Tours in Tucumán

With a tiny aspect on the map, but rich in wildlife and national history, Tucumán is a land of mountains covered by green rainforest to the east and bare stones to the west. At the same time beautiful Tafi del Valle surfaces in the mist of this sharp transition. The Pre-Colombian past has left its mark on the Quilmes Indians’ ruins whereas the provincial capital, San Miguel de Tucumán, is the keeper of a major historical fact: The declaration of National Independence. The past lives together with the present in harmony with a both calm and frantic pace since Cadillal, San Javier and Villa Nogués, among others, welcome both adventure sport practices as well as quiet contemplation.

Travel to Tucumán

Excursions to Tucumán

Excursions index

Knowing San Miguel de Tucumán: San Javier & Villa Nougués

We will begin by visiting the historic center and its surroundings, with places full of history reflected in its buildings and constructions. Plaza Independencia is our starting point, from where we will head to the Government House and all the historic houses that surround it.

Then, we will go to the Cathedral, the Church and Convent of San Francisco, a national monument because of the relics it preserves, such as the first national flag hoisted in Tucumán in 1814, among others; the Church of Our Lady of Mercy with its neoclassical style and simple interior; the Nicolás Avellaneda Provincial Historical Museum, which is the house where he lived as well as other political figures from the 19th century; the Church and Convent of Santo Domingo, among other representative buildings and houses. Once our tour of the historic district of Tucumán city is finished, we will continue to the 9 de Julio Park, designed by Carlos Thays, a French landscape architect, which features a beautiful flower clock, colorful paths, and walkways among trees.

Then, we will go to the Sugar Industry Museum "Casa del Obispo Colombres," which will teach us about the history of the sugar industry in the province from its artisanal beginnings. We continue to the most distinguished area of Tucumán city, Plaza Urquiza, known for its paths and spaces used by people for skating or cycling, and which is a green space for resting, surrounded by French-style architecture; the San Martín Theater, the Legislature, and the Casino. Plaza Alberdi, another green space with well-maintained lawns and benches, located in front of the General Mitre Railway Station, which will be our last stop on the tour.

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El Cadillal, Raco, El Siambón, San Javier & Villa Nougués

Breakfast at the hotel. We will depart from the capital of Tucumán to follow the Great Circuit, passing through representative towns of the province, traveling along National Route 9 until entering Tafí Viejo. We will take a detour at Km 20 to visit the Celestino Gelsi Dam, located in the town of El Cadillal, and its summer village. We will access this beautiful lake spanning 1,400 hectares, surrounded by mountains, a sign of the last elevations of the Sierra de Medina, ideal for adventure sports such as kayaking, water skiing, diving, among others, as well as trekking through jungle trails and cooling off during the hot months.

We continue towards the villages of Raco and El Siambón, the first located 48 km from the city of Tucumán, with origins dating back to the 17th century, a small picturesque town crossed by the Raco River, which also has a club for various activities. A few kilometers further, we reach El Siambón, another beautiful town marked by its gentle green mountain slopes in harmony with the blue sky and its lovely houses; here is the Monastery of the Benedictine Monks, built in 1955.

After visiting these towns, we will head towards the village of San Javier, located 1,150 meters above sea level, offering a place of relaxation amidst nature, such as in the Sierra de San Javier Park, where activities like paragliding, trekking, horseback riding, among others, can be practiced. Before reaching the park, we will appreciate a zone of beautiful residences. Then, we will visit Cerro San Javier, where we can enjoy a beautiful view of the surroundings and the Christ the Blessing statue, which is 28 meters tall. We will continue to Villa Nogués, a picturesque town located in the middle of valleys and jungle yungas that frame this beautiful region. Afterwards, we will return to San Miguel de Tucumán.

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Tafí del Valle

We will visit Tucumán’s quintessential summer destination. The remains of one of the oldest pre-Columbian cultures in the region coexist here. We will leave San Miguel de Tucumán heading south. Before arriving at Tafí del Valle, we will visit the Jesuit Ruins of San José Lules, dating back to 1670, which served as the Jesuits’ site until they were expelled a century later. Along the way, we will pass through Famaillá, the place where the National Empanada Festival is celebrated.

