aguas, the Brazilian spa circuit of six mineral spring municipalities in the mountains of Sao Paulo state, where the geothermal and radiogenic waters rising through the Precambrian granite and gneiss of the Atlantic plateau have been developed for thermal bathing since the nineteenth century in a tradition of Brazilian thermal culture that combines Portuguese spa heritage with Brazilian concepts of nature and outdoor wellness. Serra Negra's position in the Mantiqueira mountain range at 1,000 metres altitude gives it a cool, rainy climate quite unlike the tropical coast below, its forests of native Atlantic mata ciliar and pine plantations creating a landscape of European alpine character in a subtropical latitude that has attracted visitors from Sao Paulo since the railroad first reached the plateau in the 1890s. The radoniferous waters of Serra Negra, in a circuit of spa towns that together constitute the most developed thermal region in South America, flow in a mountain community whose thermal tradition, flower festival, and strawberry harvest have made it one of the most distinctive of the six Aguas circuit destinations.