City: Santa Fe, NM

Category: Health Care

Telephone: (505) 583-2233, (800) 222-9162

Address: 50 Los Baños Rd. (Highway 285)

Description: Though located about 50 miles north of Santa Fe, where it straddles the Río Arriba and Taos County lines, Ojo Caliente Mineral Springs are close enough—and special enough—to warrant a mention in this chapter.Named by 16th-century explorer Cabeza de Vaca, Ojo Caliente (“Hot Spring”) is the only spa in the world with its particular combination of five naturally hot, bubbling mineral springs, flowing from geothermal wells deep beneath the earth. Many people “take the waters” for their purported therapeutic value, others for the sheer pleasure and relaxation.Ojo Caliente’s 113-degree arsenic spring is thought to be the only one outside of Baden-Baden, Germany. In trace amounts, arsenic is supposed to relieve arthritis, rheumatism, stomach ulcers, burns, eczema, and a host of other complaints. The spa also has an iron spring, which comes out of the ground at 109 degrees Fahrenheit into a large pool used for a hot plunge that reportedly rejuvenates the blood. The lithia, soda, and sodium springs are primarily for drinking to heal a variety of symptoms, from depression and sluggish kidneys to excess gas.One of the oldest health spas in North America, Ojo Caliente was once considered a sacred spot by ancient Tewa Pueblo Indians who lived on a mesa above the present village. (You can visit the old Pueblo on special Sunday tours in summer.) Today the spa is spread out over approximately 1,000 hilly, river-lined acres in the Española Valley. The waters are piped into various pools and tubs, public and private. The spa offers other services, such as therapeutic massage, herbal wraps, facials, and salt rubs. The grounds support a quaint old adobe hotel and cottages whose rooms have no showers; guests use the public bathhouse. Two luxury houses now have showers and tubs. Ojo Caliente is open year-round, seven days a week—from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and to 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.