Travel advice for Argentina
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written by Shafik Meghji
updated 23.03.2020
Although long popular with Argentine tourists, Córdoba Province receives few foreign visitors, despite being one of the most diverse parts of the country. This underrated region is home to hip cities, kitsch Germania, iconic revolutionaries, skydiving hubs, UFO-spotters, and perhaps the finest horse riding on the continent.
The Great Lakes and Glaciers of Argentina
Experience the great outdoors, Argentina-style! Marvel at jaw-droppingly beautiful Patagonian landscapes, walk the shores of deep-blue lakes guarded by snow-capped mountains at Bariloche, explore the stunning Perito Moreno Glacier – experience all of this, and much more, with this unique trip!
customize ⤍From Chile to Argentina, across the Andean Lakes
Travel from Chile to Argentina across the stunning Andean Lakes, also known as the Lakes District. Beginning in Santiago, you will travel to Puerto Varas, in Chile, and then across the lakes to Bariloche, Argentina, taking in the stunning mountain scenery, before ending your trip in Buenos Aires.
customize ⤍An adventure across three countries: Brazil, Argentina & Uruguay
A trip filled with history, culture and nature spread out over three beautiful and unique countries, Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay. Visit some of the most stunning sites, like the Sugar Loaf Mountain, Iguazu Falls and UNESCO World Heritage site Colonia del Sacramento, during this 14-day trip.
customize ⤍Argentinean Patagonia: from the Coast to the Andes
Explore the region's most fascinating corners: sea life in Puerto Madryn awaits before you head to the most southern city in the world: Ushuaia. Discover Tierra del Fuego before heading out to El Calafate and Bariloche, really soaking in the Argentinean vibes.
customize ⤍Unforgettable Argentina
Argentina has a lot to offer travellers, in this itinerary you will explore the highlights in just two weeks. From busy Buenos Aires you will fly to Iguazu to marvel at the majestic waterfalls before heading south to Puerto Madryn, Ushuaia and El Calafate. Unforgettable Argentina awaits!
customize ⤍Magical Patagonia and Cultural Buenos Aires
Combine exploring the contemporary city of Buenos Aires, with all its luxuries and grand, historical buildings, together with the wild, rugged land of Patagonia. Take in the culture and observe the landscape and wildlife to gain a complete picture of the true Argentina.
customize ⤍Andean Triangle - Chile, Bolivia and Argentina
Start your South American adventure in Santiago de Chile before exploring the wonders of the Atacama desert. A short hop across the border and you'll find yourself in the middle of the Bolivian salt flat. Afterwards, you'll continue to Argentina with Salta and Buenos Aires.
customize ⤍Argentina: Tango and Glaciers
Visit the grand, edgy and famously seductive Argentine capital of Buenos Aires for tango and culture; then head northeast to see the thundering Iguazú Falls. Finally, it’s off to the end of the Americas to deepest Patagonia for adventure, glaciers and limitless horizons.
customize ⤍Wild Patagonia
Argentina has lots to offer its visitors: a glacier the size of a city, sizzling tango, fashionable barrios, artisan towns, ranches with horses and gauchos and wild untamed natural beauty. From Buenos Aires to Patagonia, you’ll get to see it all in this adventure-laden vacation.
customize ⤍Tango & Wines in Argentina
Argentina is known for its dances and gastronomy scene, both to be discovered on this trip. Explore Buenos Aires on your own and with a guide, including its famous nightlife before heading to the vineyards of Mendoza, one of the most developed wine regions in the country.
customize ⤍The local authorities are investing heavily in arts and culture, and several new museums and cultural spaces have opened up. The latest is the Centro Cultural Córdoba, an eye-catching, glass-and-concrete construction, with an arcing roof that appears to have been designed specifically to tempt skateboarders (though numerous signs warn that this activity is explicitly prohibited).
Immediately behind the centre, which hosts regular exhibitions, theatrical performances and film screenings, is the Faro (Lighthouse), a concrete twist that rises almost 90m into the air.
The centre of cool Córdoba, though, is Barrio Güemes, one of the city’s oldest neighbourhoods, now rapidly gentrifying. Many of its crumbling eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century houses have been transformed into antique shops, boutiques, art galleries, and trendy restaurants and bars. The barrio comes alive in the evenings, when locals flock to drink craft beers at Dada Mini and cocktails at Milk, eat at the artist-owned Milo Lockett, and – at weekends – rummage through the stalls at the bohemian Paseo de las Artes street market.
At this wonderfully secluded working ranch the Begg family and their gauchos take you on epic rides across an undulating landscape that vaguely resembles the Scottish Highlands.
Among their horses are Paso Peruanos, a breed famous for its extra “gait” – a fifth gear essentially – which makes for a smoother ride. They are so well-bred that even the most nervous rider will soon imagine themselves a cowboy or girl. More experienced riders, meanwhile, can try their hand at that very Anglo-Argentine sport, polo.
Its streets are lined with ersatz Alpine-style buildings, mock castles, and pubs with names like “Alter Zeppelin” and “Viejo Munich”. Restaurants serve sausages and sauerkraut, spätzle and goulash, while café’s offer up black forest gateau and apple strudel. Shops, meanwhile, are stocked with beer steins, toy wooden trolls and relojes cu-cu (cuckoo clocks). The town comes into its own – with the kitsch ramped up to the max – in the autumn when it hosts a raucous Oktoberfest.
For the Spanish Crown this was a dangerously enlightened approach, and the – by now very wealthy – Jesuits were eventually banished from the continent in the 1760s. As well as a lasting cultural influence, they left behind an incredible array of architectural gems, notably estancias (ranches) such as Santa Catalina.
Almost 200 years later, in the 1930s, the Guevara family moved to Alta Gracia, a small town 40km south of Córdoba, in the hope that the dry climate of the surrounding sierras would help the five-year-old “Che” cope with his chronic asthma.
Their home, Villa Beatriz, is now an evocative museum, filled with all manner of memorabilia – from the golf clubs and typewriter Che used as a young man to the ashes of Alberto Granado, with whom he embarked on his famous motorcycle journey around Latin America.
Shafik Meghji co-authors The Rough Guide to Argentina. He blogs at unmappedroutes.com and tweet @ShafikMeghji. Compare flights, find tours, book hostels and hotels for your trip, and don’t forget to purchase travel insurance before you go.
Top image © Diego Grandi/Shutterstock
written by Shafik Meghji
updated 23.03.2020
Shafik is an award-winning travel writer, journalist and co-author of more than 40 Rough Guides to destinations across Latin America, Asia, Oceania, Europe and North Africa. A regular contributor to the Rough Guide to Everywhere podcast, he writes and takes photos for BBC Travel, Wanderlust and Atlas Obscura, among others. His new book, Crossed Off The Map: Travels in Bolivia, will be published in late 2021. Follow him @shafikmeghji on Twitter and Instagram.
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