Touring Argentina: Salta, Jujuy, La Rioja

Me and my partner started our trip in Salta.

The capital precisely is not a nice place to visit. I mean the airport is far from the city, food is not so good and the variety is short and there is a lot of junk food. But it was needed to start there in order to rent a car.

We wanted to visit a well known place but far called Cachi.

It is a 3 hours travel by car, nice route but a such a beautyful views you can came across, Cachi is located in the northern sector of the Calchaquí Valleys, at the foot of the Nevado de Cachi that flanks it to the west and on the banks of the crystalline Calchaquí River. Its altitude is 2,280 meters above sea level. The population is surrounded by imposing mountains of more than 5,000 meters of altitude, many of them snow-capped

Over there is a lot of quietness and pacify people so nice that we had a long chat to meet the customs, the way of living and have some Empanadas for dinner. a well known food in Salta.

We returns to the city and stayed at Salta hotel. Quiet place to stay in the city and have a good meal there served for the restaurant inside the hotel.

Day 2 started with a good breakfast in order to take the bus to Jujuy, is another province, limiting with Salta but a 4 hours bus trip is needed to reach the next place Salinas Grandes.

The Salinas Grandes are the third largest in the world after the Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia and the Salar de Arizaro in Salta. They are the largest in the province, covering an important area of ​​(525 square km) in the departments of Tumbaya and Cochinoca and the Province of Salta.

There is no public transport that goes to the salt flats, but there are excursions or remises that can be hired from Purmamarca, we took a taxi. A service to experience these landscapes in a different way is the half-day excursion offered by Caravana de Llamas, an ecological rural tourism company that makes walks accompanied by camelids, that was amazing.

The tour departs from the place of Pozo Colorado, located on the east bank of the salt flats. “The llamas are ready and the one and a half hour trek begins with a guide from this community. We enter the salt flats, visit the places of artisanal extraction of this mineral and enjoy a delicious lunch with local products: cheese plate, homemade breads, dried fruits, a delicious wine. After a well-deserved rest, we returned .

we spend our night in hotel "la comarca" and have dinner there, nice presentation and good prices. variety of food is not so long but it is cheap.

another bus took us to La Rioja it was a 4 hours trip.

we stayed at "capital hotel" usually we lunch at hotel because we want to have a lot of free time to spend in excursions and trips.

La Rioja Argentina is a province that is extremely cold in winter, since it is very close to the mountain range where the mountains rise above 4000 meters in height and extremely rainy in summer, where muds and rivers form due to the rains. torrential. For this reason, the best time to go to La Rioja Argentina is in spring or autumn. The climate is dry there and it is perfect for climbing the mountain range or strolling through the valleys.

We booked the tour to Laguna Brava at the same hotel, with Turismo la rioja.

That is where you can contemplate the wonders of La Rioja Argentina in all its splendor. When arriving at the lagoon, this one is also different according to the time. In summer, with the rains, it is populated by thousands of pink flamingos that leave an unforgettable stamp. But in autumn and winter, the six thousand that surround it are dyed white by snow. It is one of the essentials to see in La Rioja Argentina and the tour requires a full day.

After that we returned to the capital in order to rest, we have dinner in a beautyful place called esperanza at city center. not too expensive but really fantastic food, typical and fresh. that was our last night touring so we decided to walk across the streets of La rioja city. We returned to buenos aires, after a nice trip that we loved to repeat.