Argentina

emmad25

Travelling to Argentina 29th Dec to 21st Jan. Looking for tips on places to visit, things to see etc. At the moment have a rough travel plan, arrive in Buenos Aries 29th and travel to Mar del Plata for few days, then fly up to Iguazu Falls for 2 days. Fly down to Mendoza, perhaps cross the border to Chile for a few days. Get bus back to Mar del Plata or some beach and stop along the way, Cordoba maybe.

Looking for must see places in between or different route options. Also is Mar Del Plata the best beach area or are there better places??? Also which is better Mendoza or Cafayate for vineyards etc..

imme

Are you planning or thinking of heading south OP?

Plenty to see and do down there

Mendoza is a good spot for wine tours and is to be recommended

A trip across the border is a good idea if possible,
Santiago Chile is close enough to Mendoza, just cross over the Andes, and you're there

I can't recommend Santiago, it didn't do anything for me, maybe Valparaiso or vina del mar, which I think has beaches might be a better idea

I haven't been to either so can't recommend them

In terms of mar del Plata, I cannot recommend it either

Argentina is full of incredible sights and spectacle, njoy!

mistersifter

Hey, good time of the year to go. Can be very hot though. Iguazu falls are brilliant and 100% recommended. Mendoza is good for white water rafting and that sort of thing in the Andes. I would recommend that you don't bother going to Mar del plata as there are much nicer places to spend your time. If you want to go to the beach, I recommend getting the boat to Uruguay and going to one of the coastal towns like Punta del Este. You can also visit the town of colonia there - very nice old colonial village for one or two nights and the boat will drop you off here before you get the bus to the beach. I would also highly recommend going to Cordoba - not so much the city but the other places there such as Villa Carlos Paz which has great scenery. Also, Bariloche is beautiful , lakes , mountains etc. etc.

sarkozy

I don't think you say how long you're spending in Buenos Aires. There's so much to do, don't ignore it. As above, Iguazu is well worth it. The town itself is pretty crappy, but you're not going for that. Can't recommend beaches, but Colonia, across the Plata, is a very nice, atmospheric town to spend a night or two. We didn't go south to Mendoza, but we did go to Cafayate (not Calafate). In other words, up to the north-west in Jujuy province. In that region is Salta, where the Inca mummies are, salt flats, good horse trekking. We only went to Cafayate because we were going to Bolivia from there. I enjoyed Salta and Cafayate, but whether it's better or worse than Mendoza or Cordoba, if they're the choices, I really can't say. My gut tells me Cordoba or Mendoza is the better choice, but it depends what you're looking for. For vinyards, my understanding is Mendoza is far and away the best wine region. Cafayate, really, is known for cultivating Torrontes grapes, which are very dry and usually used to make a distinctive white wine, but also a very, very dry red (which is great with fatty meats), and the region is very small. All the best Argentinian wines are from Mendoza.