Continuing our journey, we will pass through Acheral and Santa Lucía, ascending the slope amid citrus and sugarcane crops. Near the Quebrada de Los Sosa, the cliff road begins, and the classic vegetation of the Tucumán jungle imposes its vast presence. We will see spots such as El Indio, Fin del Mundo, and La Heladera. During the ascent, the vegetation changes scenery; we will leave behind large trees and start to see other tree species, such as alders, willows, and pines.

Once we arrive at the La Angostura Dam, the gateway to the valley, we will travel 38 km through the valley, starting from Tafí del Valle, then passing through La Banda, El Churqui, San Isidro, Rodeo Grande, Campo Carreras, La Quesería, El Rincón, Potrerillos, El Mollar, and La Angostura. We cannot miss visiting the Jesuit Chapel of La Banda, which houses an interesting museum of archaeology and sacred art. Finally, we will discover how artisanal cheeses are made at a typical estancia in Tucumán before returning.

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Archeological Ruins of Quilmes

Breakfast in the hotel. Crossing the Abra and on the way to Ampimpa we can observe the giant cactus to our sides. A natural balcony of the Yocavil or Santa Maria valleys affords a good view of the town, Amaicha del Valle at a few kilometers. In this town live a unique indigenous community of the north east, the diaguita culture who make unique things and is a famous locality for wine in earthenware pots, alfajores, nougats and small cheeses. Furthermore we can visit and explore the pre-Columbian settlements of Fuerte Quemado and el Pucará de Loma Rica, remains that have been well conserved of this town with pebbled walls using a mortar of mud and filled with debris and there you can see some of the diverse elements that they use such as San Jose and San Maria urns and objects of bone and stone.

Also the Pucará de Los Cardones is an archeological site that is conserved naturally. Here we pass trails, rivers, gorges, the dam, amongst other attractive features that we meet. Crossing the river Yocavil we enter to the ruins of the Quilmes, the remains of the biggest pre-Columbian settlement in Argentina. When defeated by the Spanish, the residents were forced to walk thousands of kilometers to Buenos Aires, to a locality that now bears its name. We make a visit to the museum and later to the fortress constructed for this community. We pass El Bañado, Colalao del Valle and continue to the town Tolombón to enter to Cafayate. On the way the countryside changes from arid to vineyards, where we meet the Cafayate soils. We sleep in Cafayate.

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Tafí del Valle, Archeological Ruins of Quilmes & Cafayate

Breakfast at the hotel. We will get ready to start this tour which will take us to Tafi del Valle, the natives Quilmes Ruins and, our last stop, Cafayate. We will go through the national route 38 to visit, as a first stop, the Jesuitical Ruins of San José de Lules, which has a chapel and a convent which was found by the jesuits in 1670. We will continue our tour going through Famaillá, Acheral and Santa Lucía which is the road that will take us to Tafi del Valle and the one from which we will be able to watch some sugar cane, citrus and other fruit farm fields.

After a few kilometres, we will be getting to Quebrada de Los Sosa, we will travel by the Cornice Road (Camino de Cornisa) which offers us a spectacular vision of the wild tucumana vegetation and we will go through spots like the Indio, Fin del Mundo and Heladera along all the way, which are attractive to people because of their curious geoshapes. We will continue ascending and as we do it, we will notice some changes in the landscapes, because it starts appearing lower vegetation, between willows, pines and alisos which give a special and beautiful touch to the green hills, crossing streams in an admirable light blue sky.

We are ready now to come into the valley, which offers a huge green postal right in front of us, so we can go to El Mollar, a tourist village in the province of Tucumán, which was a very important archaelogical settlement, where some ruins of an ancient civilization that dates from 300 years b. C. has been discovered in the XX Century. We will be surrounded by pure nature and green landscapes; we will continue to see La Angostura Dike, a wonderful water mirror which is an ideal place to practise aquatic and adventure sports.

