There are things to do in Ushuaia. But I’d rather see Bariloche, 7 Lagos and the Perito Moreno glacier (in El Calafate) before Ushuaia (Iguazu being the absolute top priority as far as I’m concerned). Of course Ushuaia has this “bucket list” feel to it that the others don’t necessarily have.
Re: the german influence in Bariloche, it’s actually all the immigrants from the Alps in general. There’s a nearby village called “Colonia Suiza” which is the reason why Bariloche is also famous for its chocolates (and that’s where I had the best ice creams too).
You’ve got all the variations of “granizado” (with chocolate chips), with nuts, walnuts, almonds, … + all of those dunked in chocolate, etc.
Maylynn, you can hire a driver in advance which is what I did. In my case I had the owner of Casa Glebinias make arrangements for our driver. He found us an excellent English speaking driver with a good, up to date car and good knowledge of the local wineries. I was fortunate enough to inquire far enough in advance that he even gave me the winter rate during our summer visit. Very kind of him.
Make sure you do not sell your dollars at the airport. The official rate is around 6.65 and by April it should be around 8 but the “unofficial”(also called “Blue” rate) rate is around 10.50 and by April it could well be much higher. Thus your purchasing power if you sell at the official rate maybe well be 50%-60% lower.
Never been to Argentina unfortunately, but one of my favorite wines is a Malbec blend:
Structura Ultra 2006
Limited Release
Bodegas Navarro Correas
Mendoza, Argentina
14.9% Malbec 53% Cabernet Sauvignon 30% Merlot 18%.
ecanted about four hours to remove some tannin and let it open. Just as good the next day.
C: Very dark, purplish.
N: Leather.
P: No heat at all. Incredibly smooth and integrated, even though it is quite heavy bodied. I’d never guess a Malbec blend, no hint of foxiness. One of the best wines I’ve had. I’d say “Bordeaux-like,” but I don’t think that does it full justice. It was so good I can’t find the words. Let Neal Martin do it: “This has a very pure, ripe black cherry, liquorices, damson and loganberry scented nose that wafts seductively from the glass. The palate is very sensuous on the entry, saturated tannins, very good weight with caressing blackberry, pepper and boysenberry finish with finely subsumed new oak that lingers long after the wine has gone. Argentinean wine reaching for the stars.” (He gave it 95, FWIW).
So that is one winery you might want to visit. Structura is their high-end wine, IIRC.
Congrats on your upcoming wedding and have a great honeymoon!
Ushuaia is not a place I’d bother with on a first trip to Argentina if your time is constrained. The town is unattractive and the scenery in the immediate area, while very appealing, does not merit such a long detour, in my opinion.
Torres del Paine NP in Patagonian Chile is the place I’d go if you want to see some jaw-droppingly gorgeous scenery down at the nether end of South America. I don’t recall anything down in either Chilean or Argentine Patagonia of any particular cultural interest–perhaps in the Chilean town of Punta Arenas. In fairness, I was down there on a wildlife tour which wasn’t exactly oriented toward cultural stuff.
Bariloche is kind of tacky, but the surrounding area is very beautiful, as has been noted. From there we took a bus-and-lake-boat journey to Chile–the scenery was just awesome, especially the views of the Osorno volcano.
Iguazu is an absolute don’t miss place. We stayed at the Sheraton, which was pricey but allowed great access to the falls.
Have you thought about the area around Salta as a place to go on your trip? Plenty of vineyards and lovely scenery, I gather.
Hey! I didn’t say what I really thought about the idea of shlepping all the way down to that ramshackle tourist trap on a short trip. Our excuse was we wanted to see the Magellanic woodpecker.
Thanks for the tip, Joe! We looked at Casa Glebinias and it looks stunning and romantic. We are also trying to use up our Hilton points so we’ll see where we end up! But definitely going to get a driver! Thanks!
Thanks for the dollar exchange tip, Sebastian. Where would you suggest we exchange our money? Any bank in town? The streets (In Peru, the streets is actually the best rate).
Thanks for the winery suggestion, Peter. Will add to our growing list. Sounds like a rave review!
