Ring around the Andes
Bite-sized trip
Day 1 – Winding roads to San Martin
This morning you’ll pick up your hire car and drive from Bariloche to the start of the Seven Lakes Route. This partially unpaved road winds through the mountains northwards towards San Martin de los Andes. Take your time and enjoy the nature as you drive along. You’ll see how turquoise lakes and pine trees make way for lava landscapes, rivers and rushing waterfalls. You’ll arrive in the upscale ski village of Villa Angostura around lunchtime. It’s worth a visit the shoreline where fishermen will be bringing in their fresh catches of fish. Afterwards lunch it’s another four hour drive until you start to see the chimneys of San Martin, where you’ll spend the night at a charming wooden lodge. The rooms are nice, if on the small side, but are just fine for a short stay especially since you’ll be spending most of your time outdoors.
Day 2 – Take the scenic route to Bariloche
For those who are adventurous at heart, there’s the backdoor route to Bariloche. Always make sure the Paso Cordoba is open before you take off since it can be closed down by snowfall. If it is open you’ll drive out of a wooded area into the lake landscape surrounding San Martin as you driver further and further into the mountains. You’ll travel along the windward side of the mountains – when it rains small waterfalls can appear that don’t take roads into account and simply flow over them. At times you may have to cross rather sizeable puddles.
After the pass you’ll reach the sheltered side of the mountain. This dry side of the mountain looks completely different; it almost resembles a lunar landscape with all kinds of different shaped rocks. There’s quite a bit of wind on this side and some parts of the road are unpaved. You won’t be able to drive any faster than 30 – 40 km/ hour on these stretches of road. Take your time on these roads and prepare yourself for a slightly bumpy day of driving with plenty of scenery to enjoy. This is truly a day spent far away from civilisation. You won’t see any houses until you reach the crossroads to Constancia where you can stop off for lunch. Driving time excluding stops is approximately 4 hours.
Accommodation
For this bite-sized trip we offer the following options
Additional days car hire
If you have time to add another days car hire, you could go on a boat ride across Lake Huemul or you could cruise on towards the Lanin National Park and the volcano with the same name.
