Argentina🇦🇷

Our next country after Chile was Argentina, with our first stop being to El Calafate. We got the bus from Puerto Natales straight to El Calafate, which took roughly 6 hours all together. The bus was pretty straightforward, we got off twice, both at the Chilean and Argentinian borders, showed our passports and that was it. However, we have heard going from Argentina into Chile can take a lot longer as its way stricter entering Chile, especially after the recent election.

El Calafate

You don’t need a lot of time in El Calafate, only one full day and night, depending on what time you arrive. We had two nights here as we arrived in the evening from Puerto Natales. We then spent the next full day exploring.

🏨Las Cabañitas Calafate
We stayed at this accommodation for both nights. The first night, we stayed in a private Cabañitas, which was really needed after finishing the W-trek. The second night we moved into another private room, but in a communal building sharing the kitchen and bathrooms.

Perito Moreno Glacier
The main attraction in El Calafate is to see the Perito Moreno Glacier. The Glacier from the centre of town is around an hour and a half drive away. You can book a bus transfer to and from town, and it costs roughly $40 USD per person for a return.

However, we were recomended to try and hitch hike from town to save money, which is what we ended up doing. This was our first ever hitch hike and it was luckily pretty easy for us! This is because from town it is one straight road to the Los Glaciares National Park, meaning the chance that a lot of people will be driving that way, is very high. Within five minutes, a lovely older German couple, called Cornelius and Felicia pulled over and offered us a lift. We ended up spending the whole day with them, got a lift back, exchanged numbers and have continued to send photos of our trip to one another. Highly recommend hitch hiking, as it’s such a nice way to meet new people! I personally, wouldn’t hitch hike by myself, but I have heard lots of stories of people doing it solo, both girls and boys and for a lot longer journeys.

The Los Glaciares National Parks Pass is 45,000 ARS each, however you can get a multiple day pass. The hikes in El Chaltén are part of the same National Park, so you can end up saving money with a multiple day pass. At the Glacier, there are different walking routes, which are colour coded by intensity and length and take you to different viewpoints, where you can see the beautiful Glacier. We spent the day walking all the different routes around the Glacier and were lucky enough to see Glacier Calving, where parts of the glacier break off into the ocean to create icebergs.

Laguna Nimez Nature Reserve
⏰ Time: 9:30am - 7:30pm
💵 Cost: 12,000 Argentine Pesos (take USD or Euros - cash only!)

If you are into your nature and birds, you must visit Laguna Nimez Nature Reserve in town. We went after going to the Glacier, and walked the loop around the reserve, which took around an hour. You can see all kinds of species of birds, but the main thing to see is wild flamingoes. If you walk to this little hut, you can sit inside overlooking all the flamingoes in the reserve.

La Cantina
⏰ Time: 12pm - 1:30am

After Laguna Nimez, pop to La Cantina, which is opposite the reserve, and a very popular restaurant and bar. We had the most incredible meal whilst listening to live music. Perfect place to end the day!

El Chaltén

The bus from El Calafate to El Chaltén takes around three hours. The journey was pretty quick and you can see some amazing views of Fitz Roy and Patagonia on the way. We spent five days here, and it has been our favourite place so far, we would have happily spent longer if we had the time!

El Chaltén is known for its many gorgeous hikes and rivals the W-trek in Chile, with some people preferring El Chaltén. You can do the Huemul Circuit here, which is another 4-5 day trek, going to all the main viewpoints, or you can do day trips to each, which is what we did. El Chaltén town is just as amazing, with many nice shops, cafes, bars and hostels that you can explore.

There are a lot of different hikes you can do, both short and long ones. The National Park Pass can vary depending on the hikes you do, with you sometimes needing more than one, which can be very expensive. This only started in late 2024, where they started charging entrance to the National Park, before that it was free. Therefore, we were told there are ways to get around paying for the pass, however, we were also told that they have become a lot stricter and have asked people to see their Parks Pass when they are walking back down. For all the hikes we did I’ll share the tips we were given!

