Termas Valle de Colina

Termas Valle de Colina occupies a high Andean valley above San José de Maipo in the Maipo Canyon — the dramatic gorge cut by the Maipo River through the Andes east of Santiago, a landscape of sheer rock walls, Andean condors soaring on thermal updrafts, and glaciers retreating up the side valleys in one of the most scenically spectacular mountain corridors accessible by road from any South American capital. The Valle de Colina thermal pools, situated at around 2,800 meters elevation, require a 4WD journey through the upper Maipo canyon and a final walk across volcanic terrain to reach a series of natural thermal pools that fill in rock hollows and overflow down the hillside in cascades of mineral-rich warm water, the entire setting framed by the 4,000-meter peaks of the volcanic Andes rising above. Soaking in these high-altitude bicarbonate thermal pools in a valley where Andean condors glide overhead, guanacos graze on the steppe, and the Morado hanging glacier glows blue in the afternoon light represents one of South America's most genuinely elemental thermal bathing experiences, earned only by those willing to make the journey into the Andes' high interior.