Argentina: Andes & Iguazú

Departure from your chosen airport bound for Argentina with connecting flight(s) on the way.

Welcome to Buenos Aires, the charming capital of Argentina, often referred to as South America’s answer to Paris due to its wide boulevards, cosy neighbourhoods and impressive architecture.

You will be met at the arrivals hall by your guide, who will drive you to your hotel, which is centrally located in the city.

You have the rest of the day to yourself. You might like to go for a walk down the pedestrianised Florida Street or relax on a bench on General San Martín Square. The square is named after José de San Martín, Argentina’s national hero who helped lead the revolutions against Spanish rule in Argentina. Lunch can be enjoyed at one of the local Parillas (steak houses), where you can sample the country’s famous meat, which comes from the cattle of the Argentinian Pampas.

In the evening, we recommend purchasing the “Taste of Argentina” excursion, which provides an exciting insight into Argentinian food culture and traditions. If you are going to participate in this excursion, you should consider just having a light lunch, as a feast awaits you. We promise that you will not go to bed hungry!

After breakfast, an exciting 4-hour guided tour to some of the main attractions in Buenos Aires awaits you.

Among other places, you will visit the charming old working-class district of La Boca, known for its colourful houses. The area was originally an old shipyard, and the poor workers built their houses from surplus materials and paint from the ships. The houses were therefore very higgledy-piggledy and painted in a multitude of colours, as there was never usually enough paint for an entire house.

Buenos Aires’ oldest district San Telmo is now an exciting artists’ neighbourhood where you will among other things find many of the famous tango bars.

You will also visit the aristocratic Palermo and Recoleta districts and you make a stop at the Recoleta Cemetery. Many famous Argentines are buried here, including their much-loved first lady Eva Perón, better known as Evita. Puerto Madero is Buenos Aires’ newer, hip port area with lots of cafés and restaurants and the elegant footbridge, Puente de la mujer.

The guided tour of the city continues down the world’s widest boulevard, Avenida 9 de Julio with its famous obelisk down to Avenida Corrientes, which is where the city’s theatres and cinemas are gathered, including Teatro Colón, the beautiful opera house.

You will also see many of the city’s magnificent squares, and you will visit Plaza de Mayo, where the iconic Casa Rosada government building is located, as well as Plaza de las Naciones Unidas with its beautiful flower sculpture, Floralis Genérica.

The excursion is by minibus, with photo stops along the way.

You have the rest of the day to yourself in the city. Be sure to experience an unforgettable tango show (optional extra), for which the country is so famous. The tour includes dinner with great steaks and red wine, followed by a show in fantastic surroundings.

The day is yours to do whatever you please, and you can choose whether you want to explore Buenos Aires on your own or to purchase an extra excursion.

Perhaps you discovered a favourite part of the city when you were on the guided tour that you would like to explore further or maybe you just want to relax, sit in a café and people watch.

We can recommend a visit to the Reserva Ecológica Costanera Sur nature reserve, which is located on the eastern side of the Puerto Madero port area. The nature reserve covers an area of more than 8 km2 and is a beautiful oasis in the heart of the big city where the local Porteños, as the inhabitants of Buenos Aires are called, like to exercise. Please note that the reserve is closed on Mondays.

Today, you will fly on to Salta, which is located in the north-western corner of Argentina with the Andes Mountains as its scenic backdrop. Many of Argentina’s cities have a European feel to them, but in the area around Salta you will meet the country’s indigenous people, who have strong Andean roots. When the Inca Empire was at its peak, it stretched from Colombia in the north through Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia all the way down to northern Argentina. Here, the age-old traditions are still kept alive through food, folk dancing and their beautiful colourful crafts.

The flight from Buenos Aires to Salta takes around 2 hours, and on your arrival, you will be picked up from the airport and driven to your hotel, which is located in the city centre. The rest of the day is yours to do as you please.

Get ready for a wonderful tour to Argentina’s impressive mountainous highlands. Over the next few days, you will be heading up high, where you will not only experience a change in both the scenery and vegetation, but the building style and people will change, too.

From Salta, you head north-west to the town of San Antonio de las Cobres. On the way, you will visit the pre-Inca ruins of Tastil, which date back to the 15th century and which belonged to the Atacama people.

San Antonio de las Cobres (3,775 metres) is a typical settlement in the Argentinian highlands. Life here unfolds at a leisurely pace, not least due to the altitude. The streets are narrow and dusty, and the buildings are built of adobe and stone in keeping with the traditional building style of the area. Lunch (not included) is enjoyed here in the city before the tour continues to another of the highlights of the tour: the Salinas Grandes salt flat, which is located at an altitude of 3,350 metres.

