Cachi

Cachi is a village of white adobe, a plaza and an old church, at the foot of a snow peak of more than six thousand metres. Getting there is half the point: from Salta the road climbs the Quebrada de Escoipe and zigzags up the Cuesta del Obispo to the top, past the Valle Encantado, then runs straight through the Parque Nacional Los Cardones, a plain of giant cactus. Payogasta lies just north of Cachi; south, on the road to Molinos, Seclantás is the village of the poncho weavers.

Two nights let the place settle. The first day is the road itself, or for walkers a full day trekking down the old trail of the Cuesta del Obispo. Then a slow day in Cachi, with its archaeological museum. From Seclantás, a farmer takes visitors into the red canyons of Acsibi, a landscape almost nobody sees on a first trip. A night at a small finca on the river, or with a family of the valley's rural tourism network, gives the stay a different depth.

The dry months, from April to November, are the best, with clear skies and cold nights. Summer rain can make the Cuesta del Obispo slow.