Day-by-day programme of this 8-day itinerary across Andean North-West: Salta and Jujuy.
Day 1 โ Arrival in Salta
Flight to the Andean north-west of Argentina, a world apart of coloured mountains, colonial villages and indigenous faces. You start in Salta, a jewel of colonial Baroque.
- โ๏ธ Buenos Aires โ Salta โ Aeroporto di Salta (SLA)
- ๐ Plaza 9 de Julio โ Salta is called 'la linda', the beautiful, and you understand why at once strolling around Plaza 9 de Julio: the pink Cathedral, the colonial Cabildo and above all the MAAM, the Museum of High Mountain Archaeology, which holds the mummified Inca children found at 6,700 metres on the Llullaillaco volcano, among the ritual objects of the time. A moving encounter with Andean civilisation. Then you climb to the city's viewpoint.
- ๐ฏ Cerro San Bernardo โ A cable car (or a stairway for the fitter) takes you to the top of Cerro San Bernardo, the hill overlooking Salta. From above, as the sun sets, the city spreads out in a grid and the Andes loom on the horizon. It is the best way to greet the first day. You go down for dinner in the centre, perhaps with a plate of empanadas salteรฑas. Tomorrow you set off to discover the Cachi valley.
- ๐จ Hotel Salta โ Centro, Salta
Day 2 โ The Cuesta del Obispo and Cachi
An excursion west of Salta along one of Argentina's most scenic roads: the Cuesta del Obispo, the Cardones park and the white colonial village of Cachi.
- ๐ Cuesta del Obispo โ You leave Salta and climb the Cuesta del Obispo, a zigzag road that rises among the clouds to the Piedra del Molino pass, at over 3,300 metres. At every bend the view opens onto green valleys and arid ridges. The air grows thin and cold. Beyond the pass, you descend towards the high-altitude desert of cacti.
- ๐ Los Cardones National Park โ Los Cardones National Park is a high-altitude desert dotted with thousands of cardones, the giant columnar cacti that can exceed three metres and live for centuries. The road crosses it along the Recta del Tin Tin, a perfectly straight pre-Columbian stretch slicing across the plateau. A lunar, silent landscape. You continue towards the village of Cachi.
- ๐ Cachi โ Cachi is a tiny, completely white pueblo, in pure colonial style, at the foot of the snow-capped Nevado de Cachi. You have lunch in the square, visit the little church with its cactus-wood roof and wander the silent lanes where llamas graze. The light here is dazzling. In the late afternoon you return to Salta along the same spectacular road.
Day 3 โ Cafayate and the Quebrada de las Conchas
A road south of Salta along the Quebrada de las Conchas, a canyon of red wind-carved formations, to Cafayate, home of Torrontes wine.
- ๐ Quebrada de las Conchas โ The Quebrada de las Conchas is a gorge where water and wind have sculpted the reddish rock into spectacular shapes, each with its own name: the Devil's Throat, the Amphitheatre (with perfect acoustics), the Toad, the Friar, the Obelisk and the Castle. You stop at each one to walk among the rust-coloured walls. Around noon you reach Cafayate.
- ๐ฏ Cafayate โ Cafayate is the capital of high-altitude wine: here, at 1,700 metres, Torrontes is born, an aromatic, fragrant white that is a symbol of northern Argentina. You visit a bodega among the vines with the Andes behind, taste the wines and lunch on cabrito (kid goat) and local cheeses. There is even wine ice cream. You overnight in the quiet, sunny town.
- ๐จ Munay Hotel Cafayate โ Cafayate, Salta
Day 4 โ North to Purmamarca
A long drive into Jujuy province to Purmamarca, a village set at the foot of the Cerro de los Siete Colores, the hill of seven colours.
- โ๏ธ Cafayate โ Purmamarca โ Purmamarca, Jujuy
- ๐ Hill of Seven Colours โ Purmamarca is the most beloved village in the north: a square with a daily market of Andean textiles and crafts, a brick-coloured little church and, above every lane, the Cerro de los Siete Colores, the hill striped in seven different shades. You walk the Paseo de los Colores, a scenic loop at the foot of the hill: at sunset the colours explode. You dine and sleep in the pueblo.
- ๐จ Hosteria La Pushka โ Purmamarca, Jujuy
Day 5 โ Salinas Grandes
A climb to the plateau over 4,000 metres along the Cuesta de Lipan to the Salinas Grandes, an expanse of blinding white salt under the Puna sky.
- ๐ Salinas Grandes โ From Purmamarca you climb the Ruta 52 and the spectacular Cuesta de Lipan, to the pass at 4,170 metres, where your breath grows short. On the other side opens the white immensity of the Salinas Grandes: 6,000 sq km of salt reflecting the sky, with the turquoise pools of the 'ojos del salar' from which minerals are extracted. You walk on the salt crust and play with perspective. Then the slow descent.
- ๐ฝ๏ธ Purmamarca โ Back in Purmamarca, you have a late lunch in the square with Andean flavours: humita (corn mash cooked in the husk), tamales, locro and a hot soup against the altitude cold, perhaps with a coca tea to ward off mountain sickness. A free afternoon among the textile stalls. Tomorrow you head down the Quebrada towards Tilcara and Humahuaca.
Day 6 โ The Quebrada: Tilcara and Humahuaca
Up the UNESCO Quebrada de Humahuaca: the pre-Columbian fortress of Tilcara and the colonial village of Humahuaca, among colour-streaked mountains.
- ๐ Pucara de Tilcara โ Tilcara guards the Pucara, a pre-Inca fortress built by the Omaguaca on a strategic hill in the valley, with its reconstructed stone dwellings and a cardon-cactus garden. From up here you command the whole Quebrada. In the lively, bohemian village you visit the small archaeological museum and browse the artisans' workshops. Then you continue north to Humahuaca.
- ๐ Humahuaca โ Humahuaca, which gives the valley its name, is the northernmost and most authentic village: narrow dirt streets, adobe houses, the Monument to the Heroes of Independence dominating the town and the Cabildo whose clock, at noon, releases a mechanical Saint Francis to bless the square. You lunch on Andean flavours. From here you set off for the most spectacular spot of all: the Hornocal.
- ๐จ La Chakana Humahuaca โ Humahuaca, Jujuy
Day 7 โ The Hornocal, fourteen colours
A climb to the Serrania de Hornocal, the jagged fourteen-colour ridge above Humahuaca, before the return to Salta along the Quebrada.
- ๐ Serrania de Hornocal โ A dirt track climbs from Humahuaca to a viewpoint at 4,350 metres, facing the Serrania de Hornocal: a saw-toothed wall of rock streaked with fourteen shades, from white to aquamarine, from ochre to violet. It is the most impressive geological spectacle in the north-west, still little crowded. You are left breathless, literally, by the altitude and the beauty. Then you head back down.
- โ๏ธ Humahuaca โ Salta โ Centro, Salta
- ๐จ Hotel Salta โ Centro, Salta
Day 8 โ Departure from Salta
Return flight from Salta. The end of the journey in the Andean north-west, among painted mountains, salt deserts and villages suspended in time.
- โ๏ธ Salta โ Buenos Aires โ Aeroporto di Buenos Aires-Aeroparque (AEP)
