Argentina
- Rotem Haskia
- Apr 21, 2020
- 16 min read
Updated: Apr 22, 2020
Welcome to my blog from the wonderful Argentina, the home of some of the best hikes in South America, breathtaking views and for sure the best meat in the world!
Bariloche
Situated in the foothills of the Andes on the southern shores of Nahuel Huapi Lake this lovely city is a paradise for the foodies between you. In Bariloche you will enjoy on a daily basis from the famous Argentine meat, ice creams and chocolate. Beside of the amazing food in great prices you will also wash your eyes on countless of clear blue lakes, the snowy Andes mountains and the black glacier.
Where to sleep?
Casa patagonia: an amazing hostel with the most home like atmosphere. When we arrived the owner took us on a getting to know the area tour, he showed us the best restaurants, helped us to buy sims for our phones and was just a great friend. When our car company had some problems and didn't provide us our car in time he even gave us a free night just to make sure we are OK. highly recommended.
What to do?
Tom Wesley farm: a beautiful farm where we had an amazing horseback ride over the breathtaking view of the Nahuel Huapi lake.
Circuito Chico: rent car or bicycles and explore this circular road around the lakes that offers spectacular nature trails and viewpoints.
Cerro Campanario: take the cable car to the top and enjoy a 360° viewpoint over countless of lakes, green fields and snowy massive mountains.
The 7 lakes: This day should start very early in the morning in order to make the most of it since it is very long and you have to rent a car for it. We started our drive on 07:00 am with the sunrise and began our 3 hours drive to San Martin between the stunning scenery of the 7 famous Lakes of Bariloche. On the way make sure you notice to stop in all the amazing viewpoints where you will enjoy Mirror like lakes with crystal clear water, marvelous mountains that if you are lucky covered with snow, beautiful green forests, lovely rivers that comes from impressive waterfalls and in general the overwhelming Patagonian views.
Otto mountain: take the cable car to the top of Cerro Auto where you can enjoy a breakfast in a restaurant that offers a spectacular panoramic view over Bariooche, Nahuel Huapi lake and the snowy mountains. The restaurant also spins slowly which changes your breakfast view in every second.
Cerro Catedral: the largest ski site in South America
Cascada De los Duendes: we took the 50 bus line to Cascada De los Duendes and after a 30 minutes walk by the lake we arrived to a beautiful green forest that offers many trails, viewpoints, camping and the famous waterfall.
The black glacier: Around 09:00 am the Turismo Si company bus picked us up from our hostel and we started our drive to Mount Tronador. In this park you will see many beautiful rivers floating between the green trees but the main attraction is the black glacier. We stopped in different points to enjoy the view and in a nice restaurant near the park's campsite for lunch and around 14:00 we were amazed by the sight of the glacier and all the snow, frozen lake and mountains that surround it. Even though the weather weren't the best this was an amazing opportunity and I advise you not to miss it.
Where to eat?
Alto El Fuego: famous steakous with the best Argetian meat.
Mammuschka: the most famous local chocklate shop.
Don Alberto: the most famous meat restaurant in Bariloche.
Manush: beer bar that offers great food, cocktails and most famous for the huge variety of beers.
The Carretera Austral
This Road trip goes back and forth between Chile and Argentina but I recommend to start in Argentina for a better route and also a much cheaper car rental fees so I'm going to write my road trip plan in my recommended order from Argentina the way I did.
The Carretera Austral is the name given to Chile's Route 7 that offers the views of special towns, amazing parks, incredible hikes, countless activities and so much more. The best option in my option is to rent a car and do this trip at your own pace and schedule but you may also use the common option of hitchhiking or a van trip with more people through a company.
Important tips: 1. This Road trip goes back and forth between Chile and Argentina but I recommend to start in Argentina for a better route and also a much cheaper car rental fee.
2. fuel gas in every gas station no matter what is your gas situation since sometimes the distances between the gas stations can be really far.
3. Do a full grocery shopping before since Argentina is much cheaper but do not buy vegetables or other products that are not completely close since they are not allowed in the border crossing.