• Laguna Capri & Mount Fitzroy - if you go for sunrise (1-3am start), no-one will be at the check point, however you could be asked to show your pass on the way back down.
• Mirador de los Cóndores - go for sunset, no one will be at the checkpoint past 8pm.
• Laguna Torre - take the path from town following All Trails, no one is there to check the entrance.

🏨La Comarca Hostel
There are so many hostels to choose from. We stayed in La Comarca Hostel, which is in the centre of town, a one minute walk away from the Bus Station. It’s a very sociable hostel, with a lot of people staying there ranging in different ages and countries of origin. This hostel was a great place to meet other travellers, which was perfect for us as we were here for New Years Eve.

Laguna De Los Tres and Mount Fitz Roy.
Laguna De Los Tres and Mount Fitz Roy is the most popular hike to do in El Chaltén and has been our favourite hike so far! Ned even said it beats every single hike we have done, including the ones we did in New Zealand! I have done a separate blog on this hike as we did it for sunrise so have gone into detail on the whole day. You can find the blog here.

Laguna Capri and Cascada Escondida
We did these viewpoints the same day as Laguna De Los Tres, as the weather was incredible and we wanted to make the most of it. However, you can spread these hikes across two days and do another day trip to Laguna Capri and Cascada Escondida. This hike will be included in my Laguna De Los Tres blog here.

Mirador de los Cóndores
Another popular hike is this 5km loop in the mountains, which overlooks the town and where you can see Mount Fitz Roy from afar. On a clear day the views are incredible! The loop starts at the Mirador first before looping around to the other viewpoint Mirador al Chaltén.

Laguna Torre
One last popular hike, is to do Laguna Torre. It is a 24km hike from our hostel, but it was a lot more chilled than Laguna de los Tres. We started this hike from town and followed the All Trails route. One tip from us is, you will come to a crossroad, with signs pointing to two different paths, one to Camp and the other to Laguna Torre. We would recommend choosing the Laguna Torre path on the way up to the viewpoint. This path makes the hike longer by about 20 minutes but it takes you along the path at the top of the hills giving you a full view of Laguna Torre. However, after being at the viewpoint when you make your way back down, follow the All Trails route back which makes the route shorter. This will lead you out to that crossroads and will be a lot quicker on the way down.

Chorrillo del Salto
If you want to go for a walk but not an intense one, definitely pop to Chorrillo del Salto. Getting to the waterfall and back to town is roughly a 10km walk. It’s a very easy one, with a small uphill section, but the waterfall is pretty cool to see. If you are tight on time, this one is probably the best spot to miss out compared to the other walks and hikes.

Bariloche

Getting to Bariloche from El Chaltén takes a 26 hour bus, which is both ridiculously long and very expensive! We paid roughly $450 USD for the both of us to sit on this bus. The seats were quite uncomfortable, but we were given some food and water and it had really good WiFi! Once we arrived in Bariloche, we got public transport to our hostel, which was pretty straightforward. You can pay by card and you just tap once when you get on the bus. For Bariloche, we wish we had a few days here as there is a lot to do and the town centre is so cute. However, we sadly only had one full day to explore due to travel days.

🏨Moving Hostel Travel Bar
Moving Hostel is a 7 minute walk from the bus stop so was pretty easy for us. It is also a sociable hostel, with the hostel bar being quite busy on the weekends. They also offer free breakfasts, which was a range of cereals, yoghurt and oats, coffee and tea, bread rolls and homemade cake! Pretty decent for the price we paid for the rooms and we definitely made the most of the free breakfasts. Only downside was our dorm room (not sure about the others) didn’t have any air con. If you book this hostel and get the same, try and choose the top bunk by the window as you’ll get a breeze throughout the night!

Refugio Frey
One of the main hikes to do is Refugio Frey, which is a 20km return hike. The buses to the base of the hike only run every two hours from town. This meant we had to plan when to catch the bus with the hike, as we didn’t want to have to wait hours for the next bus. Once you get to the base of the hike, double check the times of the buses at the bus stop and go off those times as the ones on Google Maps might be wrong!

The hike overall wasn’t bad at all, we had really good weather the whole day. I would say it’s a moderate hike, generally flat until you get to the last 2km, which is where it gets steep! Once you’re at the top, there is a further path that you can take, which goes round the lake. You can also swim in the lake if you want, which is the perfect way to cool off before having to make your way back down.

