Train to the Clouds Argentina Railway

You land in Salta, and if you arrive at the airport your guide is waiting there to take you to your hotel downtown. The afternoon is a three-hour city tour of an important colonial city in the northwest: the viewpoint on Cerro San Bernardo, the Cathedral, the 18th-century Cabildo, Plaza 9 de Julio, the Church of San Francisco and the Town Hall, then the Museo de Arqueología de Alta Montaña (the Archaeology Museum of the High Mountains) and the local handicrafts market. That is a long list for three hours. Fine. Tomorrow is the long day, so keep tonight easy.

The long day. Bus from Salta on RN 51 to El Alfarcito, for a hearty breakfast of fresh local ingredients and a look at the work of the Alfarcito Foundation. Bus again, through the Quebrada de las Cuevas and across the Muñano plain to San Antonio de los Cobres. Now the train, up to the Polvorilla Viaduct at 4,220 meters (13,850 feet). Lunch, snacks, folklore dances and traditional music come with the ride. Thirty minutes at the viaduct, back by train, then the bus to Salta with a last stop in the small village of Santa Rosa de Tastil.

After breakfast, a full day in the Quebrada de Humahuaca, a UNESCO World Heritage valley, and the town of Humahuaca. Yesterday was the climb. Today you are in a valley with indigenous villages and pre-Columbian fortresses along it, and one day gives you the introduction, not the whole story. The highlight is the Hill of Seven Colors at Purmamarca. You will photograph it; everyone does. Then put the camera away for a few minutes and just look.

Breakfast at the hotel, then your driver takes you to the Salta airport. From there you can fly to Buenos Aires and on to your next destination. This is an extension, so Salta is not the end of the trip, only the end of this part of it. Where you go next is worth deciding before you book, and your Destination Consultant can plan the two halves together so the flights line up.