Santa Apolonia Hot Springs
- Location
- Santa Apolonia, Merida State, Venezuela
- Water type
- sulfurous
- Temperature
- 42 °C
- pH
- 6.5
Water profile
Relaxing — deep, immediate muscle release.
Rich in active gases or metals — a strong mineral character.
Soft water — natural, classic buoyancy.
Santa Apolonia Hot Springs emerges in the village of Santa Apolonia, set within the Andean highlands of Mérida State in western Venezuela. Mérida is a region defined by dramatic altitude contrasts — from the perpetually snow-capped Pico Bolívar to cloud-forest valleys draped in orchids and bromeliads — and the thermal springs here are a natural expression of the volcanic energy beneath these ancient cordillera formations.
The spring discharges sulfurous water at 42 °C, a notably high temperature that produces a deeply warming, enveloping immersion against the cool mountain air of the Venezuelan Andes. The acidic pH of 6.5 is characteristic of sulfurous geothermal sources, and the mineral note that accompanies the steam marks this as a genuinely active natural source. Bathing at Santa Apolonia, with the cloud-forest landscape of Mérida State visible in the surrounding hills, offers an experience rooted in the Andean tradition of hot spring bathing — elemental, atmospheric, and unmistakably South American.