Thermas Lagoa Santa: prices, hours and how to visit

Thermas Lagoa Santa is where the hot-spring lagoon of Lagoa Santa, in the state of Goiás, Brazil, is located. It is not a Caldas Novas-style water park: it is a 32-room hotel, a bathing park and a grove of native forest around a single natural lagoon, warm all year round, with fish visible to the naked eye. This guide explains what each type of visitor can use, how much it costs in reference values, what the rules are in the water and how to plan a holiday visit.

What Thermas Lagoa Santa is

The complex is on Highway GO-302, Km 19, and has three parts that work together:

• The thermal lagoon. Water from the Guarani Aquifer bubbling up from the bottom at 29–33 °C (average 31 °C), with a flow of about 3.6 million liters per hour, sulfurous and clear enough for you to follow the schools of fish. A wooden boardwalk links it to the hotel. Details in Thermal springs of Lagoa Santa.
• The hotel. Three stars, 32 deluxe and super-deluxe rooms with air conditioning, minibar and TV, plus a convention center.
• The park. Swimming pools, sauna, sports courts, trails, a fishing pond and a restaurant inside a 370,000 m² forest (full list below).

Day use or overnight stay: what each one gets you

You do not need to stay at the hotel to get into the lagoon, but the two options give access to different things:

The day-use ticket is sold at a separate entrance and covers only the lagoon. Anyone who wants the full package, with pools, restaurant and the early-morning dip, needs to stay at the hotel.

Reference prices

• Day use: about R$ 40 per person, Brazilian reais (approx. USD 7), lagoon access only.
• Nightly rate for a couple with breakfast and lunch: around R$ 435 (approx. USD 79).
• Nightly rate for a couple with full board: around R$ 520 on weekdays and R$ 575 on Saturdays.
• Holidays and special dates: sold as fixed packages with a minimum number of nights; see the packages section below.

Restaurant hours

The hotel restaurant seats up to 100 people and serves in three shifts: breakfast from 7:30 to 9:30 a.m., lunch from noon to 2 p.m. and dinner from 7 to 9 p.m. Outside those hours there is a snack bar and bars within the complex. If you would rather eat in town, the options are in Where to eat.

Full list of facilities

• Natural thermal lagoon with stone steps and metal ladders, shallow stretches and deeper pools
• Wooden boardwalks and trails for walking and cycling through the 370,000 m² forest
• Hotel with 32 rooms (deluxe and super deluxe), air conditioning, minibar and TV
• Pools with water slides and a sauna
• Sand court and small-sided soccer field
• Fishing pond and playground
• Restaurant, snack bar, bars and boutique
• Convention center for corporate events and parties

Rules and etiquette in the lagoon

The lagoon is a living ecosystem, with submerged plants and schools of fish that depend on clean water. Some rules belong to the complex; others are simply common sense:

• No tanning oil or body oil. They form a film on the surface and harm fish and plants. If you use sunscreen, choose a biodegradable one and apply it well in advance.
• Do not feed or try to catch the fish. They come up on their own; bread and food scraps alter the water.
• Stay hydrated. Warm water increases perspiration without you noticing. Drink water before getting in and every 30 or 40 minutes. Avoid alcohol before a dip.
• Alternate bathing with breaks in the shade, especially pregnant women and people with high blood pressure or heart conditions, who should keep their dips short.
• Do not step on the plants on the bottom or pull anything off. The bottom is rocky, so enter by the steps.
• Keep children in sight at all times. There are deep stretches in the middle of the lagoon.
• Take your trash back with you and bring your own towel.

Best times for a dip

The most beautiful moment is dawn between June and August. With a cold early morning and 31 °C water, a dense mist rises to cover the surface while the sun cuts through the forest; it lasts about an hour. Since the day-use gate opens later, this is the main reason to stay at the hotel. The second-best time is late afternoon, with low light and fewer people. Midday on high-season weekends is the busiest period.

Holiday and special-date packages

On the most sought-after dates Thermas sells packages with a minimum number of nights and its own program of activities. Prices change every season, so the advice is always the same: check the rate sheet and book early, because the hotel has only 32 rooms.

• OctChildren's Dayholiday package; check the minimum nights on the rate sheet.
• NovAll Souls' Daylong-weekend package.
• DecChristmaspackage with Christmas Eve dinner; check the rate sheet.
• DecNew Year's Eve 2026/2027the most contested period of the year; book early.
• FebCarnival 2027expected February 6 to 9 (confirm); pairs with Carnalagoa in town.

A bit of history

The complex was born from the visit of mineral-water businessman Antônio de Oliveira Rocha to the lagoon in 1971, at the invitation of Brazil's National Department of Mineral Production. He obtained the mining decree in 1972, began construction in 1985 and opened the hotel in July 1990. The flow of visitors was decisive in turning the district of Termas de Itajá into the municipality of Lagoa Santa in 1997. See History of Lagoa Santa.

How to get there

Thermas is on GO-302, Km 19, a few minutes from downtown Lagoa Santa and 20 km from Itajá. From Goiânia it is about 430 km (6 to 6.5 hours); from Brasília, about 640 km; from São Paulo, about 690 km via Paranaíba, Mato Grosso do Sul. There is no public transportation to the complex: go by car or arrange a taxi in town. Routes in How to get there.