17 Natural Hot Water Springs and Fountains in India

A writer’s greatest pleasure lies in the comments his publishing generate, be it positive or negative. He is happy as long as his blog post title gets clicked and his article further read and commented. One of my travel articles about 6 Italy’s natural geysers, one of my friends, instead of making a comment, emailed me to ask if such outdoor geysers exist in India and expressed his desire to see such natural hot water springs in India as he could not afford to travel abroad.

This blog post will answer his question as I have dug out some information about natural hot water springs in India. In fact, in the process, I have gathered all the information about natural hot springs in every country. Sometime in the future, if someone asks for details regarding natural jacuzzi in Mexico or China, or Denmark, I will be able to send my findings.

Are there any natural hot water springs in India?

Now, about these natural hot water springs in India, I was surprised to find numerous places where you can have a curating dip. One of the snippets in the Google search results told me there are 300 (yes, three hundred) natural hot water springs in India. However, I was not able to find further information. I think I was misled.

1. Tapt Kund, Badrinath

This particular natural hot water spring is ideally located on the Himalayas, just in front of Lord Badrinath temple and adjacent to the freezing Alaknanda River. This natural hot water pool is considered holy and a dip in it said to be sacred apart from benefiting from its therapeutic effect.

Tapt Kund, a hot sulfur spring just below the temple, is considered to be medicinal; many pilgrims consider it a requirement to bathe in the springs before visiting the temple.

Tapt Kund is located at height of 1,200 feet in the Garhwal hills, Uttarakhand State. The nearest big town is Rishikesh, some 300 odd km away.

2. Chumathang Hot Spring

This furious natural hot water spring that is trying to escape the earth is located on the banks of River Indus in Chumathang village, Leh District, Jammu, and Kashmir. It is situated at a height of nearly 13,000 feet.

Look at the calm and rushing Indus River that can be very cold to touch. There is no way one take a bath at this height. Strangely, the hot water mini fountain is seen at the edge of the cold river.

The nearest town is Leh, 140 km away.

3. Bakreshwar Hot Spring, Birbhum

Bakreshwar natural hot water springs are not located on any hill station and not surrounded by a chilly atmosphere which is the feature of most of the natural geysers in the world.

The Bakreswar village is located near Suri, some 170 km from Kolkata, West Bengal.

Not one but there are ten natural hot water springs that produce naturally heated water from the earth. Here are the names of 4 of them.

• Khar kund
• Agni Kunda
• Bhairav kund
• Dudh kund

Bakreshwar natural hot water springs are due to the presence of Helium gas below the earth.

4. Puga Natural Hot Water Springs, Leh

What a sight! The hot water is spurting up with some difficulty, so it seems to me. Puga village is too small to pin it on the Indian map but if you do that with ‘beautiful natural geyser’ tag attached to it, the tiny dot can attract truckloads of Indian tourists who always appreciate those natural hot water springs. Right now, Puga village is found in the Changthang valley.

The nearest town is Kargil at 60 km and the capital of Jammu and Kashmir, Srinagar is about 150 km.

5. Manikaran natural hot water springs, Kullu, Himachal Pradesh

Tourists from various parts of India visit Shimla and Kullu, the two very popular hill stations in the Himachal Pradesh.  The famous holy and natural hot water springs and fountains that have created a pond are located in Manikaran, 35 km from Kullu town.  These natural hot water springs are located on the banks of river Parvati.

The water is very hot in the natural fountains and is fit for boiling food.

6. Vashisht, Himachal Pradesh

Here is one more natural hot water source in Himachal Pradesh. Though there are no volcanoes in the Himalayas, there are quite a few numbers of natural geysers here.

Manali is another Himachal Pradesh hill station that gets brimming with the tourists during summer. The hot spring in Vashisht is just outside the Manali town.

You can reach the natural sulphur spring in about 5 minutes from Manali town bus terminal. The altitude here is about 6000 feet. The River Beas flows through the Vashisht village.

7. Natural hot water spring, Yumthang, Sikkim

The source for the natural hot mineral bath in Sikkim is the River Rangit. This place of tourist importance is located 135 far from Gangtok, Sikkim’s capital. The height of the natural geyser is 12,000 feet.

Two more places in Himachal Pradesh that host naturally existing geothermal fountains and springs:
8. Kheerganga, Kasol
9. Tattapani-the River Sutlej is the base source of hot water here.

10.Tapovan Natural Geyser, Joshimath

OMG! The water seems to be boiling hot. It is hot enough to boil rice or vegetables.

Joshimath is an important small town for pilgrims who visit Badrinath. Apart from being a very holy town, Joshimath is also a tourist destination and act as the gateway for Auli ski resort. Tapovan is only 15 km from Joshimath.

11. Natural Hot Water Springs, Atri, Odisha

I am sure this small town in Orissa, situated about 40 km from Bhuvaneshwar and 15 km from Khurda is not a well-known tourist destination but the people of Orissa visit Atri several times a year to take a bathing dip in the natural hot water spring. They do this before visiting the Mahadev temple.

The hot water now stored in the form of a well. And then the hot water let into two bathing pools.

Other Natural Hot Water Springs destinations in Orissa State:

12. Deulajhari -173 km from Bhubaneswar

13. Tarabalo –75 km from Bhuvaneshwar

14.Gaurikund, Uttarakhand

Gaurikund situated at an elevation of about 6500 feet in Uttarakand state. Pilgrims on the way to another major holy shrine Kedarnath, come across the Gaurikund.

Three more natural hot water pools in the state of Uttarakhand:

15. Rishikund near Uttara kasi
16. Suryakund on the way to Yamunotri
17. Sahastradhara near Dehradun, the capital city of Uttarakhand

A few other states in India that include Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Jharkhand have a few little-known Natural Hot Water Springs sources.

I think India has more of these natural outdoor geysers than any other country in the world.