Pocos de Caldas

The city sits in the floor of an alkaline volcanic structure roughly thirty-five kilometres across, formed around eighty million years ago, and the same geology produces the sulphurous thermal water it was built on. The Thermas Antonio Carlos, a 1930s bathhouse in art deco, still runs individual baths and treatments in tiled cabins with the original fittings, which is the most interesting thing to do here. Around it are a spa-town centre of gardens, a casino building from the era before gambling was banned in 1946, and a cable car up to Cristo Redentor on the caldera rim. The region also carries uranium and thorium deposits and has an active mining and nuclear fuel history that the tourist material does not mention.

What you actually see

• A city in a caldera - the volcanic structure thirty-five kilometres across.
• The 1930s thermal baths - art deco cabins with the original fittings.
• A closed casino building - from the years before the 1946 gambling ban.
• A cable car to the rim - up to the Cristo statue above the city.

When to go

April to September. Two days.

Honest expectations

The baths need booking and treatments are basic rather than luxurious. The city is a working provincial centre and parts are unattractive. The spa-town glamour is largely historical. Weekends bring crowds from Sao Paulo state.

Nearby

Sao Lourenco and the Circuito das Aguas are east; Caldas is south.