Our second day was a long one, with a lottttt of walking.
We started in Puerto Madero, a place which was supposed to be a port but due to insufficient capacity became a very posh district, with red-brick port buildings, long promenades, and exclusive riverside restaurants. It is very modern and is not the typical BA style, but is still interesting as it exhibits a different side of the city. We had a very relaxing breakfast lying on the sun chairs just in front of the impressive ship Fregata Presidente Sarmiento and the funky pedestrian bridge over river Puente de la Mujer (Dock 3).
We continued towards the end of Dock 4 and soon we were in the district of Retiro. We passed Plaza San Martin, got sunburned and finally arrived at the Recoleta district. The main attraction is one of the most famous cemeteries in the world: “Cementario de la Recoleta”. Mostly rich and famous Argentineans are entombed here, the most famous one being Evita. It is an amazing place and an absolute “must see” in BA. There are also nice local craft markets in the surrounding area.
We ended the day with a great dinner. When in Argentina you must try their meat! And so we did. We went to a typical Argentinean restaurant in San Telmo. It is far from being posh or elegant, but there is always a line of people waiting to get in. Fully packet with locals, lively, cozy, tables covered with plastic xxx, very friendly waiter and most importantly a huge amount of amazing meat….
(add about meat)

Sunday is the best day to visit and explore San Telmo. It’s the most crowded days as well though. The district changes into an antique market “Fiera de San Telmo”. Stands with antique vases, souvenirs, painting, jewelry and lots of other chotzkes are spread around the Plaza Dorrego. We were wandering around the streets, admiring the beautiful old houses, traditional bars, markets and shops full of antiques, and once again we were so happy that we had decided to come to Argentina.
We had lunch in a very nice restaurant just next to the market.
Our next destination that day was La Boca – famous for its brightly colored wooden and corrugated-iron houses. It is also packet with tourists, souvenirs shops, and restaurants with terrible food. You can also see tango shows on the streets, of which some are good and some …very touristy. Two hours were more than enough for us and we all agreed we wanted to go back to San Telmo.
I would advise doing things the other way around: going to La Boca in the morning, when the light best captures the district and before tour buses arrive. Than going for lunch to San Telmo, exploring the market and finally watching free outdoor tango milonga on Plaza Dorrego (Sunday from 7-11 pm).

On Monday I decided to go to Uruguay, as Kamila wanted to practice Tango. There is this tiny place called Colonia Del Sacramento. It is a popular day trip or weekend destination for BA inhabitants as this piece of heaven is only across the Rio de La Plata – that’s why it’s better to go during the week as there are fewer visitors. The old town is tiny but it’s nice just to hang out amongst the colonial houses, quiet streets, parks and gardens while eating in very cozy restaurants. It is an extremely romantic place so it was a pity I had to be there on my own…

We started our last day with breakfast in our absolutely favorite place in San Telmo. Good coffee and fresh, hot Medialuna are the perfect start to the day.
After that I joined Kamila for her private Tango class. BA is a paradise for people who like tango or who at least want to try. You can not only take private classes with great teachers for 1/3 the price in NYC you can also practice every night on Milongas as well as buy shoes, CDs and clothes especially for tango.
After eating and taqngo we still had time for a little shopping. In Argentina you can buy great leather things so we both bought jackets and bags on Florida street.
After a quick visit to the BA Reuters office and a very warm welcome by Mariela and Gabriela we had to run to Teatro Colon. It is the most prestigious cultural institution in Argentina. Since it was opened in 1908 major opera and ballet stars have appeared here. We saw the ballet “Giselle”. Both the theater inside and the ballet were amazing, so I would definitely recommend visiting it. It is worth buying a bit more expensive tickets. (The cheapest seats do not allow you to see the theater inside.)

There is one more district to see in BA – Palermo – we left it for our last day in BA at the end of our trip, before departure.
Palermo is very nice and posh place, especially good for young people. Its one of the trendsetting spots – just come to Plaza Serrano on any Saturday night to see why. My favorite part was Palermo Soho – its not only reminds me of Soho in NYC, its actually much nicer: plenty of great trendy shops which are very affordable if you earn in USD, plenty of amazing restaurants, ethnic, modern, less modern, whatever you want. And in contrary to Soho in NYC its not crowded at all so its fun to walk around even if you don’t have shopping in mind!

