Ojo Caliente Spa | Ojo Caliente, New Mexico

A few weeks ago, I posted about our Easter trip to Taos, New Mexico and mentioned our afternoon at Ojo Caliente, so I wanted to share a bit more about our experience.

When we were planning our trip to Taos, my parents told us about Ojo Caliente, the hot springs located near Taos. My dad joked and said Ojo Caliente was too rustic, and that we would be better spent at Ten Thousand Waves . We called both to try to set spa appointments, and Ojo Caliente had availability, so that’s where we decided to go!

Ojo Caliente is an unincorporated community about an hour north of Santa Fe, but it is also the site of the Ojo Caliente Hot Springs -which is one of the oldest health resorts in the country. The resort buildings are on the Natural Registry of Historic Places!

The drive up to Ojo Caliente is pretty flat, but the scenery is beautiful. Fortunately, there weren’t too many people on the road, so we could zip on over for our massage appointments. We were meeting some friends in Taos later that night, so we wanted to make sure to soak up as much time as we could in the springs.

When we arrived, we quickly understood what my dad meant by “rustic”, but we’re always up for an adventure. We entered the main lobby area and paid our entry fees and signed all the waivers. I can’t remember how much it cost to enter, but I do remember it was pretty inexpensive -may be $20 or $30 per adult. We even opted to rent a private tub for about $20 extra- but more about that later. The employees shared that the area around the springs is supposed to be a “quiet area”, however, the day we were there, there were quite a few children who were not so quiet. After checking the Ojo Caliente website, it appears children under 13 are no longer allowed, so I bet it’s a lot quieter now!

Regardless, we split ways into the locker rooms to change into our swimsuits and then promptly decided to test all of the springs! Unfortunately, we were having too much fun that we forgot to bring our camera to all the different springs, but we spring-hopped for about 30 minutes before we had our massages.

The massage area was also pretty “rustic”, but it was clean, and the staff was friendly. The only thing I didn’t like about my massage was that my room had a window, and I could hear people talking outside the window the entire time.

After our massages, it was time for our turn in the private spa!

The private springs were very nice, although, I wish there were more places to sit. As you entered the area, there was a Kiva firepit to the right which the staff meticulously maintained throughout our time. They also brought us a pitcher of water and cups, which was nice.

The little tub was only about 4 feet deep and was perfect for two. Donovan and I soaked, talked about our massages, and just relaxed. Our area had a nice view of the mountainside. We were kind of hoping to see goats or something, but alas, no wildlife for us! The sound of the water trickling out of the faucet was nice white noise to drown out any noise that would come from the neighboring private tub.

I think we only had about 30 minutes or so in the private area, so it wasn’t very long, but it was enough. Since there weren’t any lawn chairs, our options were to sit in the water, sit on the side, or sit next to the fireplace. I would have liked to have lounged a bit, but I could have done that in the public area.

After our time was up, we went back to spring hopping! Each pool was a different temperature and was built differently. Our favorite spring was the one that had rocks on the bottom. I can’t remember the name of that one, but it felt nice to soak and rub our feet along the rocks on the bottom.

At one point, we both got a little hot so we decided to go to the main pool….which was freezing! I don’t know how Donovan stayed in there so long, but I decided to get out and lay in a hammock for awhile to dry off and take a nap.

Our time at Ojo Caliente went by so fast, but we were very relaxed when it was time to leave.

We never did get to try Ten Thousand Waves, so I can’t compare them for you (yet!), but we would definitely go back to Oj Caliente. One recommendation I’d share is to please bring sunscreen. While the air temperature was dry and cool, and the waters were warm, the sun was absolutely blazing, and other than a few places, there wasn’t a ton of shade. I’d suggest a hat, sunscreen, sun-protective clothing, and sunglasses for sure. If we were going to stay all day, I would have liked to have some snacks or drinks because we were definitely a little hungry by the time to leave. You should definitely check out Ojo Caliente if you’re in the Santa Fe/Taos areas – it was a neat experience! There is a restaurant and lodging on site, so feel free to stay awhile!