Una mesa para seis - Table for Six: Andalusia Day 7

There are many wonderful and expensive spas (arab baths) all over Andalusia that I would have liked to visit, but none of them admit children, so we didn't put it on the agenda. While researching for our trip, I saw that there was a public natural hot spring in the small town of Alhama de Granada. It was difficult to find information about this place, but it looked like a nice town to visit anyways so I added a trip to Alhama de Granada to the itinerary.

We let the kids sleep in because it was New Year's Day and they had been up late the night before. We left Casabermeja at around 11am and got to Alhama de Granada by noon. There are two ways to get there, you can take the main highway towards Granada and then turn south, or go west on a very mountainous and windy road, which is more direct, but also made the kids car sick.

I knew that the hot spring was just outside of town, on the road going towards Granada, so we headed that way and hoped we would see a sign. Fortunately Bob saw the very small sign that says "Balneario" so we knew where to exit. The hot spring is just a couple of kilometres down this road. There is no parking lot or signs indicating where the hot spring is, but there is a big fancy hotel and spa called Balneario Alhama de Granada nearby. Note: the hotel and spa is closed all winter. The free public hot spring is in the river beside the hotel.

Within the past couple of years, the town has made some upgrades to the area by adding some stairs to get down to the hot spring and now the main pool is sealed with concrete. The water was the perfect temperature, and after sitting in the pool for awhile you don't even feel cold getting out. People come to relax, some take a bath, some even wash their clothes, there are no rules. There are 3 different areas: the area closest to the source is the hottest pool, but it's very small and only about 4-6 people can sit there, the main pool area is just a few degrees cooler, and the last pool is just kind of warm, but the kids enjoyed it.

We spent about an hour there and fortunately left just before a huge group of about 20 british tourists descended on the hot spring. I guess that the secret is out, and more and more people are coming to visit this little hot spring. In our opinion, it is worth the drive to Alhama de Granada.

There is also a very nice hiking trail that runs through the gorge on the east side of town. We were really impressed with the view and there are also ancient roman ruins scattered through the area. We also got to climb the "escaleras del diablo" or devil's staircase.