Argentina is a cultured country with a huge range of options for those looking for an vacation. Buenos Aires is a very cultured capital city that will be your travel hub. There's beautiful wine growing regions to the north and west, the most specacular waterfall in the world, wildlife viewing holiday opportunities and fantastic trekking and hiking to be had in the south of the country. Argentina is a huge country - many vacation makers don't realise that they will need to fly almost everywhere, most internal flights being via Buenas Aires.
Argentina Domestic Flights
If you're booking internal flights within Argentina, you'll probably save about $100 per person is you see these tips on booking Aerolineas Argentinas flights for less that are posted in the travel tips blog. It's a tried and tested trick, that really does work. See also the section on Argentina domestic flights for extensive flight routings advice.
Buenas Aires and Nearby
The capital city Buenas Aires is a great place to stay for a few nights in a hotel as one visits the cities numerous museums and cultural attractions. Buenas Aires has some excellent luxury hotels in which to stay such as the Faena, Alvear Palace and Park Hyatt Palacio Duhua. Trendy Palermo district has cool hotels such as Bobo and Home in which to stay. An interesting day trip from Buenas Aires is to Uraguay (either Montivideo or UNESCO world heritage site Colonia). A short drive outside of Buenas Aires are numerous estancias where travellers can experience the Gaucho (cowboy) ranch lifestlyle. Those wanting a beach holiday in Argentina will struggle to find anything appropriate. There are beach holiday places such as Mar Del Plata in Argentina and Punta del Este in Uruaguay, but both are beach resorts for Argentine tourists. If you want to find good beaches after your tour around Argantina, the best option is to fly from Buenos Aires direct to Florianopolis in Southern Brazil (a one hour flight).
Northern Argentina Vacations
To the north east of Argentina one finds the spectacular Iguasu Falls. An eight hour drive from Iguasu are the Iberra wetlands, often overlooked by tourists but great for wildlife viewing holidays in Argentina. More accessible from Iguasu might be Yacatinga Lodge, the nearest one can come to a rainforest jungle lodge in Argentina. To the North of Buenas Aires lies Salta, a beautiful colonial town, with interesting small villages to visit nearby and fantastic mountain scenery. Salta provides an interesting route into Northern Chile and the Atacama desert, or into Bolivia. To the north west of Buenas Aires wine lovers will enjoy Mendoza, the most famous wine growing region in Argentina. There are numerous vineyard hotels in which to stay to sample some of the local wine, such as the Cavas Wine Lodge. The spectacular Andean mountain scenery provides scenic road trips, such as the road trip over the Andes from Mendoza to Santiago in Chile. On the whole, Northern Argentina has a huge amount to offer for vacations, but this part of the country is often overlooked by travellers, who generally head south to Patagonia.
Southern Argentina
Patagonia in Southern Argenina is generally most people's highlight of their holiday to Argentina. Patagonia is Argentina's Lake District region offering beautiful hiking possibilities. Bariloche is the central hub of Patagonia, and is a great base for Argantina horseback riding vacations, though rafting and trekking are also very popular here, as is skiing in the winter season (June to August). Llao Llao is one of the best luxury hotels in Bariloche (though it's resort style won't suit everyone). From Bariloche one can catch a flight to Trelew and travel on to the Valdes Peninsula, an area of beautiful landscapes normally visited for wildlife viewing of seals, sea lions and penguins (June to December) and for whale watching tours (August to November). One can also fly to El Calafate, another excellent base for hiking and other outdoors activities. Los Notros and Eolo are two of the best hotels in El Calafate. The nearby Perito Moreno Glacier is a real highlight of any El Calafate tour. Those wanting a trekking holiday could travel over the Andes into Torres Del Paine in Chile, but more easily accessible is the four hour road trip to El Chalten which has the best trekking in Argentina. Los Cerros is one of the best hotels in El Chalten. Further to the south in Argantina is Ushuaia and the Tierra del Fuego, the most southerly town in the world. Here too is good for trekking and other outdoor adventure tours, penguin viewing and tours to the Magdallena Straits. Ushuaia is the main point of access to the white continent - Antartica - itself a truely unique, but very expensive, holiday destination.
