Argentina: the Wine and Cuisine Route

Mendoza is Argentina's wine capital, a modern, tree-lined city that spreads at the foot of the Andes — the snow-capped peaks of Aconcagua, at 6,961 metres the roof of the Americas, are visible on clear winter days from the central plaza itself. Founded in 1561 and rebuilt after the 1861 earthquake, the city is laid out with wide streets, irrigation channels and avenues shaded by lime trees and plane trees, making it particularly pleasant to explore on foot. The wine districts around the city — Maipú, Luján de Cuyo and Valle de Uco — produce some of the world's most admired Malbec wines, alongside Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay and Torrontés. Dozens of bodegas open their doors to visitors for tastings, cellar tours and paired dinners. The harvest season, celebrated in March with the Fiesta Nacional de la Vendimia, transforms the city into a great carnival of colour and tradition. Beyond wine, Mendoza is a base for trekking and climbing on Aconcagua, rafting on the Río Mendoza, the thermal baths at Cacheuta, and high-altitude excursions along the road to the Cristo Redentor Pass on the Chilean border. The vibrant gastronomic scene in the centre, with high-quality parrillas and creative restaurants, completes the picture of a destination that combines nature, culture and the pleasures of the table.

Salta is one of Argentina's best-preserved colonial cities, nestled in an Andean valley at 1,187 metres above sea level in the north-western part of the country. The Plaza 9 de Julio, with its ochre baroque cathedral, the Cabildo and cream-coloured arcades, forms one of the most harmonious historic centres in the entire Argentine North West — earning the city its enduring nickname, «Salta la Linda». The Museo de Arte de Alta Montaña (MAAM) houses some of the most perfectly preserved Inca mummies ever found in the Andes, recovered from the summit of the Llullaillaco volcano at over 6,700 metres. Salteño cuisine is among Argentina's most distinctive: empanadas prepared to the local recipe with meat, hard-boiled eggs and olives, and locro, a hearty corn-and-bean stew, are fixtures in the bodegones of the old centre. The high-altitude wines from the Quebrada de Cafayate, south of the city, round out the gastronomic offer. Salta is also the ideal base for a series of extraordinary excursions: the Quebrada de Humahuaca to the north (UNESCO World Heritage Site), the Tren a las Nubes that climbs to the La Polvorilla viaduct at 4,200 metres, and the adobe villages of the Calchaquí Valley. The golden light of sunset on the rust-coloured mountains surrounding the valley turns every evening into an unrepeatable chromatic spectacle.

The transfer from Salta to Cafayate offers a journey through some of the most spectacular and fascinating landscapes in Salta Province, in northwestern Argentina. Along the route lies Los Cardones National Park, where you can admire vast stretches of giant cacti and breathtaking desert scenery. Cafayate is a charming wine town set in the Quebrada de Cafayate, around 180 kilometres south of Salta, in a landscape of red canyons, wind-sculpted rock formations and vineyards growing between 1,700 and 2,000 metres above sea level. This high-altitude microclimate, dry and sun-drenched, is ideal for white Torrontés, Argentina's most distinctly native grape variety, and for notably structured Malbec wines. The bodegas in the area open their cellars to visitors for tastings and tours: Bodega Etchart, Bodega El Esteco and Familia Zuccardi (with its modern stone winery in the surroundings) are among the most visited. The centre of Cafayate, with its cathedral overlooking the main square, cobblestone streets and craft shops, retains the quiet charm of a colonial inland town. The Quebrada de las Conchas, the red sandstone canyon traversed along Ruta 68 towards Salta, is one of Argentina's most spectacular geological landscapes.

The transfer from Cafayate to Salta offers a journey through some of the most spectacular and fascinating landscapes in Salta Province, in northwestern Argentina. Along the route between Cafayate and Cachi lies Los Cardones National Park, where you can admire vast stretches of giant cacti and breathtaking desert scenery. If you have extra time, a detour to Cachi is highly recommended. This picturesque colonial village is nestled on the slopes of the Andes and is famous for its cobblestone streets, whitewashed houses, and historic churches.

Buenos Aires is one of the great metropolises of the southern hemisphere, a city that blends European architecture with a Latin American soul in a unique and unmistakable amalgam. Founded on the banks of the Río de la Plata, the Argentine capital extends for dozens of kilometres through a fabric of neighbourhoods, each with a distinct personality and its own piece of history, culture and everyday porteño life. The historic centre revolves around the Plaza de Mayo, where the Casa Rosada — the famous pink-hued seat of government — overlooks a square steeped in political memory. Nearby, San Telmo preserves a labyrinth of nineteenth-century lanes, Sunday markets, art galleries and milongas where tango reverberates from mid-afternoon. La Boca, on the Riachuelo waterfront, is renowned for the vividly painted tin-clad houses of El Caminito and the Bombonera, the iconic stadium of Club Atlético Boca Juniors. To the north, Palermo divides into elegant sub-districts: Palermo Soho with its design boutiques, Palermo Hollywood with its restaurants and nightlife, and the Bosques de Palermo for leisurely walks. Recoleta is the neighbourhood of grand tree-lined boulevards, French-style mansions and the monumental cemetery where Evita Perón rests, a secular pilgrimage site for visitors from around the world. The revitalised Puerto Madero offers luxury restaurants, a waterfront promenade and the Puente de la Mujer footbridge designed by Santiago Calatrava. Porteño gastronomy deserves its own chapter: the asado is far more than a meal — it is a social ritual; alfajores, medialunas and dulce de leche are fixtures in every panadería. The restaurants of Palermo and San Telmo serve creative cuisine that blends Argentine tradition, Italian and Spanish influences and contemporary trends. Buenos Aires is also a city of theatre, literature and visual culture: the Teatro Colón, one of the world's great opera houses, is an eclectic architectural masterpiece inaugurated in 1908; the Avenida Corrientes concentrates historic bookshops, literary cafés and art-house cinemas. Museums — from the MALBA to the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes — hold internationally significant collections focused on twentieth-century Latin American art. A city that never sleeps, Buenos Aires is experienced at night: porteños dine late, dance until dawn, and debate politics and football with equal passion. Every visit leaves something unresolved — a San Telmo alley still to explore, a milonga still to try. That is the spell that keeps travellers coming back.