Three weeks in Argentina: Our itinerary

OUR THREE WEEKS IN ARGENTINA ITINERARY: THE BEST BITS IN 21 DAYS

If you’re reading this, I imagine you have have long held dreams of visiting Argentina. I did too! Earlier this year, my dream finally came true when I spent one month exploring the incredible country. Suffice to say, it did not disappoint. From drinking wine in Mendoza, to the incredible views of Mount Fitz Roy and the breathtaking Perito Moreno glacier – the memories will be etched in my memory for a lifetime.

This blog post provides all you need to know about our three week Argentina itinerary. We have created it based on our trip in Argentina. The itinerary is a well balanced pace, allowing time to see the best bits, spend days hiking in mountains and hours meandering around vineyards. We hope that it helps you to create a magical trip!

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Short on time?

Argentina Top Picks 😍

Some of our top picks for Argentina are:

Accommodation 🏨

Mendoza: Charcas de Coria
Bariloche: Hotel Cottbus
El Chalten: Magical Shepherds Hut
El Calafate: America Del Sur Calafate Hostel
Buenos Aires: Home Hotel, Palermo Soho

Tours & Attractions 🎫

Tips 💡

Be sure to take plenty of Argentinean Pesos or US Dollars with you – alternatively, make use of Western Union. Avoid using ATMs where possible! More detail below.

Transport 🚌

Book internal flights with SkyScanner
Book long bus journeys with Bus Bud
Consider using Discover Cars for hire car

How to plan a trip to Argentina?

When I first sat down with a pen and paper (yes I am old school) to start researching our trip to Argentina, I was quite overwhelmed. This was to be our first trip to the country and I knew that I wanted to see everything. But, with just four weeks to explore Argentina, I could also quite quickly see that this would not be possible.

Our itinerary went through six or seven iterations before we were totally happy with it. It was probably one of the most tricky trips that we have ever planned. The hard work paid off and we ended up with something that satisfied our itch to see as much as possible and we also managed to avoid a frantic or overwhelming pace.

Based on our experience of planning our trip to Argentina, here’s what I would recommend:

1/ Accept that you cannot see everything

Argentina is so vast and there is so much to see and do. Even with three weeks in Argentina, you cannot see everything. It would be almost like saying that you want to see all of Europe in two weeks. The geography, transport and scale of the country quite simply means that you cannot see it all in the given time.

2/ Prioritize what is important to you

I found it helpful to list everywhere I wanted to see and everything I wanted to see, then prioritize and rank each place.

For example, I very much wanted to visit Salta in the North, but realized that I had to choose between there and El Chalten in Southern Patagonia. On balance, hiking in El Chalten was more important to me than going wine tasting in Salta. But, I found a wine tasting in Buenos Aires which offered the chance to try wine from Salta. Not a perfect compromise, but it helped.

3/ Think carefully about transport around Argentina

When planning your trip to Argentina, think carefully about transport. Choosing the places you will visit is important, but even more important is figuring out how you’ll make the transition from one to the other.

Broadly, there are three ways to get around in Argentina – by bus, by car and using internal flights. During our trip, we used all three. Initially, we had planned get around by car entirely. We had a long held dream of taking a road trip in Argentina. But, the reality of driving such vast distances, isn’t quite as practical as we had initially anticipated.

Most people, will probably require a combination of all three transport options in order to successfully travel around Argentina for two weeks. In our itinerary below, we’ve tried to highlight the best ways to manage your transport connections – having learnt from (slightly) bitter experience.

4/ Know that you may return to Argentinian in the future

Chances are, you’ll probably fall in love with Argentina and almost immediately you’ll be dreaming about the next time you visit. Not seeing everything in Argentina, the first time around is quite a nice problem to have. If you miss something, it’s a great excuse to return.

Our three week Argentina itinerary

Without further ado, here’s our three week Argentina itinerary.

We spent one month in Argentina trying to explore as much as we could in order to write the best travel guides possible. Now, whilst we wish that everyone could do the same and spend a long time visiting Argentina, we know that most people cannot.

Therefore, this itinerary is a truncated version of the itinerary that we did, tailored to allow you to see the best bits of Argentina over three weeks.

Here’s an overview of our three week Argentina itinerary:

Days 1 to 4: Arrive into Buenos Aires, fly direct to Mendoza. Spend three days exploring the wine regions of Mendoza.

Days 5 to 9: Fly to Bariloche – spend three days exploring Bariloche.

Days 10 to 16: Hiking in El Chalten &visiting Perito Moreno Glacier

Days 17 to 21: Buenos Aires

Alternative three week Argentina itineraries

Argentina is a vast country with a huge amount to see and do. As this was our first time visiting Argentina, we were very keen to see a little bit of everything. For that reason, our suggested three week Argentina itinerary is very much a “highlights reel.”

This itinerary does require a fair bit of moving around in order to see the best bits of Argentina. Although we think it is a well balanced itinerary and we believe that it still allows for enough time in each location, we appreciate that it may be a bit too fast paced for some travellers.

If you’re keen to take things a bit slower, we would suggest focusing your time either in the North of Argentina, or the South. For example, in the North you could spend a very happy 14 days Buenos Aires, Cordoba, Mendoza and Salta. In the South, you could spend longer in Bariloche, perhaps also visiting El Bolsen and San Martin de Andes, before meandering down to Southern Patagonia.

