World Class Alpine Experience

A guide meets you at Bariloche Airport and takes you to a hotel near the shore of Lake Nahuel Huapi. The afternoon is a guided look at the area, and the high point is literal: a chairlift up Mount Campanario, with the lake and the mountains spread out below. Then back down to the hotel and its quiet surroundings, and an evening to relax before the road.

North of Bariloche the scenery changes fast. The country turns barren and contrasting, and then the road begins its zigzag climb to Córdoba Pass. Over the top and down into San Martín de los Andes, a Patagonian town that gets a guided city tour and, more to the point, the night. Staying over means the town is not a window view on the way past. You sleep here.

Sit back. The Seven Lakes Route is the classic road home, and the lakes arrive in a run: Espejo, Falkner, Villarino, Pichi Traful, Machónico, Hermoso and Correntoso. Green mountains loom over smooth blue water, and the road passes through the rural town of Villa La Angostura before it reaches Bariloche. Back at your hotel, the rest of the evening is yours to spend resting.

The loop closes this morning. After a last look at the Lake District, a transfer takes you to Bariloche airport for the connecting flight to Buenos Aires. Behind you are two very different roads: dry country and Córdoba Pass on the way out, seven lakes on the way back. Four days, three nights, one loop.