I appreciate your bluntness, Randall. I don’t know we’re making it a quick trip since we plan to spend on average about 5 days at every location. We want to see penguins, we want to take that train that goes into the mountains, and freeze our butts off really, and of course be able to say we went to the southernmost tip of the world before Antarctica
I have visited the Mendoza area a dozen times over the past 12 years for business. I would always stay at the Park Hyatt in downtown Mendoza. I once did a lunch and toured at the most spectacular boutique hotel in the middle of a vineyard. It is called Cavas wine lodge. I’m sure it is not cheap but when I go back to Mendoza for holiday that is where I will be staying.
I enjoyed Bariloche. The Llao Llao hotel is the place that I have stayed several times.
When I visited Iguazu I stayed in the park at the Sheraton. Be aware if you want to cross over to the Brazil side you need a visa. I still talk about the flat bottom powered boat ride up the river and almost under the falls. I can’t imagine a similar tourist ride being allowed in the US/Canada.
Bank or hotels will exchange it at the official rate. You need to do it with a street vendor. Street price is now past 11 per dollar while official is at 6.82. Massive difference.
Since Argentina is so cheap, the Park Hyatt Mendoza is just a Hyatt category 2 (8k points or 13k for a suite), so you could get 4 nights (or 3 in a suite) with just 1 credit card signup. Chase Credit Cards - Page Not Found But now we’re getting into true miles and points geekdom.
Thanks, Alan! My fiance is meeting with the travel agent today so I’m going to send along your suggestions (everyone’s, actually!). And we heard a lot of the Shearton in Iguazu so it looks like that’s where we’ll stay while we’re there.
Thanks for the exchange tip, Sebastian. I’ll definitely exchange on the streets, helps that I’m fluent in Spanish That IS a big difference on the exchange rate! Thank you!!!
Thanks for the tip, Ethan. I’ll see if we want to sign up for yet, another credit card! Might be worth it, but we’ll see what the travel agent comes up with. Thanks so much!
Finally went to travel agent and we’ll be going to Mendoza for 6 days. We really want to stay at Casa Glebinias so crossing our fingers that they have availability.
We’ll also be in Salta for 4 days also.
We’ll fly into Santiago, Chile and stay there for a few days too. So any suggestions on of these other places would be great!
There are some wineries around Salta, more precisely around Cafayate. The most famous is probably Yacochuya (remember that ‘y’ and ‘ll’ tends to be pronounced like a very soft ‘sh’ in Argentina, so don’t be surprised to hear it referred to as “Yacochusha”), a Michel Rolland venture.
BTW I forgot to mention it but I’d visit the Catena Zapata winery near Mendoza just for the architecture.
Something not wine-related: the Cerro of the Siete Colores is only 2 hours north of Salta (just south of Tilcara) and worth the detour. I’ve never been to Jujuy, for whatever reason.
We’ll fly into Santiago, Chile and stay there for a few days too. So any suggestions on of these other places would be great!
I’m not a big fan of Santiago, so can’t recommend much there except for the obvious. I’d suggest going to Valparaiso, though. Not sure if you can do it as a day trip, but as an overnight trip should be no problem.
We spent several nights in Santiago a few years back–a nice enough place, but my reaction is about the same as Guillaume’s. After our city sightseeing, we rented a car and spent several nights at a couple of very enjoyable splurgy spots in wine country south of the city. Didn’t get to Valparaiso. The most interesting thing we did in Chile was a wonderful four day tour way up north out of Arica and a little place called Putre–took in Lauca NP (lots of wild camelids), spectacular seascapes, huge petroglyphs, the Atacama desert and so forth. The tour was by Birding Alto Andino (just Google it), which is run by Barbara Knapton, a US expat who’s an excellent naturalist guide.
Gentlemen, your suggestions are making me consider extending my trip in Santiago (and vicinity) a few more days and fully remove Tierra Del Fuego.
I’ve heard of Valparaiso - what’s there to see? What makes is beautiful and unique?
Randall, how far north did you go? by car how many hours?
Thanks for all the great suggestions - totally have been tweeking our itinerary because you fells (positive). Thank you!!
Well, I don’t know how you feel about spoiling the fun with pictures (I know some of my friends hate it), but look it up on Google Images and you should quickly see why: beautiful hill overlooking the sea, tiny houses with many colors.
Randall, how far north did you go? by car how many hours?
That’s “quite far” to the north but could be worth the trip, although I’d rather recommend the Bolivian side for this specific area.
The whole volcanoes & lakes area south of Santiago is beautiful (and full of vineyards too).
We plan to see Iguazu too!
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