Real Life Dreams: Hot Springs Tour

My mom was helping me look for something fun to do this weekend in Valencia when she stumbled upon Do! Valencia day trips on trip advisor. She told me to check it out and I immediately knew it was something I wanted to do! They offer many day excursions, such as wine tours, shore excursions, and the hot springs tour, which I chose. Let me just say - it was AMAZING!

I got picked up by the tour guide, Miguel, at 10:30AM and then we went to pick up the other group members (3 girls from Florida and 1 girl from Chicago). I loved having a small group because we all got to know each other and had more freedom to do what we wanted. After leaving Valencia, we drove through the country side to our first destination. All along the way, Miguel was telling us about Valencia, cool festivals, and answering all of our questions. I learned so much!

First stop: waterfall

We arrived in a small town about 40 minutes outside Valencia to see a waterfall and swim in the water. The town was so neat and looked just how I imagined a Spanish town would look. The waterfall we were going to is NOT a tourist place - very few tourists know about it so it was all locals enjoying the sun and the water. One thing I've learned on this trip is that if there are locals at a place, you know it is good! The waterfall was beautiful. We all went under it for pictures and then went down a rock slide into the water. It was really, really cold but totally worth it!

Next stop: Feria de Aceite

There was an Olive Oil fair happening in one of the towns we drove through on our way to our next destination and since our group was so small, Miguel asked if we wanted to stop and check it out! We all said yes so he stopped the van and led us to the town plaza. It was a very small town and the fair only had a couple of tables set up but we were able to try the olive oil (which was delicious) and walk around for a bit. We only stopped for about 30 minutes because we needed to get to our next destination...

Next up: The Hot Springs

When we arrived at the hot springs, we knew we were in for something great. You could see the crystal clear blue water from the parking and tons of locals with umbrellas, towels, tables, and picnics all set up for the day. We decided to eat lunch first at a little cafe at the bottom of the hot springs and then we adventured into the water. It wasn't as warm as I predicted but considering it was 90 degrees outside, nothing would have felt hot! The hot springs stay at about 77 degrees year round so in the winter, it really does feel hot.

Miguel then took us swimming the opposite way of where all the people were hanging out. He had been coming to the Hot Springs since he was a kids so he knew cool stuff to show us like different caves and a jumping rock. The caves were really cool and you could see bubbles form underwater where the springs were coming up. I would have never known to look for that if Miguel hadn't mentioned it! Then, we went to the jumping rock. The place on the rock where you jump from is abut 25 - 30 feet high and was really scary! I decided I wanted to do it and climbed up. When I saw how high it was from the top, I freaked out a little but with Miguel's help, I finally jumped! It only took about 15 minutes...

Surprise stops #1: Canyon