Journey North Argentina

14 days - from € 7.300 per person

Driving - off the beaten track - Andes

  • Explore the remote highlands of the North-Argentinean Andes
  • Discover the stories of Inca-mummies, children that where sacrificed at volcano craters
  • Drive along white colored salt flats, mountain lakes with flamingoes and surreal landscapes
  • Visit a bizarre ghost town at 4.200 meters
  • Saddle your horse and ride with the gauchos of Estancia San Antonio de Areco

Curious? Watch this video about the route in 3 minutes:

(click on the image and the video will start playing)

Travel itinerary

Day 1: Amsterdam - Buenos Aires

Today your Unique Journey through Argentina begins! In the evening you will board your intercontinental flight to Buenos Aires in Amsterdam.

Day 2: Buenos Aires

Early in the morning you will arrive at Buenos Aires airport. A local employee will welcome you and take you to your hotel. The rest of the thay you have time to discover this beautiful metropolis. For example, visit the beautiful parks in the Palermo district, the stylish Recoleta district, where you can enjoy shopping and where Evita Peron's grave is also located. The characteristic San Telmo district, the cradle of tango and of course the popular neighborhood of La Boca with its colorful houses are definitely worth a visit!
Overnight: 1828 Smart hotel | bed & breakfast

Day 3: Buenos Aires

This day there is a Graffiti and Street Art tour on the program. Accompanied by an English-speaking guide, you will get to know a number of well-known and lesser-known streets of Buenos Aires. First of all, visit the MALBA museum, the museum has 270 works of art by modern and contemporary Latin American artists, including Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera and Fernando Botero. After this you will be taken through the streets of Palermo where you will see beautiful graffiti artworks. Many of these works of art incorporate political or social themes.
Overnight: 1828 Smart Hotel | bed & breakfast

Day 4: Buenos Aires - Salta

In the morning you are flying to Salta where you will stay at the characteristic estancia Finca Valentina. In the afternoon you can visit the main sights of Salta, such as the cathedral, the San Francisco church, the San Bernardo mountain from where you have a great view of the city and you can visit the Museo de Arqueología de Alta Montaña where you will find, among other things, three perfectly mummified children who were excavated on the nearby high peak of Mount Llullaillaco. More than 500 years ago they were sacrificed there because of a religious ritual.
Overnight: Finca Valentina | bed & breakfast

La Puna in Argentina

The next few days you will stay in La Puna, in the northwest of Argentina. The Argentine Puna is a highland desert which extends from the Argentine province of Catamarca north through Bolivia to Peru, and west to Chile. This is where the Andes mountain range opens and you are between the volcanic chain and a mountain range. Hundreds of millions of years of sun, wind and tectonic violence, you will find landscapes here that you cannot find anywhere else. The cut landscapes are among the most extreme on the planet.

Day 5: Salta - El Peñon

(approx. 600 km | 10 hour drive)
Today your adventure is really about to start! You will be picked up by your guide and together you will drive to La Puna. After a long but impressive day, you will arrive at Hosteria El Peñon. It is a simple but friendly accommodation. In the evening, dinner is waiting for you. You sleep at an altitude of about 3400 meters.
Overnight: Hosteria El Peñon | full board

Day 6: El Peñon

(approx. 150 km | 8 hour drive)
Today you will explore part of the surroundings of El Peñon. After breakfast, board your car with your guide and visit the Laguna Grande Reserve, a place of unique beauty that contains fragile treasures of the environment. You will pass several lakes with large groups of flamingos. Rock formations and the crater of the volcano Galan. Be amazed by the beauty of nature and enjoy. At the end of the day you will be transferred to your hotel and you can enjoy your well deserved dinner.
Overnight: Hosteria El Peñon | full board

Day 7: El Peñon

(approx. 100 km | 8 hour drive)
Your guide will take you again to discover the surroundings of El Peñon. You will pass the volcano and Lake of Carachipampa and you will be taken to the surreal landscape of Campo de Piedra Pómez. The wind of the Puna, a dry and strong wind that has free play in this barren landscape, causes the rock to wear out, creating bizarre rock formations. An impressive landscape. On the way back you will pass the white sand dunes. In the middle of the wasteland of mountain peaks, rocks and volcanoes lies an immense, graceful white sand mountain. At the end of the day you will arrive in el Peñon again.
Overnight: Hosteria El Peñon | full board

