Things to do
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Cafayate
Vineyards at high altitude surround this small town at the southern end of the Calchaqui valleys, where torrontes grapes make a dry aromatic white grown almost nowhere else. Bodegas receive visitors in the town itself, within walking distance of the square. The road in runs through the red rock of the Quebrada de las Conchas, which is half the reason to go.
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Cerro San Bernardo
A cable car climbs the wooded hill east of the centre in about eight minutes, landing at terraces, water gardens and a view across the whole valley. A stairway of roughly a thousand steps takes the same slope on foot. Afternoon haze is common, so morning gives the clearer line to the Andes.
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Museum of High Altitude Archaeology
Three Inca children found frozen near the summit of Llullaillaco are held in refrigerated cases here, alongside the textiles and figurines buried with them. One is shown at a time and rotated, a decision the museum sets out in the galleries. The subject is handled soberly, and the visit is short and heavy.
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Quebrada de Humahuaca
A desert valley on the old route to Bolivia, listed by UNESCO, with layered rock in ochre, green and violet standing above villages of adobe and cactus wood. Purmamarca, Tilcara and Humahuaca sit along it, each with a market and a fortress or a church. Nights are cold all year, and the altitude at Humahuaca is felt straight away.
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Salinas Grandes
White salt flats sit above three thousand metres on the puna, reached over the Cuesta de Lipan from Purmamarca on a road that climbs to a pass and drops onto the plain. Local cooperatives run short guided walks over the crust and around the salt pools. Glare is severe, so sunglasses and a hat matter more than a coat.
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Salta Cathedral
Pink and yellow paint, twin towers and a baroque front face the main square, rebuilt in the nineteenth century after earthquakes took the churches before it. Inside, the images of the Senor y Virgen del Milagro are carried through the streets each September in a procession that fills the city. Entry is free and the interior is gilded to the point of excess.
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Train to the Clouds
Engineering from the 1930s carries a passenger train up the Quebrada del Toro to the viaduct at La Polvorilla, above four thousand metres, on switchbacks and spirals that gain height without a rack. The full excursion now combines bus and train and runs a long day from Salta. Altitude sickness is common on board, which is why oxygen is carried.
