Fly & Drive Mendoza and the Northwest; and delight with the Waterfalls
Arrival and reception at the airport. Transfer to the hotel. Rest of the night at leisure.
Breakfast. In the morning city tour in Buenos Aires. This tour gives you the emotion of a multiple Buenos Aires. We will visit the most characteristic places of the “Paris of America”. The Obelisk, Colon Theatre, Recoleta Cemetery, May square (surrounded by the cathedral, the Cabildo, and the pink house where the president works) are some of the highlights that we will include in the tour. We will also visit La Boca neighborhood which was seat of immigrants – mainly Italians – and now home of some artists; San Telmo, traditional neighborhood where Tango performances can be seen in many bars and restaurants; the elegant Recoleta, and the most modern: Puerto Madero. At night we made a reservation at a Tango and dinner show. The transfer will pick you up at the hotel reception.
Breakfast in the early morning. Today you will be visiting the picturesque city Colonia in Uruguay. In the morning the ferry will take you to the other side of the Rio de la Plata. In Colonia, which is the oldest city of Uruguay, you will find a lot of history since it was in hands of Spain, Portugal, and Brasil. Overhere you have time to explore this interesting place. At the end of the day return to hotel.
Breakfast in hotel. Day for leisure. Every sunday the famous San Telmo market will be held in a big part of the neighbourhood. Many artists come here to sell their handicrafts, play their music or dance.
Breakfast in hotel and transfer to the domestic airport for the flight to Mendoza. Arrival and pick up rental car at the airport to drive to the hotel in Mendoza. In the afternoon, you can take a city tour where you can try to immerse yourselve into the local culture, the key aspect to understand the wine production process. By exploring the city yourself or book a citytour it will allows you to know Mendoza city, one of the most beautiful cities of Argentina. We suggest you to visit the old city, where Mendoza was born, and you can stop in Alameda, the downtown, the Civic Center, General San Martin Park and see Cerro de la Gloria hill, mundialista stadium and Frank Romero Day amphitheater, which is the central stage of Vintage national festival.
Breakfast. Today you will drive to the wonderful Chacras de Coria where you will be staying for 2 nights. This peaceful area allows you to enjoy the beautiful nature at his best. The rental car gives you the space to explore the area which is characterized by the many bodegas and wine routes at your own pace. At two hours from Mendoza you will find the Aconcagua national park with the eponymous and highest mountain of the continent. Optional: rental bike in Chacras de Coria region.
Breakfast in hotel. Day at leisure. Options: Bodegas, Uco Valley, Aconcagua national park.
Breakfast. Drive to Mendoza during the day. First you can bring a visit to the Uco Valley if you haven’t before. You will have one more night in Mendoza before you will take your flight to your next destination.
After breakfast, checkout in hotel and drive to Airport. Turn in rental car at airport and flight to Salta. Transfer to Salta and afternoon for leisure. Recommendation: San Bernardo mountain. Overnight in Salta. We return by ship, with a stop for the observation of the sun, piranha fishing, which will also be made observing nocturnal animals and especially of the bright eyes of the alligators. Dinner and overnight.
Breakfast. Today you will start with a citytour through the also called beautiful city Salta (Salta la Linda). During the citytour you will see the best of Salta. After the citytour it is possible to end in a wine bar where you can enjoy a winetasting with wines of the Salta region and where you can try a Picada which is a snack of cheese and cold cuts.
Breakfast. Pick up Rental car at hotel. Today you will drive to Cachi. You start traversing the Valle de Lerma and its historical towns, up to El carril, continuing to Chicoana, Los Laureles and Escoipe Cliffs. After El Maray you start ascending at the Cuesta del Obispo (Bishop’s Cliff), a winding mountain road where you can enjoy an incredible view of the Enchanted Valley and the small houses with their corn and fruit crops. The highest point of the trip, Piedra del Molino (Mill Stone), has 3.348 meters above sea level. From here you start descending to Los Cardones (Cactus) National Park along the Straight Line of Tin Tin (ancient Inca road). Arriving to Cachi you have a very good view of Nevado de cachi and Payogasta. Overnight in Cachi.
Breakfast. A beautiful drive will take you to Cafayate. Cafayate is known the Torrontés wine region. This place is considered as the unequal in the world because of the special characteristics of the place such as the weather, ground, high altitude, humidity, and also due to its production process. The wineries of the region also produce other varieties for instance Cabernet sauvignon, Chardonnay, Malbec and syrah. Night in Cafayate.
