Here you'll find everything you need to know to plan a 3-4 day trip to Salta, Argentina.
Background:
Salta was one of 4 excursions we planned during our 5-week stay in Buenos Aires. The trip spanned Monday (2/19/2024) to Thursday (2/22/2024), and we found this to be a sufficient amount of time to explore what we wanted to in and around Salta. However, we did not see all that the region has to offer, so be sure to reference the "Overall Thoughts and Impressions" section below to read up on other possible itineraries for longer stays.
About:
Salta is the 7th most populated city in Argentina located in the Argentine province of the same name. It maintains a subtropical highland climate with relatively stable, pleasant weather year-round. More importantly, Salta is a major destination in Argentina as it unlocks avenues to explore and appreciate the phenomenal natural landscape of northwest Argentina.
Getting to Salta:
Like our other excursions, we arranged our travel and stay in advance. We booked roundtrip tickets from Buenos Aires to Salta through JetSmart for about 141.50 USD per person. We departed at 5 a.m. and after about 1.5-2 hours, we were in Salta!
Our Stay and Car Rental: We booked our stay at a beautiful one-bedroom apartment in Salta through Airbnb. The accommodation was wonderful, and our host was incredibly gracious - it was probably our best experience of our whole trip to South America. We also booked a 3-day rental car in advance through Booking.com for about 60 USD per person (120 USD total). We recommend booking a rental car in advance if you plan to get one, because they do sell out fast as most tourists come to the city to explore other areas of the province. There are certainly paid tour bus options to explore the region, but we found a rental car to be much more comfortable for us in terms of being able to set our own schedule and take time at the stops we wanted to. While driving in certain parts of the region was bumpy, it's very manageable overall.
Day 1: Road Trip to Parque Nacional Los Cardones
After arriving to Salta early in the morning, we spent some time unwinding at a coffee shop in town then made our way to pick up our car rental at about 10 a.m. We then got settled at our Airbnb, got ready, and hit the road. We took route 33 to Parque Nacional Los Cardones. The entire one-way trip took about 2.5 hours without stops. The scenery along the route and through the park is mesmerizing - what begins as greenery/forest transitions to red rock and ends in what we later determined to be "cold desert." Below we included a list of the stops made during the trip so you can mark these on your map prior to making the journey. Many of them make themselves known while you're on route, but some can creep up on you, so it helps to have some idea of where they'll pop up. A certain swath of the route is semi-paved and is definitely bumpy; however, any car can make the journey if you drive at a reasonable speed 30-50 kph). Despite the nonstop time of about 2.5 hours, you will likely want to stop along the route and in the Parque Nacional Los Cardones so be sure to account for that. In all, we spent about 7 hours roundtrip for this excursion.
Mirador de Escoipe (viewpoint)
Pie de la Cuesta del Obispo (here begins the winding road that extends for about 20 km on route 33)
Quebrada "La Sirena" (mountain range)
Cuesta del Obispo (steep section of route 33, connecting the Lerma Valley with the upper Calchaqui Valley)
Quebrada del Escoipe (mountain range)
Recta del Tin Tin (amazing 19-km straight road cutting across the Calchaqui Valley with marvelous cacti)
Mirador Secretos del Cardonal (viewpoint)
Note: You do lose cellphone service pretty early on in the trip so be sure to have navigation loaded beforehand along with stops loaded in. Maps will still work offline to a certain extent, which is especially useful to determine how much distance you have left.
Road Trip to Parque Nacional Los Cardones
Day 2: Road trip to Cafayate
For our second day in Salta, we took the trip to Cafayate via route 68. This was a bit longer trip (3 hours nonstop), but the route is entirely paved without interruption. However, the scenery along the route is INCREDIBLE. We made sure to stop at landmarks like Garganta del Diablo and the Anfiteatro, but the entire route is filled with magnificent landscape and rock formations. Below we included a list of the stops made during the trip so you can mark these on your map prior to making the journey. In Cafayate, we had lunch at the Piattelli Vineyards, which was wonderful - the food was probably some of the best we had in Argentina and the restaurant itself has a luxurious ambiance. We did not get a chance to do the wine tasting or vineyard tour due to time constraints and the proximity to sunset but would certainly recommend if time permits as Salta is known for their wines.
