Tassajara Hot Springs, Natural hot springs in Ventana Wilderness, California, US.

Tassajara Hot Springs are thermal springs flowing from the ground along a creek bed in the Ventana Wilderness, with water temperatures between 100 and 140 degrees Fahrenheit. The grounds feature historic buildings, soaking pools, and trails winding through steep terrain.

The Esselen used the springs for at least a thousand years before the Spanish mission period; in 1843 Jack Swan met a group of Indians traveling up Carmel Valley to build a sweat lodge there. Resorts have occupied the site since 1868, and Charles Quilty, who bought it in 1886, had a sandstone hotel built; that hotel burned in 1949. Since 1967 the San Francisco Zen Center has operated a Zen Buddhist monastery at the springs.

The name Tassajara comes from an Esselen word meaning "place where meat is hung to dry"; the springs were also recorded on mining claims as Agua Caliente. In 1843 Jack Swan met a group of Native Americans travelling up Carmel Valley to build a sweat lodge there to treat skin disease, and he noted that several tribes would gather at once, living off the abundant game and fish.

The springs lie 28.3 miles from Carmel Valley Road; the final 8.2 miles are extremely narrow and steep, so four-wheel drive is advised or take the shuttle from Jamesburg, 13.8 miles away, where the Zen Center keeps offices. The monastery admits visitors in summer only.

The sandstone hotel that Charles Quilty had built burned down in 1949, so no 1886 stone building survives at the springs. What remains from that era is the stagecoach road over Chews Ridge, designated a public highway by Monterey County in June 1870.