Breakfast. After the breakfast you have a day at leisure to explore more from the Cafayate region. You can visit the several Bodegas in the area such as Winery Nanni. Nanni, has the only wine in the area with National Certificate for being Organic. You can also bring a visit to the Wine museum in Cafayate. Cafayate is also known of its beautiful nature. Quebrada de las Conchas or also called Quebrada de Cafayate is something you cannot miss. When you follow Ruta 68 you will drive along many different sculptures in all different sizes and beautiful colors because of the various minerals in the rocks. You can have nice walks though this area or just enjoy this amazing and breathtaking place. Overnight in Cafayate.
At your own pace you drive via a beautiful route back to Salta. In the afternoon and at night you can enjoy Salta a little bit more before moving on to the next destination in the province Jujuy. Overnight in Salta.
Breakfast. Another beautiful route will lead you to Purmamarca. Purmamarca is a beautiful little, photogenic and picturesque village with the 7 colored mountain as eyecatcher. From the village you can walk to the viewing point or drive to another viewing point to see the mountain at his best. The best time of the day is early morning or later afternoon. In the village a lot of people sell their hand made clothes, bags and other souvenirs. Overnight in Purmamarca.
Breakfast. Today is a day at leisure. From Purmamarca it is easy to visit the Salinas Grandes. A beautiful drive will lead you to this impressive place where you can make the most beautiful pictures of kilometers of Salt. Another option is to visit the Ruins of Pucara in Tilcara. Tilcara is another, bigger village nearby Purmamarca where you can visit the ruins or where you can join a Llama Caravan. If you like to do a Llama caravan, it is also possible in combination with a visit to the Salinas grandes. Optional: Llama caravana. Overnight in Purmamarca.
Breakfast. Depending the time you will have your flight today you can drive back to Salta via Salinas Grandes. This will be a long trip, but very nice if you have that time and when you have not seen the Salinas yet. Another possibility is to drive directly to the airport of Salta where you will take your flight to Puerto Iguazu. Transfer airport Iguazu to hotel in Puerto Iguazu.
Breakfast. Excursion to the Argentinean side of the Iguazu falls. A guide will explain more about the falls and you will enjoy an adventurous boat tour along the impressive falls. Located inside the Iguazú National Park you will find more than 200 waterfalls, from 30 to 80mts high, which all together are called to be the “Iguazú Falls”. The Argentine side of the falls is divided into 3 trails (Upper, inferior and Devils Throat). This tour takes you to visit part of the Iguazú National Park. It preserves 67.000 ha. of giant trees, vines and ferns living with multicoloured butterflies, birds and other mammals all of them part of the rich local flora and fauna. The park was declared Natural World Heritage in 1984, due to its scenic beauties and the great biological diversity of the subtropical jungle. The famous falls are in the heart of this Park. We start the visit at the Local Museum and continue the tour with the Lower Trail, from where we can see among others, the “Two sisters Falls”, the “Bossetti Fall”, the “Hidden Fall”, a panoramic view of “San Martin island” and the “Union Fall”. Later we walk the Upper Trail shifting along walkways located above major falls up to the majestic “San Martin Fall” from where we have a panoramic view of the Brazilian falls. Finally, we go with the Train of the Jungle up to “Devil’s Throat” station. From there, after 1,000 meters walk along the catwalks, we come to the spectacular “Devil’s Throat”, where the Iguazú river speaks with all its strength and the falling water gives the illusion of magic rainbows. In the afternoon we will return to the hotel.
Breakfast. Excursion to the Brasilian side of the Iguazu falls. From the Brazilian side it is possible to have a panoramic view of waterfalls. Due to the fact that 80% of the falls belong to Argentina, the Brazilian park has to offer only one walking trail, of about 1000m of length. From this trail you will have the best panoramic views, of all of the falls from both countries. Located at the end of this trail, there is an elevator, which offers a wonderful view of the Brazilian park, and the “Floreano” fall. For sure one of the most beautiful views in this park. This tour length half day and do not include the entrance fee of the national park that should be pay in the entrance (aprox usd 25). After visiting th waterfalls we will go to Itaipu Dam, the second biggest dam in the world. Return to hotel and rest of the day for leisure.
Breakfast. Transfer to the airport for the international flight.
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