Day 8: El Peñon - Tolar Grande

(approx. 340 km | 9 hour drive)
Today's route takes you on unpaved roads to Tolar Grande. Along the way you drive through some green valleys, in the middle of the dry desert. You will pass the most extensive salt flat in the world and the Arita Cone, a pyramid shaped hill that stands in the middle of the salt flat of Arizaro. Your simple yet comfortable hotel is located in the small village of Tolar Grande, one of the most remote hamlets in Argentina. In the evening your guide will pick you up for dinner at a local restaurant.
Overnight: Casa Andina | full board

Day 9: Tolar Grande

(approx. 350 km | 8 hour drive)
After breakfast, your guide will take you to explore the Tolar Grande area. Today you will pass the highest point on this journey. You drive to Mina Casualidad. Mina Casualidad was a mining city located in one of the most remote and amazing places on Earth. Just on the border with Chile, surrounded by the highest volcanoes in the world, between the sulfur mountains, salt lakes and the cobalt blue sky, 3,000 people lived together at 4,2000 meters to work in the mine. The mine was shut down by the military in the 1970s and today Mina Casualidad is a unique ghost town. You will visit this city and finish this day with a visit to the old train station Caipe. The minerals processed in the mining city were transported to Salta by this freight train. From this station you have a wide view over the Arizaro salt flat. At the end of the day you will spend the night in Tolar Grande again.
Overnight: Casa Andina | full board

Day 10: Tolar Grande - Salta

(approx. 350 km | 8 hour drive)
After breakfast, you will continue your route, slowly returning to civilization. In the morning you will visit De Ojos del Mar, these are blue water plains in the middle of a white salt plain (salar). In February 2009, researchers discovered a huge colony of living stromatolites (a form of sedimentary rock that is often highly layered and high in lime). Drive through the Labyrinth Desert and the Devil's Desert to San Antonio de las Cobres and cross Quebrada de tores before arriving back in Salta. At the end of the afternoon you will return to the cozy Finca Valentina in Salta.
Overnight: Finca Valentina | full board

Day 11: Salta - San Antonio de Areco

In the morning you fly from Salta to Buenos Aires. After arrival you will be picked up and taken to San Antonio de Areco. The town of San Antonio de Areco is located in the province of Buenos Aires and is the place to get in touch with the real gaucho life. The place is in the middle of the Argentinian pampas. You will stay in a small-scale accommodation, located on the estate of one of the oldest estancias in Argentina. The buildings have been beautifully renovated, and the authentic details have been preserved. Here you can taste the authentic atmosphere of life on a classic Argentine estancia.
Overnight: La Bamba de Areco | full board

Day 12: San Antonio de Areco

Today nothing is planned so you can participate in various activities offered by the estancia. For example, horseback riding, mountain biking or take a relaxed ride with horse and cart. You can also enjoy various spa treatments or relax by the pool. It is also nice to visit the village of San Antonio de Areco, which is located about 13 kilometers from the estancia. Enjoy the beautiful surroundings today before returning home.
Overnight: La Bamba de Areco | full board

Day 13: San Antonio de Areco - Buenos Aires - Amsterdam

After breakfast a car is ready to take you to the airport of Buenos Aires. From here you will take the plane back home.

Dag 14: Amsterdam

Today you'll arrive back home. 

Price

From € 7.300 per person

  • Based on 2 persons traveling together
  • Depending on time of booking, availability of the flights and the period of travel

Included:

  • domestic flights, economy class
  • 11 hotel nights, meals as stated
  • all transfers and excursions as stated
  • our backup 24/7; locally and in the Netherlands
  • extensive travel documents package with small attention

Not included:

  • international flights, if you wish, we reserve these for you
  • early check-in / late check-out, based on availability, this is sometimes provided by the hotel. If you want to be sure that you have this, ask us about the additional cost
  • city taks in Buenos Aires, to be paid on site during check-out, approx. USD $ 1.50 per person per night
  • (Dutch) public contribution Calamity fund; € 2.50,- per booking
  • SGR contribution of € 5,- per person per booking
  • travel and cancellation insurance

Request travel proposal

Would you like to go on this journey? We can arrange the itinerary for you, but we are also happy to put together a programme based on your wishes and ideas. Do not hesitate to contact us. Send an e-mail to info@sapapanatravel.nlcall us on +31 73 610 62 04 or ask us to plan your trip. We are happy to help.

Request travel proposal

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