Everything To Know About Visiting The Santa Rosa de Cabal Hot Springs
Planning A Trip To The Coffee Region Of Colombia, And Looking For More Info On The Santa Rosa de Cabal Hot Springs?
When I lived in Colombia I lived in the larger city of Pereira, but the school I taught at was in the smaller town of Santa Rosa de Cabal up the mountain, so I had the chance to easily explore the hot springs and see some really beautiful nature here. It’s a pretty simple place to visit, but here are all the things I think are helpful to know before spending some time bathing in these springs.
📍 Where Are The Santa Rosa de Cabal Hot Springs?
The hot springs (called termales in Spanish), are actually located a little outside of the town of Santa Rosa de Cabal, which is in the beautiful Coffee Region of Colombia, and they are the main reason Santa Rosa is worth visiting.
The closest larger city to Santa Rosa is Pereira, Colombia and there is a decent-sized airport here so flights are pretty easy and cheap to get from Bogota.
You can definitely stay in Santa Rosa de Cabal if you want, and the hot springs even have overnight options, but I do think Pereira is a good place to base yourself to explore the rest of the Coffee Region.
♨️ How Many Hot Springs Are There?
There are two main hot springs just outside of the town of Santa Rosa de Cabal called the San Vicente Reserva Termal and the Termales de Santa Rosa.
The San Vicente option is known as the fancier hot springs, while the Termales de Santa Rosa are a little cheaper and have the famous Cascada Santa Helena (pictured multiple times on this post).
🚌 How To Get To There
When you fly into Pereira, it’s really easy to get to Santa Rosa whether you choose to stay in Pereira or want to spend a few nights in Santa Rosa:
- Uber
- typically the safer option to use in Colombia
- it’s quick and relatively cheap
- but you’ll likely have a harder time finding Uber rides back to Pereira from Santa Rosa
- Taxi
- they can be safe in Colombia if you get official ones
- they’re more widely available
- but they’re usually not as nice, not as cheap, and they have major issues with Ubers so you never want to mention using them
- Bus
- very cheap, pretty easy to use, and usually pretty safe
- easy to get on the bus to Santa Rosa from Pereira by either seeing it on the street and flagging it down or going to the transportation terminal
- but you do have to walk a little and transfer busses once in Santa Rosa to get to the hot springs
- Guided Tour
- definitely the easiest and most convenient way to visit the hot springs
- but also the more expensive way to get there
- this tour takes you to the San Vicente hot springs from Pereira, Armenia, or Salento
- this one takes you to the Termales de Santa Rosa on a private tour and you can even bring your luggage
🤑 How Much Do The Santa Rosa de Cabal Hot Springs Cost?
Whether you’re staying the night or just visiting for the day, both hot springs do a have an entrance fee.
The San Vicente hot springs (the more expensive one) is usually somewhere between $28 and $60 (90,000-190,000 Colombian pesos) for the day depending on what option you choose.
The Termales de Santa Rosa are a little cheaper for the day since you can get in for as little as $15 (50,000 Colombian pesos).
🛁 What To Do There
Outside of relaxing in the hot springs up in the mountains of Santa Rosa de Cabal, here are a few other things you can do out here:
- admire the waterfalls
- go hiking
- relax at the spa
- eat at the restaurant
- go birdwatching
- go on an adventurous tour
⏰ How Long Do You Need At The Hot Springs?
Although you can stay the night at either of the two hot springs, I felt like a few hours was plenty here for me.
☔️ When Is The Best Time To Visit Santa Rosa de Cabal?
The Coffee Region of Colombia gets a lot of rain throughout the year and the weather in Santa Rosa de Cabal is no different.
Most afternoons I could see the storms rolling over the mountains coming from Santa Rosa de Cabal heading towards the city of Pereira where I lived.
If you only plan to go for the day, I would say that earlier in the day is better for the chance of clearer skies. If you want to visit during the months with the least amount of rain, you should visit December through March, but know that rain is still very common (average 12-16 days in these months).
➡️ A few other nearby places you can visit from Santa Rosa de Cabal include Manizales, Salento, the Coffee Theme Park, Los Nevados park, and even Cali
🔁 Sum Up: The Santa Rosa de Cabal Hot Springs
The hot springs just outside of the town of Santa Rosa de Cabal are pretty simple to visit, but it’s helpful to know when to visit since this region of Colombia gets a lot of rain, how to get there since you have to fly into a larger nearby city, how long to stay since both do have hotels but also plenty of guided day trip tours, and all the other details about visiting the termales (as their known in Spanish) like the cost or what to do there.
