Guide to Honduras’ Aguas Termales
Most travelers visit Honduras for the amazing scuba diving right off the world’s second-largest coral reef (the Mesoamerican Reef). However, there are plenty of reasons to visit Honduras’ mineral bathing options.
After all, the hot springs are plentiful and often hugged on either side by green jungle and idyllic waterfalls. This article will break down the must-see hot springs for any thermal bather.
Hot Springs near the Capital
The capital of Honduras is Tegucigalpa, which is also the country’s most populous city. Near here, you’ll find Aguas Termales La Paz (as in most Spanish-speaking countries, hot springs are referred to as “agua termales”), a privately-owned spring that is open to the public for a small fee.
The pools are manmade, although the heated mineral water continuously refreshes the basin. The bathing pool sits beneath a grove of mango trees.
In the town of El Pedernal sits Aguas Termales San Martín, a hot spring connected to a hotel. Bathing in the thermal water is included in the price of the stay, and the hotel offers guests a bar, a playground area for children staying in the hotel, and several canopied areas beside the hot springs to recline.
Finally, in Perspire is the Balneario Los Mangos, a hotel that sits beside a natural hot spring that remains unaltered by human engineering. The hotel has a bar and allows inner tubing on the agua termales and lets guests splash into the heated water via a rope swing.
Hot Springs around the Country
Located in northern Honduras is one of the more famed hot springs locations in the country. It’s Jaguar Moon Spa Resort, an eco-retreat where thermal bathing is on offer alongside therapeutic massage, steam rooms, and mud treatments. The entire campus is Mayan-themed, and guests are welcome to tent camp on the grounds.
To the east of Jaguar Moon Spa Resort is Aguas Termales Presidente, a hot spring that is split into six separate pools. Locals typically visit the mineral spring after 7:00 pm, due to the evening temperature drop that makes enjoying the heated water more enjoyable. If you’d like to stay and bathe in the water when it’s less busy, you can rent a villa and hop in the spring early in the morning.
Other Honduran hot springs:
- Aguas Termales De Azacualpa
- Sambo Creek Canopy Tours and Spa
- Termas del Río
- Aguas Termales San Francisco De Ojuera S,B
- Termas Jilamito
- Anthony’s Key Resort
- Parque Nacional Pico Bonito
Visit Honduras
Go to Honduras for the amazing beaches, affordable scuba diving, and Mayan ruins. Don’t skimp on the hot springs, however! Honduras boasts beautiful thermal baths in resorts, in national parks, and within leafy forests. However, it is recommended that visitors take their own bottled water when visiting these places, as the unfiltered water in Honduras isn’t safe for drinking.