New Mexico’s glorious hot springs
US state’s northern region is one of the best places for ‘geothermal goodness’
In northern New Mexico, “health is in the air”; you can almost feel it in the “feathery-light” high-desert atmosphere. And it is one of the best places “to go in search of geothermal goodness”, says Chris Wallace in the FT, with hot springs “positively littered” across fields and meadows.
The Spanish conquistadors believed they were fountains of youth, and today they attract all manner of “escapists, adventurers and dreamers”. Science is “ambivalent” about the objective benefits of bathing in their waters, “thick with heavy metals”. But it can’t do any harm, and people find it leaves them feeling wonderfully refreshed, thanks in part to the wild beauty of the surroundings.
Manby Hot Springs, in the Rio Grande gorge near the town of Taos, are the best known. Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda’s characters in Easy Rider stop off there on their dusty, rough road trip along Route 66, and it is “easily the most exuberant” scene in the 1969 film. Today, you must walk a few miles downriver from the John Dunn bridge to access them.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Easier to get to are the nearby Black Rock springs, which are frequented by “campers, bikers and backpackers in search of the hippie mecca imagined by Hopper here”, and which afford superb views down the gorge (“an 800ft-deep groove in a millions-of-years-old lava flow”). But even more astonishing – indeed, “Lord of the Rings majestic” – are the views from the San Antonio spring. Here, the tubs descend down the side of a canyon, and vary in heat from “near-scalding” to a “mossy-cool plunge”.
Among the area’s best resorts are the Four Seasons near Santa Fe, the Japanese-influenced Ten Thousand Waves, and the Ojo Santa Fe. But not all of these have their own hot springs – and none of their baths is as “wondrous” as those at Ojo Caliente, the oldest formal spa to have been built on a hot spring in the US.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
The Importance of Being Earnest: Wilde classic given 'fizzing' update
The Week Recommends Ncuti Gatwa and Sharon D. Clarke star in this 'bold and brash' reboot
By The Week UK Published
-
Conclave: Ralph Fiennes offers Oscar-contender performance in Vatican drama
The Week Recommends Film adaptation of Robert Harris book follows the College of Cardinals as they navigate the pope's sudden death
By The Week UK Published
-
Christmas gift guide for those who have everything
The Week Recommends Presents for those who have everything
By The Week UK Published
-
The Importance of Being Earnest: Wilde classic given 'fizzing' update
The Week Recommends Ncuti Gatwa and Sharon D. Clarke star in this 'bold and brash' reboot
By The Week UK Published
-
Christmas gift guide for those who have everything
The Week Recommends Presents for those who have everything
By The Week UK Published
-
6 inviting homes in Montana
Feature Featuring a walls of windows in Whitefish and a wraparound porch in Livingston
By The Week Staff Published
-
Niall Williams' 6 favorite books with rich storytelling
Feature The best-selling author recommends works by Charles Dickens, James McBride, and more
By The Week US Published
-
The 80s: Photographing Britain – a 'vivid' exhibition
The Week Recommends Tate Britain's new show presents a picture of the country as an 'apocalyptic inner-city slag heap'
By The Week UK Published
-
V13: a 'marvelous and terrifying' account of the Bataclan terror trials
The Week Recommends Emmanuel Carrère's work is 'absolutely gripping'
By The Week UK Published
-
Nigel Hamilton's 6 inspirational books for fellow writers
Feature The award-winning author recommends works by John Banville, Ann Patchett, and more
By The Week US Published
-
6 outstanding homes for under $600K
Feature Featuring heated concrete floors in New Mexico and an outdoor movie screen in Washington, D.C.
By The Week Staff Published