Bariloche Town
The town is so cute! It is around a 10 minute walk from the hostel and has a strip of shops, cafes and foodie spots. It’s a very touristy place, especially with it being the chocolate capital of Argentina. There are so many different chocolate and ice cream shops to choose from. We would recommend getting an ice cream and some chocolates from Rapanui Chocolate and Helado or Mamushka.

Lago Nahuel Huapi & Playa Centro Beach
The beautiful lake is full of glacier water, making it a gorgeous place to swim in during the hot weather. The beach is only a 5 minute walk from the hostel and town. It is a pebble beach, so it’s not that comfortable to lie on, but it has a swimming area and all the locals go here when it’s hot. You can also kayak across the lake, which is another popular activity to do.

Mendoza

It took a 17 hour over night bus, to get to Mendoza from Bariloche. We arrived at 8am, dropped our things off at the hostel and then started exploring the city.

🏨Manso Hostel
This hostel is pretty close to the town centre only 20 minutes or so from the main strip of restaurants and bars. The dorm rooms are pretty good, with excellent WiFi and Aircon. They also offer sociable BBQ Asado and Pizza nights with another hostel and the laundry here is pretty cheap!

Self-Guided Bicycle & Winery Tour
The main thing to do in Mendoza, is to hire bicycles and do a self-guided tour around the different, gorgeous wineries. Get your bikes from Maipu Bikes, which cost 14,000 ARS per person and then choose different wineries to visit. The earlier you go the better as you have to drop the bikes back off by 6pm. We went to the following four wineries, but you can visit a lot more depending on how long you want to spend at each one. Our favourite ones were Entre Olivios, as the host was so lovely and explained all the different olive oils and wine and Atilio Avena as they wouldn’t stop topping up our wine glasses for free!

• Entre Olivos
• Atilio Avena
• Mevi Bodega Boutique
• Bodega Viña El Cerno

Andes Tour
Another main thing to do is an Andes tour to different viewpoints. There are loads of different companies to choose from, so choose one which suits you best, either a half or full day. We did a full day tour and it was quite long and included a 3 hour drive on the way back, however, the different viewpoints we stopped at were incredible.

• Embalse Potrerillos
• Puente Del Inca & Cordilera de los Andes
• Cerro Aconcagua
• Cristos Redentor de los Andes
• Paso de Uspallata

Try Traditional Argentinian Asado
It is recommended to try traditional Asado in Mendoza, so of course Ned wanted to go all out! Asado is a traditional South American event, centred around barbecuing and slow cooking various meats (beef, pork, chicken, etc). This social event symbolises friendship, family and togetherness. Manso Hostel offers this every Monday, so sadly we had missed it when we had arrived. However, we went to Don Mario instead and the feast we had was insane. We had all different kinds of meat, even black sausage and intensities, which were not my cup of tea at all!

Buenos Aires

We decided to get a cheap flight to Buenos Aires as the buses were basically the same price but took twice as long. We spent four days in Buenos Aires, exploring the city and enjoying our time here without rushing.

🏨Primavera Hostel
Highly recommend this hostel! Anton, the host is hilarious and very welcoming. He only opened recently, but has been fully booked the last couple of months. There are three dorms of six people, so it was really nice to be in a smaller hostel as it allowed us to speak to everyone staying there. Anton hosts a BBQ night every Saturday, which was so much fun. He provides all the meat, you just need to bring something to the table, it can be crisps, different salads or dessert. The hostel is also located in the middle of the town, with loads of transport options available, and is in the pawn shop district. This means there’s lots of security and police patrolling during the day, so we felt very safe throughout our stay.

La Boca
Spend the day in La Boca, an hours walk away from the hostel or a 20 minute bus. Visit the Boca Juniors stadium and do a tour if you want, before exploring Caminito. Caminito is famous for its bright, colourful houses, tango dancers, street artists and variety of souvenir shops, cafes, bars and restaurants. Lovely place to spend the day, however, it is the more expensive area.