To sum it up you need about five days to get a good feel of BA
1) Center
2) Puerta Madero, Retiro and Racoleta
3) San Telmo and La Boca (Sunday!)
4) Palermo
You should add another day if you are tango dancer. If you have more time you can also go to Uruguay for a few days (Colonial, Montevideo, beaches of Punta del Este).

On the next day we took a trip north of Salta to Quebrada de Humahaca. It is quite a popular destination – you can see photos from here on many postcards – but it was a nice surprise that there were very few tourists we met on the way. The trip takes you along some stunning, varied scenery of amazing geological features and eroded crags. On the way we stopped in three tiny villages:
- Purmamarca –very colorful local market in the main square (the best place to buy souvenirs)
- Tilcara –marvelous panoramic views in all directions including many cactus formations
- Humahuaca –almost 3.000 m.
We did not go to the northeast one – Iruya, which is also known to be very picturesque.
We spent the evening in Salta near Plaza 9 de Julio on Balcare street. This is the most atmospheric place in town with restaurants called Penas, which have informal live folk music performances.

The next day we decided to rent a car instead of going on an organized trip so we could have more freedom and stop for photos whenever we wanted. There is only one way going south to Cafayate so there was no risk of getting lost…not even for two blondes—However,you still need to remember to fill up the gas, so you don’t drive back 20 km like we did…).
Half way between Cafayate and Salta there is a very cozy restaurant where you can try local goat cheeses and deserts.
Eventually we arrived at our destination, Quebrada de Cafayate. We entered a stupendous canyon where the views were so amazing that we had to stop every few meters to take a photo. The rock formations have been eroded and blasted by wind and rain to form buttresses, which were given names: Devil’s throat and Amfiteatro. The reds, ochre and pinks of the sandstone make it all look staggeringly beautiful. The canyon is seen at its best on the way back in the afternoon. We had to take photos as a storm was about to start. Our next stop was the small city of Cafayate where there is not much to do apart from wine tasting! We visited three vineyards and tried typical wine from the region of Terrones.

That was our last day in Salta as we had our flight next morning. It was a pity we could not stay longer as there were more things to see. Four days in Salta would be ideal. You could rent a rent a car for all four days and in addition to what we have seen visit Salinas Grandes northwest of Salta and Cachi Southwest.

In my opinion the ideal plan for this region would be to rent a car and in four days visit:
1) Quebrada de Humahuaca up to Iruya (Southwest)
2) Salinas Grandes in Northwest
3) Quebrada de Cafayate
4) Cachi in Southwest

Next 2 Xmas days we did trekking.
According to the guidebook, to say that PARQUE NACIONAL HAHUEL HAUPI is an ideal destination for trekking would be a sizable understatement. We wanted to check it out and we decided to do a two-day hike to Refugio FREY starting from Cerro Catedral. It took us about 5h to get there including many stops for photos as the views were amazing. The best one was on the top though – from Refugio Frey (1.700 m), a small lake surrounded by spiky mountains and snow. The refuge was a small house just next to the lake. Although it is possible to do this hike in one day we decided to stay there overnight. And although the conditions are far from luxurious it was a great decision. When all the tourists left to go back to Catedral we had dinner with Argentineans running the place. There were only a few hike lovers that were camping around. It was extremely enjoyable and we met great people. It was even better in the morning when we woke up and had the lake and incredible views to ourselves! I could not resist taking photos every few minutes. After a great breakfast we had to say goodbye to Oskar and Lukas and head back. This time we took a different way along the other side. We walked up in the snow and than passed the rocky traverse. The views were even more spectacular than on the way up. It took us a few hours to get back. We went for the option of having a relaxing evening – a small dinner we cooked and had in the garden of the Perikos Hostel.

For people who like trekking this is the place to go. You could even spend the whole week as there as there is a very well organised network of refuges where you can sleep, eat or cook. You don’t need a tent, just a sleeping bag. We regretted we didn’t stay up for at least for two more days and go to Lake Jacobson.

