La Calera (Chivay)
- Location
- Chivay, Peru
- Water type
- iron-rich
- Temperature
- 38 °C
- pH
- 7
Water profile
Soothing — neither hot nor cold, perfect balance.
Rich in active gases or metals — a strong mineral character.
Soft water — natural, classic buoyancy.
La Calera at Chivay is the main natural hot spring facility serving the Chivay town in the Caylloma Province of Arequipa Region, Peru, where ferruginous hot springs located 3 kilometres from town at 3,600 metres altitude provide warm mineral bathing with views of the surrounding Andes highlands and serve as the thermal base for visitors exploring the world-famous Colca Canyon. The springs emerge as reddish-brown iron-rich water from the geothermal system associated with the volcanic arc of the Western Cordillera, and the outdoor pools of La Calera — maintained by the Chivay municipality — are a popular après-canyon-viewing stop for travellers who have spent the morning watching Andean condors soar from the Cruz del Condor viewpoint. Chivay's position as the gateway town to the Colca Canyon, combined with its lively market culture, traditional Collagua costumes, and the extraordinary altitude landscape of the Caylloma plateau, makes La Calera a thermally and culturally central element of the Arequipa Region's most celebrated tourism corridor.