West of Mendoza the vineyards end abruptly and the Andes take over: the highest mountain outside the Himalayas, and north of it a string of high, dry valleys that very few visitors ever see. Further north still, two parks keep some of the oldest dinosaur beds on the planet in landscapes of red cliffs and wind-carved stone. A week and some 1,300 km of driving tie the three together, wine at one end and the Triassic at the other.
Day 1 · Mendoza
Highlight · A first glass of Malbec in the wineries on the edge of the city.
The car is collected on arrival in the capital of Argentine wine. Mendoza is a city of wide avenues and irrigation channels under rows of plane trees, and the afternoon is best spent in the wineries on its edge, tasting the Malbec that made the region famous.
Night · Mendoza
Day 2 · To the foot of Aconcagua
Highlight · The south face of Aconcagua from the Horcones lagoon, at 2,950 metres.
Drive · 265 km · paved
Walk · Horcones lagoon · 2 h
An early start: south out of the city, then west along the Potrerillos reservoir to Uspallata and up the main road to Chile, as far as the Aconcagua provincial park. A two-hour round walk leads to the Horcones lagoon, at 2,950 metres the highest point of the trip and the classic view of the mountain's south face. On the way down, a stop at Puente del Inca, the natural stone bridge over the Río de las Cuevas.
Night · Mendoza
Day 3 · North along the Andes to Barreal
Highlight · The white bed of the Pampa del Leoncito, then the poplars of Barreal.
Drive · 115 km · 60 km gravel
The road runs north with the Cordillera always on the left, 60 km of straight gravel through semi-desert before the San Juan border and the pavement. It passes the Pampa del Leoncito, the white bed of an ancient lake, and arrives in Barreal, a quiet oasis of poplars at the foot of the mountains. With some notice, an evening at the El Leoncito observatory, 40 km away, adds a guided look through a telescope under some of the clearest skies in the country.
Night · Barreal
Day 4 · The Calingasta valley to Rodeo
Highlight · Mercedario and the seven peaks of Ansilta above the farming valley.
Drive · 195 km · paved
Paved roads through the farming valley of Calingasta, where pumpkins, thyme and lavender grow, with the summits of Mercedario and the seven peaks of Ansilta in view. Through Tamberías and Calingasta, over the Portillo del Colorado at 2,600 metres, past the hot springs of Pismanta and down to Rodeo, beside the Cuesta del Viento reservoir.
Night · Rodeo
Day 5 · Jáchal and Ischigualasto
Highlight · The Valle de la Luna in convoy behind a ranger, past the Submarine and the Mushroom.
Drive · 284 km
Past the Cuesta del Viento and through the Jáchal valley, with its sleepy town and anthropological museum, then across the gorge of the Sierra Negra. Ischigualasto, the Valle de la Luna, is best entered early in the afternoon: the circuit is driven in convoy behind a ranger, stopping at the Painted Valley, the Cancha de Bochas with its perfectly round stones, the Submarine and the Mushroom. Then 72 km more to San Agustín de Valle Fértil.
Night · Ischigualasto & Talampaya
Day 6 · Talampaya
Highlight · Red sandstone walls over 150 metres high, with condors nesting on the ledges.
Drive · 226 km
A full day in Talampaya, 113 km north: red sandstone walls over 150 metres high, condors nesting on the ledges and shapes carved by wind and water, in a landscape once ruled by dinosaurs. The park has everything needed to spend the day, and the evening is back in Valle Fértil.
Night · Ischigualasto & Talampaya
Day 7 · Back to Mendoza
Highlight · The shrine of the Difunta Correa on the long road south.
Drive · 377 km · 5 h
The long road south, with two stops worth making: the shrine of the Difunta Correa, a figure of popular devotion visited by thousands every year, and the leafy city of San Juan. The car is returned at Mendoza airport.
