I spent three weeks traveling through Argentina exploring Patagonia, followed by a solo roadtrip from Mendoza to the region of Jujuy in the north.
I started the trip in Patagonia, specifically El Calafate and El Chalten, where I spent four days trekking through some of the most incredible mountains I’ve ever seen. I went in Nov 2025 and even though it was quite hot in much of the country, at the peaks I still ran into snow and ice covered lakes, which honestly made it even more beautiful. Since there are so many Patagonia posts and less about the North of Argentina, I’ll include more pictures of that.
I began my journey in Mendoza, where I first traveled north to a region that reminds everyone I show pictures to of Sedona, Arizona. Before this trip I had no idea that such geography existed in Argentina as well.
Talampaya national Park: I stayed in a small but beautiful hotel to the southeast of the park in an area called El Chiflón. I learned of this national park from an Argentinian friend of mine who had said they always wanted to visit it. You’re only allowed to enter the park as part of a tour and when I arrived I was incredibly fortunate because there was a single other couple there and if they hadn’t, we wouldn’t have been able to go. The park was beautiful and it was literally only the three of us in the entire park that reminded me of a mix of Sedona and the Grand Canyon. The park was absolutely massive and i feel like in basically any other country of the world this place would be filled to the brim with tourists.
From here I traveled north to the Catamarca province to a small city called Cafayate. Cafayate is known for its wine, but I skipped the wine to explore some of the absolutely beautiful surrounding geography, most notably the quebrada de las flechas, which is the image with the spiky mountains. It was my first time getting a flat tire, and with nobody around for miles it was definitely an experience learning how to replace a flat with 0 cell service. