A Month In Central Argentina
Our journey through Argentina wasn't typical. Most people spend a bit of time in Buenos Aires and then head to the South to explore the amazing glaciers and hikes in Patagonia, or to the north to the equally impressive Lerma Valley. We had one month to get from Buenos Aires to Santiago, Chile, so decided on the route less travelled through the centre of Argentina.
We arrived in Buenos Aires by ferry from Colonia, Uruguay and gave ourselves nearly a week to explore. The different neighbourhoods are like separate, smaller cities but San Telmo is a great place to base yourself to explore them all. A few noteworthy places to visit are:
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An easy hour's train ride from Buenos Aires' Retiro station is the small city of Tigre. The residential area is all built around a series of canals, and the city centre is easy to see in one day on foot. If you need an escape from the hustle of the city, then this is definitely a great day trip to take. Make sure you do an hour tour on boat to get a feel for the area.
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After Buenos Aires we headed to the small town of San Antonio de Areco. Known for it's guachos, this quaint little town is full of horses and lovely countryside. Unfortunately, we were about month too early for their Annual Gaucho Festival in November, but we still got to visit the Gaucho Museum. There isn't a lot going on here, but it was nice for a relaxing one night stay after the city.
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Next we headed Northwest to Rosario. This lesser visited city was a pleasant surprise. One of the main sights is the impressive Monumento Histórico Nacional a la Bandera. Here an eternal flame burns to memorialize the men who have died for their country. From the memorial, a walk along Ave. Belgrano and down Bv. Oroño shows you the main scenic route of the city.

Cordoba is pretty much in the middle (West to East) of Argentina and is a common stop for people exploring the north of the country. It is a big city and has a few nice old building in the centre, near Plaza San Martin. There are a lot of churches, but Iglesia de Los Capuchinos has the most interesting architecture. We spent some time people watching (...ok dog watching) in a few local parks but none of them were that spectacular. Overall, Cordoba is a good place to stop when going from point A to B, but overall the city itself doesn't offer anything truly exceptional.
I didn't expect too much from Alta Gracia, but it surprised me with how many hidden gems it had. We walked through the town and explored the church, the clock tower, the main square and the small lake before heading out of town to Gruta Virgen De Lourdes. We also visited the house that Che Guevara spent part of childhood, which is now a museum.
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Villa General Belgrano is the beer capital of Argentina and hosts a large Oktoberfest celebration each year. Since we missed this by a few weeks, we explored the small streets lined with German inspired houses and shops. There are several local craft breweries with their beers on offer in bottles and on tap in restaurants.
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La Cumbrecita makes a lovely day trip from Villa General Belgrano. An easy one hour bus ride takes you to the start of the pedestrian area where you can follow several trails to visit La Olla (a small swimming hole), Lago de las Truchas (Trout Lake), Cascada Grande (a waterfall) or a slightly longer one hour hike up to Cerro Wank (a 1715m lookout point). The building here are also German inspired and almost every shop has an artesanal cerveza on offer.
From Villa General Belgrano we made out way to Merlo. We needed to switch buses in Rio Cuarto and debated spending a night there en route, but decided against it in the end. We were glad we did upon arrival at the bus station, as the main attraction-the river- was pretty much a dry bed.
Merlo was a much nicer place to explore, with an amazing view of the mountain range between the Cordoba and San Luis provinces. We stopped by the Nature Reserve, but without a hired guide we were limited to exploring the small river and watching a talk by the staff about the birds and animals the park protects (in Spanish). We were lucky to see a few interesting birds and a fox. We started walking up to the Mirador Del Sol and ended up hitchhiking most of the way up because every car was headed in the same direction. The view was impressive and the walk back down to the bus station near the entrance of the Nature Reserve was chilly but beautiful.
Merlo was a much nicer place to explore, with an amazing view of the mountain range between the Cordoba and San Luis provinces. We stopped by the Nature Reserve, but without a hired guide we were limited to exploring the small river and watching a talk by the staff about the birds and animals the park protects (in Spanish). We were lucky to see a few interesting birds and a fox. We started walking up to the Mirador Del Sol and ended up hitchhiking most of the way up because every car was headed in the same direction. The view was impressive and the walk back down to the bus station near the entrance of the Nature Reserve was chilly but beautiful.
San Luis is the biggest city between Cordoba and Mendoza, so it is a good stop part way. There isn't much to do in San Luis itself, but there are a lot of places nearby that are worth a visit. We used San Luis as a base for three days and travelled to Potrero de Los Funes, Parque Nacional Sierra de las Quijadas and La Carolina.
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We didn't even know Potrero de Los Funes existed until we arrived at our hostel in San Luis. It was recommended as a day trip, and it was a great little town. We did the hour hike to the waterfall and took a very quick, cold swim in the water hole underneath. We were rewarded after the hike with a home brewed beer from someone's garage as we walked back down the hill towards town. We also walked down to the lake where locals were relaxing in the afternoon sun. If you take the bus, be clear on where you can catch it back to San Luis to avoid walking long distances in vain.
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Parque Nacional Sierra de las Quijadas was a definite highlight of Argentina, and seems completely out of place with its red rocks. The park is hard to get to, so we hired a car for a day to explore it and La Carolina. There are three different trails you can hike on your own and additional trails you can do with a guide from the park. We hiked the smaller 20 minute and 1 hour trails, and then did an additional 2 hour return hike to see the dinosaur footprint. The footprint itself isn't that impressive, but the scenery around it and the fact that it still exists there after 120 million years is pretty incredible.
From the National Park, we took the long route back to San Luis by heading East across on highway 20 to Lujan. From there we headed south to San Francisco del Monte de Oro and then on "highway 9" to La Carolina. Highway 9 appears on the map to be a short, easy drive. It is not. This road takes you over the mountain range that resembles the Scottish Highlands, with an array of the smallest, steepest, windiest curves you have ever driven. It took much longer than expected so we didn't get to La Carolina until dusk, but the views from the drive were amazing and something that most people would never experience in Argentina.
Mendoza was our final stop in Argentina and we filled the days with wine and hot springs. We also spent one afternoon in Parque General San Martin with a picnic lunch. There are nice avenues and plazas to explore in the city, but most people come to explore the vineyards slightly outside the city in Chacras de Coria or Maipu.
Chacras de Coria was recommended to us as the more picturesque location so we headed there on the local bus and rented bikes to do a self guided tour of 5 of the local wineries. They seem to have no issues with foreigners drinking malbecs all day and hopping on their bikes to peddle to the next tasting. There were some pretty spectacular views of the Andes mountains in the background of the vineyards.
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Termas Cacheuta is another easy day trip to take from Mendoza. There are packages available that pick you up from your hotel and take you to a fancier hotel spa for about $85 AUD, but there is also a local spa area that you can access by public bus. Entrance to the local "camping" spa area is only 150 pesos and there are BBQ areas available if you want to bring your own lunch. There are also lockers, showers, shops and restaurants available close by, so you can spend the day easily, going in and out of the spa pools as you wish. The view from the outside pools is perfect for relaxing and enjoying the surrounding Andes.
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On our final day in Argentina we boarded a bus from Mendoza to Santiago, travelling over the Andes and crossing the border at the Paso Internacional Los Libertadores. This trip is highly recommended during the day, as the view is incredible. Snow capped mountains welcomed us to Chile for our next adventure.
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Questions about travelling in Argentina? Email us and we will be happy to help!