Day 1- Leaving Bariloche The Carretera Austral (Argentina):
We started our road trip and drove almost two hours to El Bolson where we walked around the city center and had breakfast on the top of Cerro Amigo which offers great viewpoints over the city's green view.
From El Bolson we drove another 2.5 hours to Trevelin Chubut where we were lucky enough to witness the blossom of the 47 types of tulipanes that blossom only on October.
After Trevelin we continued for another hour to Futaleufu where we crossed the border to Chile, enjoyed a calm afternoon and spent the night.
Day 2- The Hanging Glacier (Chile): We left Futaleufu early in the morning and drove 4.5 hours to National Park Queulat that offers breathtaking views of a crystal-clear river and green forest but the far most famous attraction is the 3 hours hike to the Hanging Glacier- a massive glacier hung between two mountains. From Queulat we drove to Puyuapi enjoyed the local hot springs and spent our second night.
Day 3- Coyhaique (Chile):
On our 4.5 hours way to Coyhaique we stopped at Cascada La Virgen in the beginning of Rio Simpson National Reserve. After that we drove 30 minutes to Coyhaique where we visited Coyhaique national reserve and ate lunch at Laguna Verde. in the evening we spent the afternoon at the city's main square where you can find restaurants and bars.
Day 4- Puerto Tranquilo (Chile): We left coyhayke and drove 3.5 hours to Puerto Tranquilo. We were supposed to arrive early in the noon but after some car problems we arrived at 15:00. In Puerto Tranquilo the main thing you have to do is the boat trip to the Marble Caves- you absolutely can't say you've been to Puerto Tranquilo otherwise. After the boat trip we only had time for dinner and we spent the night in a local hostel.
Day 5- Glaciar Exploradores (Chile): Early with dawn we went to see the sunrise over the city's lake and right after we drove 50 km (about one hour) to Laguna san Rafael national park where we started our hike to Glaciar Exploradores. On the way we stopped at La Nutria waterfall and around 09:00 we started walking in the park. The first two hours are a bit challenging since they include jumping between rocks but when you put your crampons on and start walking on the glacier it's much easier. This amazing hike includes two hours on the rocks and two hours on the glacier underneath the enchanting view of mount San Valentine. On the glacier you will see impressive and massive ice hills, beautiful blue clear ice, deep blue Lagoons and the highlight for me was to walk inside an ice cave when magical blue ice surrounds you from all over, so clear that you can look inside of it. I highly recommend this hike since it's not hard, good for everyone and offers breathtaking nature views.
Day 6- Chile Chico (Chile): We left our beloved Puerto Tranquilo and drove 3.5 hours in more amazing views to Chile Chico. On the way we stopped at Laguna Verde and arrived to Chile Chico with noon. In the city we had a picnic lunch on a beautiful mirador over the blue sea at Plaza Del Viento, visited the city huge cotton fields and had a peaceful afternoon at the local amazing beach.
Day 7- Piedra Clavada circul (Chile): We woke up before dawn with all the neighbor's roosters and drove 25 km on the way to Reserva Nacional Lago Jeinimeni where on the way you will find the signs that will lead you to the hike. Note- the road is only for 4X4 vehicles. This very unique and unknown for tourists hike will start in an open field underneath huge weird shaped rocks that were sculptured by the wind and not long after you start walking you will start to see and get closer to the impressive 40 meters totem like rock called Piedra Clavada. After this you will continue walking in the trail in the valley and start climbing to the next stop- Cueva De Lad Manos in which you will get a small taste of the "Hand cave" that you can also see near Puerto Moreno. In such caves you can witness signs and paintings from people and animals from over 7000 years ago. Last but not least our final spot of the hike is the breathtaking Valle Lunar that is filled with fascinating rocks that give you the feeling like you moved to another planet or landed on the moon. This hike is completely undiscovered by tourists and that also what makes it so special, it's in the wild nature, very unique and different from the views we saw this far in the trip and also very very easy. After the hike you can continue to Lago Jeinimeni reserve itself and then cross the border back to Argentina where we spent the night in Los Antiguos.