We will see the "village of a magnificent entrance" (pueblo de entrada espléndida) just in front of us, a name given by the diaguitas, a native community who lived here a hundred years ago and that is what means "Tafi". Once we get there, we will visit the Jesuit Church of La Banda, a simple colonial relic which dates of the beginning of the XVIII Century. From there we will continue to Abra del Infiernillo, a deserted path between Tafí del Valle and the calchaquí Valleys, where we will be able to watch animals such as llamas and sheeps and it is also the habitat for some animals in extinction danger like the andino cat and the taruca. Once we cross the Abra and go to Ampimpa, we will be able to see cardoons beside us, a natural balcony of the Yocavil Valley or Santa María from where we will see the village of Amaicha del Valle, a few kilometres away. There is only one native community in the northwest who live in this last area, the diaguita culture, manufacturers of unic handicrafts, apart from being a famous town because of its exquisite "patero" wines, alfajores, nougat candy (turrón) and quesillos.

As soon as we cross the Yocavil river, we will come into the Quilmes Ruins, remains of the biggest pre columbian community in Argentina, the name was given because they were forced to walk a thousand kilometres when they were defeated by the spanish, until getting to Buenos Aires, to the town which has that name. We will do a visit to the museum and next, to the fortress built by this community.

We will go through El Bañado, Colalao del Valle. Then we will continue to the town of Tolombón so we can enter to Cafayate. We will be able to watch its arid landscapes and vineyard fields, then we can notice that we are in the Cafayateñas lands. We will spend the night in Cafayate. If you want to see other excursion options in Tucumán, click here: Tours in Tucumán.

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The fair of Simoca, Jesuits Ruins of Lules & San Pedro de Colalao

Breakfast at the hotel. Every Saturday we leave at dawn from San Miguel de Tucumán to go to the well-known Simoca Fair, people come from different nearby towns in sulky caravans and cars, to buy, sell, exchange jobs or just to enjoy the show that is the fair itself, around noon, tastes the typical gastronomy of the area. Then we go to the Ruins of San José de Lules.

In the afternoon we go along the roads surrounded by citrus plantations with the aim of going to know San Pedro de Colalao to enjoy its archaeological sites, ideal trails for extensive walks and to enjoy adventure tourism activities. In San Pedro de Colalo you can visit the town's parish, the old town, the Leocadio Paz square, the Grotto of the Virgin of Lourdes and the phytozoological reserve.

In the vicinity were established in other times of the old La Candelaria Culture; San Pedro de Colalao owes its name from the pre-Hispanic era, Pazioca partiality called colalao (the ending ao, in lule, means town, kolal, means chief or main authority). During the seventeenth century the Spanish encomienda San Pedro de Colalao was founded and by the end of the nineteenth century the first houses of the Tucuman creoles began to be built. The town is very close to the Calchaquíes Valleys, on the Tipas River Gorge, its houses are from the end of the 19th century and its streets have trees with mulberry trees and tarcos and its inhabitants, the vast majority are Creole gauchos.

Note: The Simoca Fair works on Saturdays, the rest of the days we will visit the Jesuit Ruins of San José de Lules and San Pedro de Colalao.

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San Javier & Villa Nougues - San Pedro de Colalao

Breakfast in the Hotel. We take a trip to discover the Tucumán hills, visiting the prettiest residential zone and observe the first park of the Tucumán jungle. We leave the centre of the San Miguel de Tucuman passing by the Nicolás Avellaneda Park that covers a four block area, notable for its trees. Afterwards we make a point of visiting the Guillermina Park or the Batalla Park of Tucumán. When we are close the Camino del Peru intersection we see the Cristo statue that marks the entrance to the Yerba Buena municipality.

The landscape changes towards the West and begins to ascend in the El Corte district by a trail running alongside the mountain surrounded by abundant vegetation until we reach a level of 1200 metres. Here we stop at a viewpoint to take in the fantastic views and also that of the statue, el Cristo Redentor, a work by the plastic artist Juan Carlos Iramaín. We follow the route until we arrive at the picturesque Villa Nougués which dates from the year 1899. We return down the mountain by the mountain way that in turn also has some delightful and unforgettable views.

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