El Bolsón

El Bolsón sits in a green valley on the Ruta 40, two hours south of Bariloche, and has been a refuge for craftspeople and people who left the city since the 1970s. Its market of crafts and local produce, the berry and hop farms and the small breweries set the tone; the Piltriquitrón mountain rises over the town. A few kilometres south, the Parque Nacional Lago Puelo protects a lake that reaches into Chile, and the villages of El Hoyo, Epuyén and Cholila, where Butch Cassidy kept a ranch, complete the Comarca Andina.

One or two nights are enough for the market, a walk or a boat on Lago Puelo, and the trails in the forest. It is the natural stop on the road between Bariloche and Esquel, towards Los Alerces and the crossing into Chile at Futaleufú.

December to March is the season, warm and long-lit. Autumn brings colour and the hop harvest; winter is quiet and wet.