San Vicente Hot Springs
- Location
- Papallacta, Ecuador
- Water type
- sodium chloride
- Temperature
- 35 °C
- pH
- 7.5
Water profile
Soothing — neither hot nor cold, perfect balance.
Loaded with major ions — the essential minerals (Ca, Mg).
Dense, salty water — you float without effort.
Sharing the high-altitude thermal corridor of Papallacta in Ecuador's Napo province, San Vicente Hot Springs stands apart from its neighbours through the sodium-chloride signature of its waters — a salinity that recalls the sea while emerging at 3,300 metres in the heart of the Andes. At 35 °C and a slightly alkaline pH of 7.5, the water has a distinctly smooth, enveloping quality that lingers on the skin long after bathing.
The sodium-chloride composition gives each pool a subtly mineral salinity that bathers often describe as quietly energising rather than heavy. The resort is set against the dramatic backcloth of the Cayambe-Coca reserve, where cloud banks drift across volcanic ridgelines and the silence is broken only by wind and birdsong. San Vicente offers an experience that feels both elemental and intimate — the saline warmth of ocean minerals transplanted to the roof of the world.