At 180 kilometres away from Salta, through the Ruta Nacional Nº 9 National Route, travellers will have the chance to visit Rosario de la Frontera, a site where health, landscape an recreation, come together around its world known hot springs with their medicinal properties.

Standing at 700 metres above sea level, Rosario de la Frontera is the service centre for an area with an outstanding potato production. Its foundation dates back to the year 1766, and the Hacienda del Rosario, belonging to Francisco Arias, was a forced stop on the north bound route, and the first one in Salta's jurisdiction.

At the entrance of the city, at the access roundabout, travellers must take the road to the right, and after a five kilometre trip, they will arrive at the Las Termas Hotel, an interesting edifice making use of the canalised hot waters from nearby springs.

The Incas were the first exploiters of the "Hot Waters" in the 17th century, and called them the Inti Yacu, which means "Waters from the Sun". They discovered their healing properties, and built some pools to collect the waters at the bottom of the ravine to make good use of them.

The Baños de Rosario de la Frontera Hot Spring Baths were founded the 1st of April of 1880, and were the first of its kind in Argentina. They were established by Dr. Antonio Palau, who started cutting hills and building roads that allowed him to begin with a makeshift installation constituted by wooden booths near the springs. He built the first pools and the primeval hotel, and then the so-called "Martín García", in an 800-hectare area.

The Rosario de la Frontera hot spring's heyday made possible the construction of the Baños railway station in the year 1921, two kilometres northeast from the hotel; built in an English romantic architectonic fashion, it is three stories high and has several rooms, for in those days it also served as a lodging house.

Currently, the hot springs are a sound attraction for health-tourism, due to the different types of hot spring waters spurting in the area. To make use of their virtues, the complex has two pools built of volcanic lava, a refractory material that prevents the overheating of the surface on which the bathers walk.

One of the pools is for the exclusive use of the guests staying at the hotel, while the other is destined for the attending public during the day.

Visitors have access to nine kinds of hot waters that though reaching as high as 99º C temperatures, are only at 34º C when flowing into the final pools, thanks to a spring transferring system.

The waters are recommended for older people as a complementary medical treatment for rheumatism, bile and digestive maladies, stress and arteriosclerosis, among other physical disorders; however, they are recommendable for people of all ages as well, and that is why children and even babies are frequently seen at the pools.

The complex has also a doctor's office for best taking care of the visitors' health. Moreover, the hotel's employees are qualified for answering any question concerning the use of the hot spring waters.

The hotel still holds property over the 800-hectare estate. And it offers alternatives beyond the waters and their medical properties: a wood with an exuberant vegetation bordering the compound and the sport installations; and only 500 metres away, visitors can access the Club de Caza y Pesca (Hunting and Fishing Club) of the Rosario de la Frontera lake.

There are children playgrounds and bowls, tennis, volleyball and even golf can be practiced at the estate's installations. Hiking, mountain biking and horseback riding can be enjoyed in the surroundings, besides swimming in either of two pools with four different thermal waters at an average temperature of 32º C.

PALAU'S TERMAL MINERAL WATER
The Palau spring supplies most of the water used at Rosario de la Frontera Hot Springs, and it sprouts out of the mountain at a 76º C temperature. It is located about 78 metres south of the health resort. Of an extraordinary purity, aseptic, free of microbes and highly radioactive, it should be taken at the spring itself if possible.

Rapidly absorbed by the digestive conduits, it stimulates a cellular osmosis and produces, through the kidneys, the elimination of much more water than that imbibed. It also determines a liquid and solid evacuation at the same time, besides being of very good use for the treatment of dyspepsia and the stomach's nervous affections.

The Palau water bottling (to homage Dr. Antonio Palau), approved for sale and human consumption, was installed in the year 1919. It currently belongs to the Cia. Industrial Cervecera S.A.