Qualla: Caldas Novas

Caldas Novas: Introduction

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Rayza Dantas, CC BY-SA 3.0. In 1722, a bandeirante named Bartolomeu Bueno da Silva Filho turned off his father's trail and stumbled into steam. His father - nicknamed Anhanguera, "Old Devil," by the Indigenous people he hunted - had crossed this country years before without finding what the son found now: water rising warm from the ground, a thermal spring where the Rio Quente would later be traced. Three centuries on, the son's discovery has grown into the largest hydrothermal resort complex in the world. Caldas Novas, in the state of Goias, pumps 1,200 cubic meters of hot water an hour from 86 active wells, and at Carnival some 300,000 visitors crowd into a town whose permanent population is a fraction of that.

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Image: Rayza Dantas | CC BY-SA 3.0

Caldas Novas: Bandeirantes and Boiling Water

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Just a Brazilian man from Brazil, CC BY 2.0. The springs that made the town were found in 1777 by Martin Coelho de Siqueira, another bandeirante, who came upon a second hot-water source beside the Lavras brook and named it Caldas Novas - the New Hot Springs - to distinguish it from the Caldas de Pirapetinga he had found nea...

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Image: Just a Brazilian man from Brazil | CC BY 2.0

Caldas Novas: Finding Its Name

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Eric Gandolph, CC BY-SA 4.0. The settlement evolved slowly. In 1880, Caldas Novas split from Santa Cruz and joined the municipality of Vila Bela de Morrinhos, today simply called Morrinhos. By 1893 it had become a district. On July 5, 1911 the municipality itself was created, its headquarters elevated to vil...

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Image: Eric Gandolph | CC BY-SA 4.0

Caldas Novas: The Warm Water Economy

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Andrevruas, CC BY 3.0. The town has become an economy built on one physical fact: water temperatures between 34 and 57 degrees Celsius, rising through quartzite aquifers to the surface under pressure, without needing any fuel to heat them. The best path in from Goiania is the BR-352, 165 kilometers pas...

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Image: Andrevruas | CC BY 3.0

Caldas Novas: Next Door at Rio Quente

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Andrevruas, CC BY 3.0. The Hot Park in the sister town of Rio Quente, 31 kilometers west, draws the second wave of visitors - those who have come for Caldas Novas but want a themed water park in addition to the thermal pools at their hotel. An intermunicipal bus handles the route inexpensively. Rio Que...

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Image: Andrevruas | CC BY 3.0

Caldas Novas: Carnival and Quiet Seasons

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit GabiFMesquita, CC BY-SA 3.0. Caldas Novas runs a famous street Carnival that fills the town to capacity, though visitors tired of thermal bathing have options. Fishing trips lead to Buriti Alegre, 86 kilometers away near Marzagao, or to Itumbiara and Cachoeira Dourada 181 kilometers south via BR-153, or to T...

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Image: GabiFMesquita | CC BY-SA 3.0