Cafayate

Cafayate sits at seventeen hundred metres in a wide, sunny valley, and most of the vineyards of the Calchaquí valleys grow around it. Warm days, cold nights and almost no rain make its wines, the white Torrontés above all. The road from Salta arrives through the Quebrada de las Conchas, a canyon of red sandstone carved into shapes with names like the Garganta del Diablo and the Anfiteatro. South of town, across the border into Tucumán, the Ruinas de Quilmes are the remains of the largest pre-Hispanic town in Argentina.

Two nights are right; the bodegas are the reason to stay: tastings in old and new cellars, lunch among the vines, a walk through the vineyards after dark, or in harvest time a day helping to bring in the grapes. For something more active, a bike ride downhill through the vineyards, or a ride into the dunes from an estancia. Cafayate is usually the end of the loop that comes down from Cachi, or a return trip from Salta through the Quebrada de las Conchas.

The harvest runs from February to April. Summer days are hot and dry; winter is cool and clear, and good for walking.