Keerimalai Hot Springs

Keerimalai Hot Springs are natural mineral springs that surface directly at the sea's edge on the northern coast of the Jaffna peninsula, close to the Naguleswaram Shiva temple — one of the five Panchaeeswaram shrines of Sri Lanka. The springs are famous for a hydrological anomaly: freshwater bubbles up through the sandy seabed where the Indian Ocean meets the shore, and the two water sources mix to create pools of varying temperature and salinity that Hindu pilgrims have used for ritual bathing for centuries. The water is reputedly therapeutic for skin conditions, and the bathing tanks separated for men and women on the shoreline have been used by local communities and pilgrims for generations. The adjacent Naguleswaram Kovil is an ancient Shiva temple that was repeatedly destroyed and rebuilt by Portuguese, Dutch, and local forces over four centuries and remains an active place of worship today.