Poça da Dona Beija

Today we went to Furnas in the hot spring bath called Poça da Dona Beija.

The entrance fee to this thermal bath is 12.- for 1.5 hours and that's quite enough time for the thermal bathing. There are changing rooms and showers, which can also be warmed up for a fee of 1.-. There is parking right at the entrance.

At one point there was a little bit of rain and it was the absolute highlight, to sit in the hot water and get cold raindrops on your head 💦😍❤️.

But also without rain it's awesome to hang out in the 39° warm water and get massaged by the small waterfalls.

The Poça da Dona Beija, also known as Poça da Juventude (Youth Pools) or Poça do Paraíso (Paradise Pools), is located directly in the valley of Furnas, in an area known as Zona das Águas Quentes.

The name comes from the brazillan soap opera Dona Beija. The romantic scenes of a small waterfall where the main character, Dona Beija, used to bathe, was still fresh in people's memory, when this location started to gain more notoriety, thus giving it its current name.

It is part of a set of iron rich hot springs connected to the volcanic phenomena of the crater of the valley of Furnas. Its formation comes from the existing underground thermal aquifers which makes the water, in permanent contact with rocks subjected to high temperatures, gradually heat, reaching the average temperature of 39º C.

On site there is a natural hot spring within a cave, which supplies the water for the four pools, an area to wet your feet or body and part of the stream (which holds a removable floodgate) allowing a mixture of hot and cold water.

The yellowish colour of the water is due to the presence of cyanobacterias, photosynthetic oxygenic beings, that when found in iron-rich environments react with the free iron, oxidizing it.

Nowadays Poça da Dona Beija’s ferruginous muds are indicated for cutaneous invigoration, and it’s hot waters are therapeutic.

The iron-rich waters are used by the local people to water the taro root plantation, because the mud is considered an ecological fertilizer for it, and its amount makes the Furnas people grand taro root planters of the island of Sao Miguel. You can also find the taro plants in the thermal bath.

We plan to go again, that time we plan to go at night 🤩.Read more