In Los Antiguos you can enjoy the beautiful lake view, the local fruit markets and bakeries and the miradors: Mirador Uendeunk, Mirador Del Valle and Mirador Rio Jeinimeni.
Day 8- driving back to Bariloche: We started our drive back to Bariloche in order to give back the car to the agency, you can also bring the car back at El Calafate for a big fee. We drove almost 7 to Esquel where we spent the night. Tip: Stop for fuel in very gas station due to very long distances and also to fresh yourself up since the road is very boring.
Buenos Aires
The capital and largest city of Argentina, this city is mostly famous for its active nightlife, interesting and filled with culture neighborhoods and European look. I recommend spending here at least 4-5 days and to include the weekend in order to get the best of the famous nightlife.
What to do?
Plaza de la República: home of the famous Obelisk.
La Boka: take the 64 bus line to the beautiful neighborhood La Boka. Painted and colored by past locals this is one of the most colorful neighborhoods in the world, In it you will find amazing unique shops, street food, colorful houses and tango dancers in every corner that ensure a greet mood.
Puerto Madero: take the 33 bus line to this neighborhood where you can enjoy a nice walk at Micaela Bastidas Park and in the afternoon you can rent bicycles at Reserva Ecológica Costanera Sur where you can have a great view over special birds, the lake at Puerto Madero buildings. Warning: No matter how safe you think the location is keep your belonging in your bag. My friend got her cellphone snatched from her hand by a thief on bicycles.
San Telmo street: which offers an amazing market on Sunday that includes special arts, local food, souvenirs and so much more.
Nightlife clubs: Kika, Niceto.
La Recoleta: which is a downtown residential neighborhood with a lot of historical and architectural interest. The main attraction in La Recoleta is the very well-known La Recoleta Cemetery that contains remarkable, unique graves of notable people.
Shopping: the amazing Alto Palermo mall.
Botanical Gardens: visit all of the city's famous botanical gardens.
Iguazu Falls
Taller than Niagara Falls and wider than Victoria falls, the Iguazú Falls are the most dramatic and the largest waterfall system in the world over the Iguazu river on the border of Brazil and Argentina. The waterfall system consists of 275 falls along the Iguazú River and there are two options to meet the Iguazu Falls: the Brazilian side or the Argentinean side, but you should not miss any of them- the cross is done very easily by a short bus.
Brazilian side of the Iguazu Falls: we took the bus to Brazil from Puerto Iguazo and started our trip in the Iguazu park. The Brazilian side will take around 3 hours to half a day if you do special activities like boat rides or helicopter.
After the park you can cross the street to the amazing bird park "Aves" and have a full day. This bird park will offer you amazing close up with many types of birds, butterflies and even reptiles in the middle of a jungle. This is just a lovely place to have a calm beautiful day.
Argentinian side of the Iguazu Falls: We woke up earlier than the sun in order to catch the first bus to the Argentinean side of the Iguazu park and also the bigger side that takes a whole full day. We entered the park at 08:00 (also the opening hour) and started with a beautiful walk in the "green trail" towards the jungle experiences station. In the green trail you will enjoy from the mesmerizing animals sounds, magical green views, enchanting butterflies and other animals. We arrived after 30 minutes to the jungle experience station where we took a 1500 peso tour in the park. We hopped on a bus for 6 km between the park's amazing jungle views and it dropped us off at the starting point of the boat ride. The boat ride will take you on high speed over massive rapids and to the bottom of the waterfalls in two points. At the end of the tour they will take you straight underneath the waterfalls which is an insane experience just as it sounds but also for me and to the people in the front row it was a bit terrifying so my advice is to sit in the back. After the jungle safari tour, we walked 45 minutes on the upper circle route which offer more breathtaking views of the waterfalls from above and on the way we met many birds and lizards. Last but not least since we saved the best for last, we took the park's train to the devil throat falls which is an 80-90 m wide and 70-80 m deep canyon that half of the river's float falls into. This fall completely blew our minds, water splashing so massively that it made our knee shake. This park is a must visit location in south America from both sides also I have to say that the Argentine side captured my heart with the devil throat.
