About 22km north of Buenos Aires is peaceful and residential San Isidro, a charming suburb of cobblestone streets lined with graceful buildings. The historic center is at Plaza Mitre and its beautiful neo-Gothic cathedral; on weekends the area buzzes with a crafts fair. There’s a tourist office (4512-3209; www.sanisidro.gov.ar; Ituzaingo 608) at the plaza near Av Libertador, next to the rugby museum.
Picturesque Tilcara, 23km further up the valley from the Purmamarca turnoff, is many people’s choice as their Quebrada de Humahuaca base and offers a wide accommodations choice from luxury boutique retreats to chilly hostels. The mixture of local farmers getting on with a centuries-old way of life and arty urban refugees looking for a quieter existence has created an interesting balance on the town’s dusty streets.
Time seems to have stopped for Aluminé, and although it’s an important tourist destination, it is less visited than destinations to the south. The town itself has a very local flair, with the main plaza alive with families and children on weekends. Most of the buildings are whitewashed brick, faded with time, and the streets are nearly all dirt, all a relief from the chalet-lined streets of San Martín and Bariloche. Situated 103km north of Junín de los Andes via RP 23, it’s a popular fly-fishing destination and offers access to the less-visited northern sector of Parque Nacional Lanín. The Río Aluminé also offers excellent white-water rafting and kayaking.
With a gorgeous situation among low rocky hills and sizable snowcapped peaks, Chilecito is the province’s second-largest settlement but nevertheless is just a small town. There are several interesting things to see, including the amazing cableway leading to a mine high in the sierra. It also makes a base for longer excursions to the Parque Nacional Talampaya or the remote hot springs at Fiambalá. With the intense heat, mining heritage and slopes around town dotted with cardón cactus, Chilecito can have a Wild West feel to it at times and is definitely the most appealing place to spend a few quiet days in this part of the country.
A mellow little riverside place, Gualeguaychú is very quiet out of season and you won’t find much to do apart from stroll by the river or in the lush Parque Unzué – which makes it very appealing if you’ve just come from Buenos Aires, for example. Argentine holidaymakers begin to arrive in December, and in January and February the place really kicks off, with the country’s longest and flashiest Carnaval celebrations.
The main access point for the spectacular Esteros del Iberá wetlands, Mercedes is a handsome gaucho town with a mighty easy pace to life. Its claim to fame is the nearby –and utterly surreal – roadside shrine to the gaucho Antonio Gil, an enormously popular religious phenomenon, located 9km west of town.
East of Laguna Blanca are the wildlife-rich marshlands of 600-sq-km Parque Nacional Río Pilcomayo. Its outstanding feature is shallow, shimmering Laguna Blanca (not to be confused with the town) where, at sunset, caimans lurk on the lake’s surface. Other animals are likelier to be heard than seen; species such as tapirs, anteaters, and the maned wolf are present. Birds are abundant, with rheas, parrots, cormorants, jabirú, and raptors easily spotted. The park has grasslands studded with caranday palms, and thicker riverine vegetation.
Little Purmamarca, 3km west of the highway, sits under the celebrated Cerro de los Siete Colores (Hill of Seven Colors), a spectacular and jagged formation resembling the marzipan fantasy of a megalomaniac pastry chef. It and the surrounds offer a memorable range of hues.
Living in the shadow of a world-class destination like Mendoza can’t be easy and, to its credit, San Juan doesn’t even try to compete. Life in this provincial capital moves at its own pace, and the locals are both proud and humble about their little town.
Named for the Selk’nam word meaning ‘like a heart, ’ Tolhuin (population 2000) is a lake town nestled in the center of Tierra del Fuego, 132km south of Río Grande and 104km northeast of Ushuaia via smooth pavement. This fast-growing frontier town of small plazas and sheltering evergreens fronts the eastern shore of Lago Fagnano, also known as Lago Kami. Most travelers tend to skip right over it, but if you are looking for a unique and tranquil spot, Tolhuin is well worth checking out.