Bariloche Day Trips: Seven Lakes Route, Villa La Angostura, and El Bolson
The roads radiating from Bariloche through the Northern Patagonian lake district connect a series of smaller destinations each with its own character, from the artistic craft village of El Bolson to the elegant lakeside resort of Villa La Angostura and the legendary Seven Lakes Route to San Martin de los Andes.
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Seven Lakes Route to San Martin de los Andes: The Classic Lake District Drive
The national route 234 north from Bariloche to San Martin de los Andes, passing through seven named glacial lakes on a 110-kilometer drive through the Mapuche and Lanin national park landscapes, is considered one of the finest scenic drives in Argentina and is typically covered as a full-day excursion or an overnight stay in San Martin. The route is best driven from south to north in the morning, when the light illuminates the lake surfaces from the east and the snow-capped peaks appear above the forest line.
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Villa La Angostura: The Garden Village on Nahuel Huapi
Villa La Angostura, 80 kilometers west of Bariloche on the northern shore of Nahuel Huapi lake, is the most elegant small resort town in Argentine Patagonia, with a collection of boutique hotels, gourmet restaurants, and the famous arrayán myrtle forest of the Quetrihue Peninsula that inspired Walt Disney. The village has a more relaxed and upscale character than Bariloche and serves as an alternative base for visitors who prefer a quieter environment.
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El Bolson: The Andean Craft Village and Hop Capital
El Bolson, 120 kilometers south of Bariloche in a valley sheltered from the Patagonian winds, has a distinct countercultural character established in the 1970s when the village became a destination for Argentine alternative communities; the craft market held three times weekly is the largest artisan market in Argentine Patagonia. El Bolson is also the center of Argentine hop cultivation, with the microclimate of the valley producing aromatic hops used by craft breweries throughout the country.
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Cerro Tronador Full Day: Ventisquero Negro and the Glacier Approach
The full-day excursion from Bariloche to the Cerro Tronador area follows the southern arm of Nahuel Huapi lake through the Mascardi area and the Los Rápidos gorge to the Pampa Linda base camp, from which the Ventisquero Negro glacier viewpoint is a 30-minute walk providing close views of the black glacier surface and the ice cliffs of the main Tronador glacier above. The return journey allows stops at the Cascada de los Cesares waterfall and the Laguna Frias boat crossing.
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Circuito Chico: The Classic Half-Day Lake Drive
The Circuito Chico, a 65-kilometer loop from Bariloche along the Avenida Bustillo to the Llao Llao hotel peninsula and back through the higher road, is the standard half-day scenic drive for visitors who want to experience the full character of the Bariloche lakeshore landscape including the Campanario viewpoint, the Llao Llao chapel, and the private estancias along the western lake shore.
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Lanin National Park: The Mapuche Araucaria Forests
The Lanin national park north of Bariloche, centered on the volcanic cone of Lanin at 3,776 meters and protecting the southernmost araucaria monkey-puzzle forests in Argentina, has a distinctly different ecological character from the Nahuel Huapi park and is best visited as a two-day excursion combining the Seven Lakes Route with a walk in the araucaria forest near San Martin de los Andes. The araucaria tree, sacred to the Mapuche people who harvest its piñon seeds as a staple food, creates a primeval landscape of umbrella-shaped crowns that has no equivalent in the southern lake district.