Category: Argentina

The Río Sauce winding gently through it, this leafy town fills up on weekends, with families from around the province flocking to its pretty bathing spots and picturesque hills.

This beachside town is looking a little worn out alongside its newer, more upmarket neighbors, but it’s still a hit with the younger crowd, and has a more bohemian feel than the flashier Pinamar.

Slightly seedy but nevertheless authentic, Caleta Olivia earns its living refining oil and processing fish. High winds plague the port, but are preferable to its sporadic dust storms. Located south of Comodoro on costal RN 3, Caleta Olivia is, however, a convenient place to change buses to more inspiring locales, such as the petrified forests, Puerto Deseado or Los Antiguos.

It’s not hard to see why the hippies started flocking to El Bolsón back in the ’70s. It’s a mellow little village for most of the year, nestled in between two mountain ranges. When summer comes, it packs out with Argentine tourists who drop big wads of cash and disappear quietly to whence they came.

Truly the end of the line, La Quiaca is 5171km north of Ushuaia, and a major crossing point to Bolivia. It’s a cold, windy place that has decent places to stay and eat but little to detain you. Once a bustling railroad terminus, La Quiaca’s main sign of life these days is weary Bolivians trudging between the border and the bus terminal toting heavy bags. Nevertheless, it’s not dangerous, and noble stone buildings recall more optimistic times.

Preserving several diverse ecosystems that reflect subtle differences in relief, soils and rainfall, this very accessible park (03725-499161; entrance free; visitor center 9am-7pm) protects 150 sq km of the humid eastern Chaco. It is 115km northwest of Resistencia via RN 16 and RP 9.

Those who confuse this dull agricultural village with the jaw-dropping national park of the same name or the glacier near El Calafate might wonder why the only tourist attraction is cruising the strip on Saturday night. Perito Moreno is a brief stopover en route to the more inviting Andean oasis of Los Antiguos. It also makes a good launch pad for visiting Cueva de las Manos and Parque Nacional Perito Moreno. The main drag, San Martín, leads north to RP 43 and south to RN 40; it’s 128km south to Bajo Caracoles and 135km north to Río Mayo.

The lovely hilltown of Tafí is where the folk of Tucumán traditionally head to take refuge from the summer heat. The journey from the city is a spectacular one; about 100km northwest of Tucumán the narrow gorge of the Río de los Sosas, with its dense, verdant subtropical forest on all sides, opens onto a misty valley beneath the snowy peaks of the Sierra del Aconquija. The precipitous mountain road is a spectacular trip – grab a window seat on the bus.

Villa Pehuenia is an idyllic little lakeside village on the shores of Lago Aluminé. There are several Mapuche communities nearby, including the community of Puel, located between Lago Aluminé and Lago Moquehue. The villa lies at the heart of the Pehuen region, named of course after the pehuen (araucaria) trees that are so marvelously present. If you have a car, the Circuito Pehuenia is a great drive; it’s a four- to six-hour loop from Villa Pehuenia past Lago Moquehue, Lago Ñorquinco, Lago Pulmarí and back around Lago Aluminé.