Overview
Baños de Agua Santa is a city in Ecuador’s Tungurahua province and a gateway to the nearby Amazon Basin. It’s known for access to trails on the active Tungurahua volcano just south, and for its mineral-rich hot springs.
Description
The central Church of Our Lady of Holy Water has paintings depicting miracles attributed to the Virgin Mary. To the east, El Pailón del Diablo and Agoyán are dramatic waterfalls on the Río Pastaza. Baños is a mixed bag. The setting is amazing: you can see waterfalls, hike through lush forests, rest your bones in steaming thermal springs, hike down impossibly steep gorges, bike or boat all the way to the Amazon Basin, and marvel at the occasional eruption of nearby Volcán Tungurahua. The town itself is somewhat overwhelmed with garish tour operators, cut-price spas and budget accommodations, but the jigsaw-puzzle-like sidewalks in red, yellow, and blue are wide enough to stroll on, and the cathedrals, spotlit in different colors, look pretty from the plazas at night.
Baños de Agua Santa, Tungurahua
Ecuador
URL:
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/ecuador/central-highlands/banos