Our itinerary also prioritizes ample time hiking in Patagonia. If you are not a fan of hiking, then we would suggest sticking to the North of Argentina – visiting Buenos Aires, Cordoba, Mendoza and Salta. Alternatively, you could visit Patagonia and consider alternative outdoor activities – such as horseback riding and kayaking.

Our three week Argentina itinerary day by day

Here’s all the detail for each section of our three week Argentina itinerary. At each section, you can find links to our detailed blog posts which provide more information on a specific area.

Our three week Argentina Itinerary

Days One to Four: Mendoza

The first stop on our itinerary is the magnificent wine region of Mendoza. There are not enough superlatives to describe how much we loved the Mendoza region during our visit. It far exceeded expectations. From the wonderful hospitality, to the design chic wineries and not to mention every drop of delicious wine that we tasted.

Without a doubt, Mendoza is a “must see” for any wine lovers visiting Argentina. We recommend spending two to five days in this area to get the most from it. Of course, it is entirely possible to spend even longer frolicking about in vineyards, but with three weeks in Argentina – two to five days in Mendoza is just right.

💡Tip: Our three week itinerary can work forwards (as written here) or backwards i.e. you can start in Buenos Aires, travel to El Chalten, then to Bariloche and returning to Mendoza, if you wish to.

We preferred to go straight to Mendoza for a few reasons – firstly, we wanted to get lost in the vineyards as soon as possible after landing! Secondly, we prefer to be near to the airport on our final day. Hence, we chose to visit Buenos Aires at the end of our trip. But, as I say, the choice is yours.

What to do

In Mendoza, eating and drinking are the main events!

Wineries that we loved in Chacras de Coria / Lujan de Cuyo🍷

Close de Chacras – upmarket winery with restaurant
Alta Vista Winery – friendly winery with fabulous garden
Bodgea Viamonte – laid back, stunning scenery and delicious rose wine

Wineries that we loved in Uco Valley 🍷

Clos de los Siete Winery – a big name in the area
La Viglia vineyard and it’s marvelous restaurant La Ropa Restaurant – both sit within the Vines of Mendoza complex
Bodgea Monteviejo – excellent views from this winery
Super Uco – excellent tour and interesting biodynamic wines

For something a little more active, we recommend going wine cycling in Maipu. You can hire a bicycle, then spend the entire day meandering from one winery to another, sampling wine and amazing food. Find out more about how to do this here.

Where to stay

We explored all three wonderful wine areas of Mendoza – Maipu, Luján de Cuyo/ Chacras de Coria and the Uco Valley. Our two favourite places in the Mendoza region to stay are Chacras de Coria and the Uco Valley.

For a three week itinerary in Argentina, we would recommend selecting one of these areas to stay in rather than stretching yourself too thin across all areas.

We would strongly recommend Chacras de Coria as a great place to base yourself, especially if you are travelling without a hire car this will allow you to visit the vineyards in that area, as well as explore nearby Maipu. This area also suit budget travellers and anyone looking for an uncomplicated experience.

However, if you are happy to drive, then the Uco Valley is a wonderful place to stay. In the Uco Valley, you can expect to pay a little more for accommodation as many of the hotels are quite luxurious vineyard stays. If you’ve ever dreamed of staying overnight in a vineyard, the Uco Valley will give you that chance.

Choosing where to base yourself in Mendoza will very much shape your experience. We’ve written a detailed blog post here, which can help you to choose which is the best location for you.

Eat & Drink

Bars and restaurants that we loved in Chacras de Coria/ Lujan de Cuyo:

Anastacia de Pollo – our favourite asado in Argentina
Barijho Beer Garden – chilled outdoor space for drinks
Vitorina Coria – happy hour and nibbles

How to get there

You can drive, take a bus or fly. For a three week itinerary we recommend flying to save time. The flight from Buenos Aires is very short (less than two hours). As it is a domestic flight you don’t have to go through passport checks and the security is quite quick. There are multiple flights per day between Buenos Aires and Mendoza.

Mendoza airport is located around 20 minutes from the centre of the city, and 30 minutes of so from Chacras de Coria and Maipu. In Mendoza, you can choose to hire a car, or to take public transport. If you want to avoid hiring a car, we recommend staying in Chacras de Coria which is well served by public transport (more on that above).

One thing to note, is that there are two airports in Buenos Aires. The international airport (Ministro Pistarini International Airport, Ezeiza (EZE)),where you will most likely enter the country and the domestic terminal (Jorge Newbery Airport, known as Aeroparque (AEP)).

If you are flying straight to Mendoza, try to get a flight from EZE (assuming you arrive there from your international flight.) If you can’t, it’s not the end of the world – you can take a one hour bus between the two airports, or grab a taxi.

Days Five to Nine: Bariloche

Bariloche, a town located in the north of Patagonia, is somewhat of a mecca for hikers. The entire region is stunning, with lakes, forests and mountains.

The town of Bariloche itself is quirky and a bit hipster. But, without feeling pretentious. It has a laid back feel, with many people out enjoying hikes during the day and de-camping to the many craft beer houses, or steak restaurants, in the evening.