El Calafte
An important tourist destination from which you can visit the amazing Los Glaciares National Park and get buses to different locations. The far most famous attraction is the breathtaking Perito Moreno Glacier.
What to do?
Laguna Nimez: which is the home of many birds including many flamingos and also a viewpoint of view of the bright blue lake.
Purito Moreno glacier: The "Andes" company bus picked us up at 09:00 and took us all the 80 km to Los Dlacier national park that with other glaciers is the home of the impressive Purito Moreno glacier. We arrived after two hours and right as we hopped off the bus we could hear the thunder like noises made by massive glacier pieces falling into the water. This act is very rare and special so immediately we started to run and we very lucky to witness countless of those drops and even catch it on camera. Those drops doesn't happen every day and sometimes it take hours to wait for them so make sure to bring some warm clothes and snacks in order to have a pleasant wait. We watched the glacier for 5 hours and at 15:00 o'clock we were picked up back to El Calafte.
El Chanten
One of my favorite cities around Argentina and a paradise for hikers! The Most popular trails are Cerro Torre and Cerro Fitz Roy mountains that are connected with a trail called Madre y Hija so should be done together.
Tips:
1.Check in every chance the weather predictions and make sure you have a good weather clear from winds and rain since the weather in this area gets really crazy and changes extremely in every hour.
2. Look for a clear sky day since you don't want to climb all the way up the Fitz Roy and see only fog.
3. Rent a camping equipment in order to camp in the FREE campsites and do all the trails together, it's a great adventure and will also offer you the chance to climb for the famous sunrise on Fitz Roy- you really don't want to miss it!
4. As mentioned don't you dare miss the sunrise over the Fitz Roy, camp in the bottom of the mountain and start climbing at 4:00 am with warm clothes and flashlights. Also be careful because it's completely dark and icy all the way. A sign for a good sunrise is looking up to the sky and if it's covered with stars that you can see clearly (a magical sight itself) go because it means that the sky is clear!
What to do?
Laguna Cerro Torres hike: which is a very easy flat trail of 10 km that has a beautiful view of the glaciers and the Fitz Roy on the way. At the end you will find a breathtaking Lagun surrounded by an amazing glacier, snowy mountains, the impressive Fitz Roy and even ice pieces in the water. The trail took us 5.5 hours including the stops and its highly recommended.
El Mirador De Los Condores: a 30 minutes trail that will offer you a panoramic view over the tow, the famous mountains and glacier. If you continue for another 30 minutes after you can also find a great view over Laguna Nimez.
Chorrillo del Salto: a 3 km trail with a great view to a 20 meter waterfall.
Fitz Roy: we packed our backpacks with all the necessary equipment for camping in the mountains and started our journey to the Fitz Roy at 09:30 am. we walked 8 km to the campsite, built our camp and left our things since the last 2 km are much more difficult and steeper. We climbed up for another hour and finally arrived to the amazing "Laguna De Los Tress" which is the most famous viewpoint over the Fitz Roy. The Laguna was still frozen but usually it has a mesmerizing blue color, the snowy mountains around it and all of this view are just carved in my mind until this day.
Tip: If you continue over the second hill for another 5 minutes you will find another magical blue lagoon. We Woke up at 04:00 am to the darkest darkness I have ever experienced, geared up on warm clothes, grabbed some flashlights and started the hard climb again in the dark. After a long, cold climb on ice, some mistakes in the way, magical shooting stars and one rabbit that we confused as a Puma we arrived to Laguna De Los Tres for the second time just in time for the best sunrise of my life. The sky that just a second ago were covered with stars started to get different colors, the magnificent Fitz Roy was now at it's full glory completely clear and out of the clouds and we sat there, humbled in front of the marvelous view in front of us watching the sunrise coloring the Fitz Roy with a strong golden color. Do not dare to miss it!