Quebrada Las Conchas (i.e., Shells' Ravine - the natural reserve located within the Calchaquies Valleys in which the majority of the following sites are located)
Morales Bridge (the famous bridge from the 2014 movie Relatos Salvajes, i.e., Wild Tales)
Garganta del Diablo (beautiful flowing rock formation/canyon in the Quebrada de las Conchas)
Anfiteatro (formation in the Quebrada de Las Conchas where you can observe different layers of sediment and appreciate great acoustics)
Mirador Tres Cruces (scenic outlook where we stopped for several landscape photos)
El Obelisco (rock formation in the shape of an obelisk-type tower on route 68 in the Quebrada de Las Conchas)
Las Ventanas (almost whimsical geoforms in the mountains on route 68)
Los Castillos (another set of imposing geological formations)
Los Colorados (chain of hills/mountains with no vestige of plant/animal life - the flow and reddish hue are mesmerizing)
Cafayate
Note: You do lose cellphone service pretty early on in the trip so be sure to have navigation loaded beforehand along with stops loaded in. Maps will still work offline to a certain extent, which is especially useful to determine how much distance you have left.
Road Trip to Cafayate
Day 3: Exploring Salta
After having our fill of the incredible natural beauty the province had to offer, we decided to spend our final full day in Salta exploring the city. It was definitely a lot bigger than we expected and is filled with colorful churches, squares, parks, markets, and more. It's also very walkable, which makes it easy to see the sights while getting those steps in. Below is a list of the main stops we made throughout the day:
Catedral Basilica de Salta: Roman Catholic cathedral dating back to the 1800s with an ornate pink facade and gilded interior
July 9th Square: 16th century plaza named after Argentina's Independence Day, featuring trees and flowers
Iglesia y Museo San Francisco: Refined Spanish colonial-style Franciscan basilica, convent, and historical monument
Mercado Municipal San Miguel: Food marketplace in a historical building known for its produce, nuts, cheeses, and condiments
Iglesia de la Vina, Parroquia Ntra. Sra. De La Candelaria: Italian-style church from 1873 with blue and pink pastels coloring the facade, bell tower, and interiors
San Martin Park: Park featuring palm-fringed lake with pedal boats and statue of Jose de San Martin
Cerro San Bernardo: Hill near the San Martin park. Here, we took the cable car ride up (and down) for a roundtrip ticket price of 10 USD per person. The hill is some 1500 meters above sea level and offers impressive views of Salta. There are only a couple restaurants at the top. We decided to have lunch at one - Trashumante. The food was decent but definitely not something we would go out of our way for. However, you can sit on their terrace and enjoy the views of Salta while eating.
Exploring Salta
Overall Thoughts and Impressions:
We absolutely loved our trip to Salta. The natural beauty of the province was so stunning it was almost overwhelming. We'd absolutely recommend fitting this into your itinerary if traveling to Buenos Aires or even South America in general. Given that we only had a few days in Salta, we had to make some tough decisions about what we would/would not see. If we had more time in Salta, we likely would have taken route 9 up to Purmacarca, Tilcara, and Humahuaca on our way to the Salt Flats (a 4- to 5-hour journey). We ultimately sacrificed this because we creeped Instagram stories that tagged the salt flats and found that the views were not as incredible as they potentially could be when wet. While we did visit during the rainy season (November to March), we just happened to be there at a time when the weather did not contribute to the best aesthetic. Hence, the salt flats in Bolivia remain high on our list of future destinations.
There is also the option of modifying our itinerary by doing a loop of sorts: traveling to Cafayate then to Cache via 40 and then back to Salta via Parque Nacional Los Cardones. This would require spending a night likely in Cafayate as it definitely cannot all be done in one day. It's also important to note that the section of route 40 from Cafayate to Cachi is known to be pretty tough on cars, requiring slow speeds. Nevertheless, many have made this journey so it's definitely doable. BUT, we're in agreement that if, for some reason, you have very limited time in Salta and can only reach one destination, the trip to Cafayate takes the cake.
Itinerary Budget Breakdown (per person):
Roundtrip plane ticket from BA: 141.50 USD
Stay: 66.19 USD
Car rental: 60 USD
Cable car ticket: 10 USD
Total = 277.69 USD
*Estimated Variable Costs (consisting of Ubers, meals, drinks, & souvenirs: 134.50 USD (269/2))
Road Trip to Cafayate
Road Trip to Parque Nacional Los Cardones
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