Palermo
Spend another day in Palermo, a vibrant, trendy neighbourhood known for its cute stores, restaurants and bars. Things to see include visiting the different parks and gardens, including Buenos Aires Eco-Park, Carlos Thays Botanic Garden and Jardín Japonés. Then explore Palermo Soho and see the different street art and markets.

Watch a Football Match
You should definitely watch a football match in South America! There are many countries to watch a match, with Argentina being a favourite. If you are in the city when a football match is on, if it’s just a friendly or not, you should definitely look into getting tickets. They can be expensive, but the closer it gets to game day, resellers tend to lower their prices. We watched a friendly game, which was still part of the cup and it was incredible. The atmosphere was insane and it was so cool to be in the stands of the home team! If you don’t get to go in Argentina, you can also try to see a match in Brazil or Colombia too.

If you go to a match in Argentina, do not bring anything apart from your phone, maybe some money and ID. In Argentina, the police search your bags and anything they deem unsafe or something that can be thrown to hurt people, they will force you to either bin it or leave it on the streets. I always have everything in my bag, and didn’t realise this, meaning they said no to everything and tried to force me to leave it on the streets. Don’t think they understood that I wouldn’t be throwing my AirPods or my portable charger for the sake of it? If you don’t listen to them, you won’t be allowed in the game. Ned luckily stumbled across the local Fire Station and gave them a bag of all my stuff and asked them if we could keep it until the end of the game. Thankfully, they understood and we got everything back once the match finished. Apart from this, the whole night was pretty fun!

La Recoleta Cemetery
For some reason, one of the most popular things to do in Buenos Aires is to visit the La Recoleta cemetery. This is because it holds the graves of different notable people, such as Eva Perón, presidents of Argentina and Nobel Prize winners etc. It costs $13 USD to enter the cemetery, which was pretty cool to walk around but I also wouldn’t pay to go to it again.

Iguazú Falls

You must go to Iguazú Falls if you have the time and budget. Getting there is quite hard to do unless you fly and because we were short on time, this is what we did. We chose to see Iguazú Falls from Argentina instead of Brazil, as it fit with our itinerary a lot better. We got an early, direct flight, which took two hours and cost £253 for a return flight for the both of us. This is very expensive for practically a day trip but it was worth it. We spent one full day exploring Iguazú Falls and then spent the night, before catching an early flight back to Buenos Aires the next day.

Once we landed, we shared a taxi with a man we met at the airport and went straight to the falls. Make sure you buy your National Parks Pass online, which cost us 90,000 ARS, before you go as it will avoid you having to wait in a long line on the day. We simply scanned the QR Code and went straight through. Once in the park, go straight to the train shuttle, which will take you through the dense jungle to stop by the falls. The trains come every 30/40 minutes and they can only fit a certain amount of people, so try your best to get on quickly otherwise you will have to wait for the next one.

Once the train takes you to the stop by the falls, you will need to walk 15 minutes along a scenic walkway, which takes you across the rainforest to the heart of the falls. The Falls is deeply immersed in the lush subtropical rainforest, offering an incredible jungle experience. You can then walk along different catwalks, both upper and lower circuits around different falls.

Most people go to Iguazu Falls for two full days, as it will allow you to spend another day seeing the falls, but from the Brazil side. You won’t have time to visit both sides in one day as the National Park closes at 4pm, for group tours who have booked to see the falls at sunset. Going to Brazil from the Argentinian side and vice versa, will also take a lot longer as you will need to go through immigration on both sides. From the Brazilian side, you can see the falls and the surrounding rainforest from a further distance, whereas in Argentina, you are directly on top of the falls. If you have the time, it is definitely worth going for two days!

Recommendations

There are a few other places that we would recommend stopping at if you have the time and budget.

1. Salta - Desert landscapes, quite similar to Australia and buses were expensive so chose to miss this stop.
2. Cordoba - Didn’t properly look into going, but have heard its nice to visit for a couple days.
3. Ushuaia (southernmost city) - Would have only gone to tick it off, so couldn’t justify the price to get there. Does have good hiking trails though so only reason as to why I’m sad about missing out! They also have penguin tours which are pretty cool!