Wow, wow, wow! The landscape is out of this world. And the branches coming up out of the road is hilarious/scary! Such a beautiful country. Thank you for all the great info and photos as always. Reply
Thank you so much, Cathy. Can’t get the scenery outta my mind, which is why I rebuilt this whole post. Photos don’t do it justice. And you’re right: the sticks on the one lane bridge cracked me up. And nobody passed me for half an hour. Reply
Grazie Gianni. I think you’d need a car for the whole time and you might still want a 4X4. I’ve heard they’ve improved the roads since I was there ten years ago, but there was still a need — the roads were quite bumpy and sometimes you have to drive through small rivers. But unless you are staying in a town for a long time, you want to get out and explore the surrounding areas. Reply
Thank you so much for this amazing, rich article. It’s packed with extremely valuable information, and having been there a couple of times, I couldn’t agree more with everything you describe and recommend. Bravo. Also, the Pictures are BREATHTAKING. Great post. I will follow your blog regularly. Thanks for the work you put into this. Reply
Wow! Thank you Marian! I know it was a lot of info, but when I went on this trip I could find nothing in English online, so did almost the whole thing “blind”.➡️I might have overcompensated. Any other suggestions I missed? Reply
Amazing – we are planning the same route. What time of year did you do this trip? It’s impossible to tell what kind of car to rent as so many articles were written a long time ago or the author has been in rainy season which i gather requires a 4×4! Reply
Thanks for writing, Tom. It’s an incredible place and hardly anyone knows about it. I was there in the last week of February and first week of March. I think it has its own microclimate at that altitude, so think it’s relatively the same year-round, but maybe a bit of a rainy season, I’m not sure. I’ve read they did improve the Ruta 40 for some stretch, but not sure where exactly. I didn’t think I’d really need a big 4×4 but there were times I would have paid anything to have one in my little Renault crossover mini SUV 4WD. It’s the desert, so even on paved roads if they get a rain burst, the arroyos can send flash flooding streams across roads. Also, back then there weren’t many cars to rent at all, I’m sure it has improved with popularity. I do think having something with high clearance at a minimum would be a must. Even if they improved parts of Ruta 40 that I had to drive through rivers, you’d still want to take on exploring unimproved very bumpy side roads to get to cool sites. The road from Cafayete to Salta (basically from 6 o’clock to 2 o’clock) is very well maintained and easy to drive. It’s just that leg from Salta, through the rainforest canyons up to Cuesta del Obispo > Cachi that was most challenging. Lots of washouts from streams. Have a great trip. Let me know if you have any other questions. Reply