Ushuaia
Welcome to the end of the world! In Ushuaia you will find many Wildlife attractions, the most beautiful hikes, the end of the world train, horseback rides, scuba diving, 4X4 trips, sunset kayaking, ships to Antarctica and more!
What to do?
Laguna Esmeralda: this amazing trail is only 1.5- 2 hours max to each direction and it will take all the way to the beautiful blue lagoon underneath the marvelous mountains. Tip: Pay attention to the signs, us and 6 more people confused the roads and got lost twice and instead of 3 hours we walked for 6.
Siberianos de Fuego: the home to 150 Siberian huskies and a dog lover's paradise. With only 150 peso this park will offer you as much as you want from hot beverages, snacks and the main attraction- the sled dogs. In front of the park you can also do a quad trip or have lunch at the restaurant.
Laguna Turkiz: Today we hiked to the Tourkiz Lagun, a not very famous hike to tourists but a very popular among the locals. The hike is a bit hard, a steep hill with a lot of mud, and snow on the top but it's a short one, 1.5 hours to each direction. On the top, next to the lake you can climb a bit more in order to find a beautiful valley and the beautiful green view of Laguna Esmeralda from a distance. If you continue even further, you'll have a breathtaking view over entire Ushuaia and the sea. Tip: I recommend bringing hiking sticks due to the ground conditions and warm clothes for the top.
National Park Tierra Del Fuego: To this park I recommend renting a transportation service since it will make the going back so much easier from the distanced location of the park. I walked the popular Senda Costera 8 km trail which is just a lovely way to open the day with a calm, peaceful trail by the coast, between the enchanting forest trees and underneath the beautiful mountains. After the trail that takes between 2-3 hours (depending on your pace and breaks) you can have lunch at the visitor center and rest. From here I continued to the trails in Lapataia area that are numbered from 1-6 and you can go through all of them in around 2 hours. Those trails offer you many amazing spots like beaver's dams, crystal clear lakes, green massive mountains covered with snow, islands view and more, all of this in very short walking distances and on flat easy trails. This entire day took me from 10:00 to 16:00 and I took the 17:00 o'clock bus back to Ushuais. Tip: this park offers many other great trails (another recommended one is trail 4 - Guanaco) so you can spend here more than one day and you can also camp here in order to make the most of your visit.
Glacier Martial: I recommend getting a transportation to the base and not all the way up in order to walk up to the glacier in the trail. The trail goes in a beautiful forest between viewpoints and interesting historical spots and after two hours you'll be at the top. On the top you will walk another 40 minutes by the cute river from the first viewpoint of the glacier and you can continue for another hour on the trail that goes to the glacier itself. After the hike you can relax at the pastoral "casa de tea" which is probably the most beautiful coffee shop I have ever seen.
Laguna De Los Tempanos: This hike is a bit hard since it involves a steep hill, ice, snow and mud but it's a short one, the entire trip took me 5 hours. The trail to the Laguna goes out from a distant neighborhood so you will need a transportation there and in the same area you can find trail to some more other lakes, I decided to go only to Los Tempanos. The trail starts in a beautiful green valley, underneath the big Ushuaia's mountains and with wild horses view- a dreamy scene. Most of the hike is done at the forest until the last part that is around twenty minutes of the steep hill part of the hike and you will get to the beautiful lagoon.
Kayaking: a kayaking tour to watch the sunset by the National park from the best front seats.
Martillo Island: take boat ride to Martillo Island on the Beagle Channel. Martillo Island is home to an incredible colony of Gentoo and Magellanics penguins.
Faro Les Eclaireur: A Lighthouse that marks the dangerous rocks at the entrance to Ushuaia Bay, Locals often wrongfully call this "the end of the world Lighthouse" but it's not true since there is another one.
Argentina had truly the best of everything, the best hikes, food, people, views, nature and etc. I highly recommend to combine it like I did with Chile and just drive between them for the best trip ever. For more pictures click here or search @Travel_Rotem on Instagram.
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