Mendoza in 7 days

7 days - 6 nights

Day 1 - Mendoza

Welcome to Argentina. Reception and transfer from Ezeiza International Airport (Buenos Airtes City) to Jorge Newbery Airport. Transfer from Mendoza Airport to the hotel. Afternoon free.

Day 2 - Knowing Mendoza: Day & Night

We dedicate half a day to visit the city of Mendoza, famous for its legendary trees, wide sidewalks and its great order and cleanliness. Founded over 400 years ago by the first colonists, this city offers a lot of history and culture. We will visit La Alameda, the historical zone where Pedro del Castillo founded this large city in 1561, where most shops and civic life was concentrated until it disappeared with the 1861 earthquake. The town council was, in the old days, where the Foundational Area Museum is nowadays. There are still remains of what once was the San Francisco church. We continue to the new city, post-earthquake. We visit its principal avenues, the downtown, the Plaza Independencia

(Independence Square), the civic neighbourhood with the Government House, the Law Courts and the General San Martin Park going along the Civit Avenue, entering the park through the Portones (Gates). We can enjoy the beautiful woods in the park, as well as the Rosedal (rose garden) next to the lake and the clubs located in the area. We also meet the Caballitos de Marly (Marly Little Horses, replica of the ones in Paris), the Fuente de los Continentes (the Fountain of the Continents), etc. Then we climb the Cerro de La Gloria (The Glory Mount) where there is a monument to the Ejercito Libertador (the Liberator Army) and very near it, the Greek theatre Frank Romero Day.

We discover another Mendoza during the night, lights give other appearance to the Cuyo city. The pedestrian street, the parks and the Civic neighbourhood, stand out with the gleaming lights once the sun sets. We go along España street to visit the San Martin, Independencia and España squares. Then we go to the Civic neighbourhood where we watch the Government House and the Law Courts getting into Belgrano Street where we go parallel to the railways which used to go from Buenos Aires to Mendoza. A special case is the Aristides Villanueva Avenue which is the highlight of the Mendoza night. This avenue has its own life, due to the varied shops and restaurants it offers. Then comes the General San Martin Park with its over 300 hectares, where we enjoy its principal attractions: The Rosedal, the Regatas Lake, the Cinco Continentes Fountain and the Portones. The return trip to the city is along the stately Emilio Civit Avenue, in an exclusively residential zone. Optionally, we can continue enjoying the night with a Tango show or a wine-tasting of the excellent quality and worldwide known wines.

Day 3 - Quebrada de Villavicencio

Breakfast at hotel. We set off to the Villavicencio Gully, leaving Mendoza in a northerly direction towards Las Heras department. During the journey we leave at one side the Historical Field del Plumerillo, historical place because the national troops of the General San Martin´s Army organized here. Then we turn into Route 52, the old former route to Chile, in a northwestern direction. It was here that General Las Heras crossed with the Andes Army in 1817 during the campaign to free our neighbor country. Along this path we arrive at the old and new Minetti cement factories. Turning west we arrive at the Cañota Monument, famous for being the place where San Martin´s Army divided, one wing overtaken by him crossed by the Paso de Los Patos and the other wing overtaken by General Las Heras crossed by the Puesto de Vaquerias, where we get before entering the Natural Reserve of Villavicencio. There is an interpretative center of the autochthonous flora and fauna of the region. We continue up to the famous and abandoned hotel, with beautiful flowery gardens. We come to know its chapel, built by Angel Velaz, owner of the place. In the afternoon we return to Mendoza.

Note: The Thermal hotel in Villavicencio. The hotel is located nearly 1,800 meters over sea level, it is well-known for its natural springs of mineral water. It was built in 1940 and was opened until 1978 working as a thermal hotel. Nowadays it is still beautiful as it was at first and is an Andean Mountain Range symbol. The water has mineral properties. Villavicencio is born from water falling from the Aconcagua Mount, filtering due to gravity to the subterranean formations descending to low depths. Pressure and temperature impel it towards the surface ascending through a tectonic crack, rising as a spring near 1,800 meters. Minerals of the stones are added on the way.

