Velasco to the Andes

A transfer takes you to your hotel in La Rioja, where a welcome reception is waiting. The rest of the day is yours, and you will want it, because the days that follow are full ones. Tomorrow starts in the villages along the Sierra de Velasco. By Day 3 the route heads for the parks.

This is the day the shorter La Rioja trips do not have. You leave the residential edge of La Rioja city and follow the Sierra de Velasco through La Quebrada, the Los Sauces dam and Villa Sanagasta. At the Huaco slope, have your camera ready: below you is a chain of small towns along the Costa del Velasco. Late in the day you stop at local winemakers and wineries for a glass of homemade wine. You return to La Rioja by the Arauco Flat or by Huaco. An optional extension adds the castle of Santa Vera Cruz and the city of Aimogasta.

Leave La Rioja for Ischigualasto Provincial Park, across the line in San Juan province and better known as the Moon Valley. The landscape is desert-like and the rock is sculpted. A 3-hour circuit makes five stops, and you can look out for the formations named the submarine and the mushroom, and for the red canyons. Afterward the road crosses Talampaya National Park, back in La Rioja, on the way to Villa Unión. The two parks together are one UNESCO World Heritage Site, listed for their ancient landscape and geological value. You reach Villa Unión in the afternoon.

Today is Talampaya's turn. From Villa Unión you drive into the national park, which exposes the Triassic sequence together with Ischigualasto, in country where dinosaurs lived millions of years ago. The 2.5-hour canyon circuit starts in the dry riverbed between straight, imposing cliffs. Keep an eye out for petroglyphs, evidence of the people who lived here before, and flourishing vegetation, then the formations that carry names: the Wizard King, the Gothic cathedral, the Tower and the Monk. In the afternoon you head back toward Villa Unión for La Banda Florida, a curious maze of red canyons.

This is the high day. You climb into the Andes through two very different valleys, the Quebrada de la Troya and the multicolored Quebrada del Peñón, passing Vinchina, the Diaguita Stars and a number of historical shelters. Jagüé is the last village. Beyond it lies a vast highland at more than 4,000 m (13,100 ft), and on it Laguna Brava, ringed by volcanoes. The Vicuñas Reserve protects the flora and fauna here. Tour around the bay and look for pink flamingos; vicuñas and guanacos are often seen as well. In the afternoon you return to your hotel in Villa Unión.

You leave Villa Unión and cross the Famatina mountains by the colorful Cuesta de Miranda, then spend the day around Chilecito. Most of the stops are mining and local history: the historic La Mexicana mine monument and Station 1 of its cableway, the mining museum, the Samay Huasi Museum of Joaquín V. González, and Río del Oro. Santa Florentina Winery is on the list too, and the day includes a tasting of Torrontés Riojano, the local white. In the afternoon you drive back to the city of La Rioja by way of Los Colorados.

Departure is this afternoon, whether that means heading home or moving on to your next South American destination. The itinerary can be customized to include other places you want to see, and a Destination Consultant will shape that with you. Because this is a tour extension, it can also be combined with one of the full package tours.