For the next two days we rented a car and drove along the SEVEN LAKES ROUTE – one of South America’s most scenic drives, the route winds from Baricloche to San Martin de Los Andes, passing through forested hills and alongside stunning lakes with world-class fishing (so if you like fishing you should stay here longer). We initially thought about cycling this route (It’s about 400 km.) or at least part of it, but we were advised that the dust and the rocks on the road make it hard to cycle – which turned out to be true (even a Dutch cycling couple confirmed it).
We drove from Bariloche to Villa Angostura. We rented bikes there and cycled 12 km through Parque Nacional Los Arrayanes. I thought it would be a piece of cake – instead it was so steep that we found ourselves pushing the bikes. I also fell down twice and scratched my legs…We visited the myrtle trees park at the end of the park and from there we took the boat to get back. We drove further and passed other two lakes. Finally we found a place to sleep. It was the family home of one of the area’s original indigenous families, who apart from lodging also offer home made meals. Surrounded by the lake, mountains, cows, and sheep we had very nice evening together with two other couples from Holland and Norway who were staying there .
After we had a classic Argentinian breakfast (Tostadas con Dulce de lece and Medialunas) we continued our way up, passing some really nice views and as usual stopping for photos. In the afternoon we reached San Martin de Los Andes – it is called the place for posh and indeed it is very “perfect”; perfect wooden houses, perfectly clean, full of posh restaurants. A bit too quiet for us but perfect for a lunch break. We tried some local specialities in one of the recommended restaurants.
On the way back we took the other road called Passo Cordoba. It is a bit painful to drive as the road is mostly unsealed and full of rocks but the views make up for that. We made a few stops along the lake to enjoy the sun but it was a bit too cold for us to swim, although some locals did.
To sum up the “Seven Lakes route”….It is very scenic and beautiful, very green and relaxing especially when it’s sunny. It is very similar to Europe (Austria or Switzerland) so if you expect shocking landscapes and a culture-shock experience, you might be disappointed. In that case you might reduce the drive to 1 day or even skip it…

To sum up and ideal amount of time to spend in this region would be at least four days:
1) Trekking in the mountains (refugees network) – from 2 to 5 days depending on how much you like trekking
2) 1 or 2 days driving around the Seven Lakes route (more if you like fishing)
3) 1 days for horse riding (If you don’t have time here you can also do it almost anywhere else in Argentina.)

EN CHALTEN
After a 4h drive we reached En Chalten. It felt weird as it was after 10 pm, but it was still very bright outside!
We arrived at: PARQUE NACIONAL LOS GLACIARES – home to Argentina’s most striking mountains with excellent hiking opportunities. Encouraged by our great previous trekking experience in Bariloche, we decided to do a 2-day trek and stay on the mountain overnight. As there are no refugios in this park we had to rent a tent, rolling mats. It turned out to be very easy – as we found 24h Equipment Rent point.
We started from En Chalten towards Camping Poincenot. It is about a 3h hike but of course it took us longer as we had to stop several times to take photos of the view and MONTE FITZ ROY. As described in all the guides it is one of the most breathtakingly beautiful mountain peaks on the planet. 2 concentric jaws of jagged teeth puncture the sky with 3375 metre incisor. After we reached the camping site and pitched our tent we continued up to an outstanding viewpoint next to Laguna de Lost Tres. It’s about 1,5 h very steep track but the views are well worth it. You can also see the Glaciar Rio Blanco hanging above the lake – Laguna Sucia.
Next thing on our agenda was to celebrate New Years Eve. As it turned out we were not the only ones who had decided to celebrate up in the mountains at the camping site – there were many other tents around. Next to us was a very friendly Brazilian group, who not only fed us with pasta but also with wine….(Thanks once again to Marco and friends). As we were extremely tired we were a bit boring and decided to celebrate only Polish New Years (at 8 pm Argentinean time). At midnight we were already sleeping…
Early the next morning we continued our trip taking the trail past Laguna Madre y Hija towards Cerro Torre base camp. Around midday, when the clouds went away, we got another jaw-dropping view of CERRO TORRE, another 20 photos were taken…After about 5h we were back in En Chalten.
I recommend the whole Monte Fitz Roy / Cerro Torre loop as a 3-day option. We managed to do in 2 days but if you have more time it is worth enjoying the amazing views for 3 days and camping each night in a different camp. If you don’t like camping you can do the loop as 2 separate 1-day tours from El Chalten.
After a huge meal including typical Argentinean huge Milanesa de Napolitana we were sad to leave with an evening bus. What cheered us up was the beautiful sunset. We enjoyed amazing views for all 4 hours of our bus trip. One more highlight of this evening was feeding a 1 month old lama at a small estancia where we had to stop for more than 1h because the bus broke down…