Day 4 - The Wine Road: Wineries in Mendoza

We will see the true transformation of the place during this program. The wine industry, with the man´s effort, has made the desert disappear and turn into an oasis thanks to canalization and ditches which were the irrigation systems that the Huarpes and Incas natives created. Nowadays the computarized watering technique is used, being Argentina one of the most important producers worldwide.

We will go through the first wine-region in Mendoza which spans on Maipu and Lujan de Cuyo departments. Along our road, we find family wineries producing handcrafted wine such as the one of the Cecchin Family or Cavas de Don Arturo that produce organic wines. There are also industrial wineries in the zone such as La Rural, Finca Flichman, Cavas de Weinert o Zuccardi. We visit one to two wineries where experts receive us, teach us about the wine manufacture process and then we taste wines of international quality. Depending on the program we might also visit a factory that produces olive oil.

Note: This program can be performed during the morning or the afternoon. Depending on the time we visit an industrial production winery and another one of organic production. If we go in the afternoon we also go to an olive oil factory, if we go in the morning, we don´t. The possible wineries could be: La Rural, López, Cavas de Weinert, Cavas de Don Arturo, San Huberto, Zuccardi and Cecchin Family. In Winter, the tour depends on the snow and the conditions of the roads as long as National Gendarmerie authorizes the vehicles to go by. The ascent to the Cristo Redentor (Christ The Redeemer) is performed between January and February.

Day 5 - High Altitude vineyards: Uco Valley - Cerro Punta Negra

Breakfast at the hotel. We begin the journey to the south of Mendoza province, to the Uco Valley, crossing the river with the same name and arrive at Tunuyan to know the wineries that manufacture worldwide known handcrafted wine. Tunuyan, Tupungato and San Carlos are a summary of blue sky, long tree lines and snowy mountains, where a formidable area for high production of wine is created, unique for its quality, grapes cultivated between 1,000 and 1,500 meters over sea level. These zones are now covered of vineyards irrigated with a high technological level, where the technique of micro oxygenation of the wine is used. This is the case of the Lurton winery, where we visit the organic wine factory together with its vineyards with wine-tasting.

We can appreciate the Tupungato volcano, 6,800 meters high. Then our wine tour continues to the Manzano Histórico, place where San Martín rested after the liberating campaign in Chile and Peru. There is a monument to this called El Retorno a la Patria (Return to Homeland) where strangely San Martin can be seen with plain clothes. We continue our way to Arroyo Grande, in the Argentine Portillo Pass where we can see the Punta Negra Mount with its 4,400 meters. We continue through a winding road among the Pinares de Wosso up to the Salentein winery, where we visit its facilities, its restaurant in its cultural center Kilka and its impressive cellar where the aging barrels lie. We finish the journey going back to Mendoza.

Note: The program development is subject to the routes status, the snow, the traffic and the temporary closing of the wineries due to annual maintenance.

Day 6 - By the Andes Mountain Range bordering the Rio Mendoza

Breakfast at the hotel. This program takes us to the limit with Chile crossing the Cordillera de los Andes (Andean Mountain Range) along the Routes 40 and 7 bordering the Mendoza river. We go by the Potrerillo Reservoir which contains the Mendoza river waters and along the Uspallata Valley dividing the foothills from the mountain range. We make a short detour to visit the Picheuta Bridge, a real milestone as General Jose de San Martin crossed it with The Andean Army when crossing the Andes. We will visit the most imposing Andean massif, the Aconcagua Mount, with its 6.962 meters over sea level and we watch the Puente del Inca (Inca Bridge), which is a natural bridge with a famous history and thermal waters. We stop at the entrance of the park to make a short walk to be able to watch the southern side of the Aconcagua and enjoy the sight of the Horcones Lake. The journey continues along the Route 7 and takes us to the ski resort Los Penitentes, up to the border town of Las Cuevas and with good weather we climb to the Cristo Redentor Monument (Christ The Redeemer). We can optionally have lunch (not included) to return later to Mendoza city.

Day 7 - Mendoza- Return to Buenos Aires

Breakfast in the hotel. Transfer to Mendoza Airport. Reception and transfer from Buenos Aires Airport (Domestic Airport) to Ezeiza International Airport in Buenos Aires. End of our services.