Balneario de Caldas de Reis

Caldas de Reis in Pontevedra Province, Galicia, is a traditional spa town sitting on the Portuguese branch of the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route, where bicarbonate-rich hot springs have offered rest and restoration to pilgrims and travellers for centuries — the town's name meaning warm pools of the kings reflecting the royal patronage these waters attracted in medieval times. The springs are woven into the daily life of Caldas de Reis through free-access public fountains where residents gather to soak feet and fill bottles, including the famous Fuente de los Pies foot-bathing pool that welcomes Camino walkers arriving footsore from the Portuguese route from Pontevedra twenty kilometres south. The combination of pilgrimage tradition, Galician seafood and wine culture, Atlantic green landscape, and communal mineral water bathing makes Caldas de Reis one of Spain's most authentically rooted thermal destinations.