Agua Caliente Baja California

Agua Caliente in the hills of Baja California, 30 kilometres southeast of Ensenada, is a natural sulphurous hot spring in the semi-arid chaparral landscape characteristic of the California borderlands — a landscape of cardón cacti, coastal sage, red manzanita and granite boulders that covers both the American and Mexican sides of the peninsula. The springs emerge from fissures in the Baja California granite at temperatures of around 50°C and have been used for bathing and therapeutic purposes since the indigenous Kumeyaay people first inhabited this region. The surrounding landscape of the Valle de Guadalupe wine country — Mexico's most important wine region, producing award-winning varietals increasingly recognised internationally — provides an excellent complement to thermal bathing, combining the pleasures of hot springs with the gastronomic culture of Baja California's remarkable food and wine scene. The Pacific Ocean coast is just 30 kilometres west.