The salt flat covers an area of 525 km2 and is up to 0.5 metres thick. The remnants of a dried up lake, it is a truly spectacular sight. It is possible to walk around the salt flat and take some beautiful and crazy pictures. Remember to bring your sunglasses and sunscreen, as the strong sunlight bounces off the white surface and is hard on the eyes and skin.

From the salt flat, the tour continues over the mountains to the pleasant town of Purmamarca. On the way, you will cross a pass at an altitude of 4,170 metres. The air up here is thinner and breathing can feel really weird. Sit back in your seat and enjoy the view over the mountains while driving along winding mountain roads down to Purmamarca, which is located at an altitude of 2,192 metres.

You have the evening to yourself to explore the cosy little town. Beautiful, colourful, locally produced handicrafts, scarves, rugs and ponchos are sold on the central square. If you would like to buy something to take home with you, it’s a good idea to do so here, as it is cheaper than in Salta.

Today, the tour continues through the deep Quebrada de Humahuaca Gorge, where you experience amazing rock formations in a palette of colours. The beautiful colours are created by various minerals in the soil as well as the weather and wind. Purmamarca is famous for “the mountain of seven colours”, and if you haven’t seen it yet, you definitely should before leaving the town.

The tour heads from Purmamarca through the gorge, along the Rio Grande River, to the town of Tilcara, where you visit the interesting Pucará ruins and the Archaeological Museum.
On the way, you also cross the Tropic of Capricorn, which is a term for the sun’s southern tropic. From here, you enjoy a fantastic view down the mountain, Cerro Pollera de la Coya, which is also multicoloured.

You will also visit the small town of Uquia and the local church with its paintings of the harquebusier angels.

Upon your arrival in Humahuaca, you will visit the city’s church and Freedom Monument before it’s time for lunch (not included). You then have the afternoon to yourself to explore the cosy city.

On the way back to Salta, you will make a stop to take photos of the mountain known as La Paleta del Pintor (The Painter’s Palette), which beautifully frames the town of Maimara. Here, too you will be rewarded with beautiful mountains in all the colours of the rainbow which this area is so famous for.

The evening in Salta is yours to do as you please.

If you have not yet explored the city, we recommend walking up to the city’s central square, Plaza 9 de Julio, which is surrounded by beautiful, well-preserved buildings from the Spanish colonial era, including Salta’s beautiful cathedral. This is where you will also find the interesting archaeological museum, MAAM, which has a fascinating exhibition about Inca culture, including a well-preserved mummy of one of the three sacrificed Inca children found at the top of Mount Llullaillaco in 1999.

A few blocks away is the eye-catching red and yellow Basilica y Convento de San Francisco cathedral, which is well worth a visit.

From San Martín park, you can take a modern cable car up to the top of Mount San Bernardo, from which you enjoy a great view down over the city.

You can also purchase an excursion to one of Argentina’s best wine regions, Cafayate.

You will now leave the Andes Mountains and head to Puerto Iguazú, which is situated close to the borders of Paraguay and Brazil. Amazing nature experiences await you here in the form of impressive waterfalls and lush rainforest. The city is located around 20 km from the waterfall itself, but you will stay at a small lodge in the rainforest, around 6–7 km outside the city.

You have the morning to yourself in Salta, before flying on to Puerto Iguazú.

Today, we will be visiting the Brazilian side of the falls. We cross the bridge that links the two cities, and, after a mandatory customs check, continue into the national park.

As we are crossing the border between Argentina and Brazil, you must remember to bring your passport on this tour. Most of the waterfalls are on the Argentine side, but the view is best from the Brazilian side. You will see the falls from a variety of angles and there is a lift to a viewing platform that provides a fantastic perspective on ‘The Devil’s Throat’ – enshrouded in the mist from the falls themselves. On the paths, we also have a good chance of spotting the small ring-tailed coati, inquisitively following in our footsteps.

Before heading back home, you must of course also experience the waterfalls from the Brazilian side.

In the morning, you will be picked up from the hotel with your luggage. You will cross the Tancredo Neves bridge over the Iguazu River, which forms the border between Argentina and Brazil. As you will be crossing the border, you should remember to bring your passport with you on the bus.

Most of the falls are on the Argentinian side, but the best panoramic views of the falls are to be had from the Brazilian side. You get to see the waterfalls from various angles, and you come to a platform via a long footbridge from which you look straight up into the Devil’s Throat. Even though the waterfall is a good way off, the spray can still give you quite a soaking!
There is also a viewing platform that you can either walk up to or reach via a lift, and the view from here is nothing short of amazing. As you walk along the footpaths, you are in with a good chance of meeting the curious little coati, which are always on the lookout for food.

After visiting the park, you will be driven to the airport in Foz do Iguaçu on the Brazilian side, from where you start your journey home, with a connecting flight along the way.

You will arrive at your chosen airport after an adventure-packed tour of Argentina.