EL CALAFATE
We arrived at night hoping to stay in a highly recommended hostel “America Del Sur” but it was full. So book ahead if you want to stay there.
For our first day we planned another ‘must see’ activity – Perito Moreno glacier. The guide recommended that we visit all the glaciers early in the morning because of the light and the weather. Our experience was exactly the opposite: cloudy in the morning and sunny in the afternoon. We trusted our own experience and took an afternoon bus. It turned out to be a good idea, the weather got better and most importantly as there were much fewer tourists in the afternoon we had the glacier practically ourselves.
Although we had seen PERITO MORENO glacier on thousands of postcards and tourist guides covers, it still made a huge impression on us. Not without reason it is considered to be one of the Argentina’s 2 greatest natural wonders, next to Iguazu Falls. The 5 Km glacier front of blue ice which rises to 60 meters above the water is an amazing view from the hill just next to it. On the top of it a white giant, the Moreno glacier, offers a fantastic spectacle – great masses of ice crash into the Lago Argentino with resounding roars. The noise is amazing and there are pieces falling down every few minutes, which we witnessed with our own eyes. In spite of the falling pieces, Perito Moreno is one of the very few glaciers on the planet that is still advancing (7 cm a day). Before walking on the terraces we took a boat trip in front of the glacier. It wasn’t that spectacular though and I don’t recommend as a ‘must do’.. The boat cannot get too close as the ice is falling in continuum. The views are much more impressive from the hill. We were some of the last tourists to leave Perito Moreno around 7 pm. We were considering taking another 1 day boat trip to see other glaciers (Upsalla, Spagazzini) but after the whole afternoon of watching ice we both agreed that it was enough and we wanted to enjoy more activities on our own, i.e. trekking by ourselves vs. organized trips. There are many options of tours to explore the glaciers (mini trekking, boat trips…) so if you would like to stay there 1 or 2 days more you definitely would not be bored.
We finished our day with hot soup in the best restaurant in El Calafate. Great place – no wonder even the President of Argentina often drops by.

How many days do you need to see the glaciers?
1) En Chalten – from 2 to 3 days
2) El Calafate – from 1 to 2 days

We arrived late to Punta Natales. We slept in the cheapest Hostel in town, in a dorm, together with eight other people (including 2 very nice guys from Israel) on a double-deck bed. I thought that people who see us every day dressed up would not believe what we looked like, so Kamila had to take a photo !

PUNTA ARENAS
Next day: 3,5 weeks without a “fuckup” is too good to be true. Today it finally happened though. It was definitely the worse day of our trip.
Early in the morning we took a 3h bus to Punta Arenas. We hoped that arriving earlier would allow us to catch a bus to Ushuaia. Unfortunately it turned out there is only one bus a day and we were too late, as it leaves at 8 am. We had to wait there till the next day and therefore spend the whole day in Punta Arenas, where there is nothing to do and nothing special to see. On top of that, the weather was horrible. We both agreed that we liked Argentina much more than Chile. From our short experience:
- In Chile people are much more aggressive towards tourists to earn $
- Everything is much more expensive (sometimes even 5 times)
- The 2 cities we visited were not nice and the atmosphere was far from the one in Argentina.
We were happy to go back to Argentina the following day.
After spending the whole day surfing the Internet, reading, watching TV and doing all the non-exciting things we decided to have a nice dinner. We went to a place recommended by Lonely Planet, which was a very good choice. Excellent local specialities (king crab, ceviche) and Chilean wine…which cheered us up.

Conclusion: Make sure you know in advance what your transportation options are when going to Ushuaia. Indeed it is The End of the world!

The next day was much better! We went to visit PARQUE NACIONAL TIERRA DEL FUEGO. We walked around for a few hours and saw jagged mountains, intricate lakes, southern beach forres, swampy peat bog, and sub Antarctic tundra. There were some nice views although not as breathtaking as the ones we saw before.
This park is also one of the easiest to get around in southern Argentina’s, so trekkers looking for a physical challenge might be disappointed. If you are short on time I would advise skipping the park. However, if you are looking for a relaxing trek you should stay and camp in the park for 2-3 days to appreciate the scenery and the wildlife.
We spent the afternoon hanging around in Ushuaia. We enjoyed the kind of “sleepy – end of the world like” atmosphere. The views are very nice- from one side you can see Beagle Channel and from the other mountains. The only thing we missed was a good restaurant. Our experience here was not fantastic, so I am not going to recommend anything.