CALCHAQUIES VALLEYS ROUND // SALTA

Route: 505 km
Departure: 07.30 am.
Length: 2 days.

Leaving Salta and going south by the national road Nº68, passing through a lot of towns until we get to the shocking Las Conchas Gorge, where lots of terracotta colour shapes surrounds the landscape to finally reach the winery town of Cafayate. This picturesque town, known worldwide for its wines and specially the Torrontés branch, offers the traveller a world full of scents and flavors.

This journey continues on the national road Nº 40 going north to the town of Cachi, a shard or solid road is travelled, having a lot of calamine on the way, moving on a picturesque road that crosses the amazing Las Flechas Gorge, where the hills look like real spears in shape, coming out from the ground and going to towns like Animaná, San Carlos, Angastaco, Molinos and Seclantás.

Cachi, located at the bottom of the Nevado de Cachi, is at 7480 ft, right at the junction from the Calchaquí and Cachi rivers. The trip goes on north to Payogasta on a pavement road, where we take the national road Nº 33 getting to the long Recta de Tin Tin, made by Incas, going through the National Park Los Cardones, having 72.000 acres with the main Andean biomes and a northern region from the western mountain, an exclusive natural region from Argentina. The preservation from El Cardon, the best exponent from this region, is the main goal of the park.

We’ll be reaching Piedra del Molino (Millstone) along the road, which is the highest point of the trip at 10984 ft. Then we will start descending over the Cuesta del Obispo surrounded by mountains and a dizzy precipice. We get into the gorge from Escoipe River. This is an agricultural valley with multicolour hills, voluptuous vegetation and red lands. We finally take the national road Nº 68, where we get back north to Salta city.