Tafí del Valle

Tafí del Valle sits at two thousand metres in a wide valley of meadows and dairy farms, an unexpected green after the drive up through the cloud forest from Tucumán. The La Angostura reservoir fills the bottom of the valley, the menhirs of an ancient culture stand in a park at El Mollar, and the Jesuit chapel of La Banda remembers the estancias of the seventeenth century. Over the Abra del Infiernillo, at three thousand metres, the landscape turns dry and the road drops to Amaicha del Valle, an indigenous community with a museum dedicated to the Pachamama.

One or two nights here break the journey between Tucumán and Cafayate. A walk or a ride in the valley, the local cheeses, the view from a hotel high on the slope, and the next day the road over the pass to Amaicha and the Ruinas de Quilmes, before arriving in Cafayate.

Summer is the cool escape from the heat of Tucumán, with afternoon rain and mist. Winter is dry and clear, with cold nights.