ARGENTINA · SOUTH AMERICA
Ice, wine, tango, and the end of the world.
From Patagonian glaciers to Mendoza vineyards, the falls at Iguazu to the tango halls of Buenos Aires. The standout days across every corner of the country.
Only in Argentina
The three that are pure Argentina.
City tours and day trips exist in every country. A glacier calving into a lake, tango in the barrio that invented it, the ground shaking under Iguazu: these three are here and nowhere else. Build the rest of the trip around them.
Born in Buenos Aires
Tango where it began
Tango grew up in the port barrios of Buenos Aires in the 1880s, and the city never let it go. A milonga here is no museum piece: the orchestra plays live, the floor stays full, and most of the dancers are locals. Choose a grand dinner show downtown or a back-street hall in San Telmo.
- 1 Buenos Aires: Piazzolla Tango Show with Optional Dinner
- 2 Buenos Aires: Tango Show at Tango Porteño & Optional Dinner
- 3 Buenos Aires: Madero Tango Show with Optional Dinner
In Patagonia
A glacier that calves as you watch
Most glaciers are retreating. Perito Moreno still advances, and every few minutes a tower of ice the size of a building cracks off its face and crashes into Lago Argentino. You take it in from steel walkways a few hundred metres away, or from a boat at its foot. Nothing prepares you for the sound.
- 1 El Calafate: Perito Moreno Glacier & Optional Boat Cruise
- 2 From El Calafate: Full-Day Tour to El Chaltén
- 3 El Calafate: Perito Moreno Glacier Trekking Tour and Cruise
On the jungle border
Standing over the Devil’s Throat
Two hundred and seventy cascades spread across nearly three kilometres of rainforest, and the Argentine side puts you right on top of them. The walkway out to the Devil’s Throat ends where the river falls away into white noise and permanent rainbow. Coatis and toucans share the trail.
- 1 Foz do Iguaçu: Brazil/Argentina Sides Iguazu Falls Day Tour
- 2 Iguazu Falls: Gran Aventura Boat and Argentinian Falls Tour
- 3 From Foz do Iguaçu: Brazilian Side of the Falls with Ticket
Start here
The one most travellers book first.
If your Argentina trip only has room for one booking, make it this. The most popular day out in the country, whatever order you do the rest in.
The classics
Argentina’s Most Popular Experiences
Glacier walks, tango dinners, Iguazu day trips, Mendoza wine tours. The experiences most travellers come to Argentina for.
By region
Argentina is too big for one trip.
Buenos Aires for tango and steak. El Calafate for the glaciers. Mendoza for Malbec under the Andes. Ushuaia for the end of the world. Iguazu for the falls. Salta for the painted desert.
Plan the trip
How much of Argentina can you fit?
The country runs close to 3,700 kilometres north to south, so the real question is how many regions one trip can hold. Here is how the days usually break down.
Buenos Aires plus one
Give the capital three days for tango, steak and the barrios, then fly to a single headline: the glacier at El Calafate or the falls at Iguazu. Argentina is wide, so resist adding a third.
Start in Buenos Aires →The classic loop
Buenos Aires, the falls at Iguazu, the Perito Moreno glacier and a couple of days among Mendoza’s vineyards. The trip most first-timers come for, with short flights between rather than long drives.
See the Patagonia days →End to end
Add the southern run to Ushuaia and the Beagle Channel, the painted canyons around Salta in the north, and the lakes at Bariloche. The whole country, top to bottom, the way locals road-trip it.
Go all the way south →By experience
Or start with what you love.
Tango if you want Buenos Aires after dark. Wine if you want the Andean foothills. Glacier walks, jungle waterfalls, gaucho days on the pampas, and an asado at the end of every one.
The capital
How to do Buenos Aires.
San Telmo cobbles, La Boca colour, the marble of Recoleta, a parrilla dinner and a late tango. The days that make sense of the city. Three we would book first.
Malbec country
Wine at the foot of the Andes.
Bodega lunches in Maipu and Lujan de Cuyo, tastings with Aconcagua on the horizon, a slow bike between cellar doors. Our three favourite days in the vineyards.
The high north
Into the painted desert.
Red rock at the Quebrada de las Conchas, the Hill of Seven Colours at Purmamarca, empanadas and Torrontes in Cafayate. Three high-altitude days worth the climb.
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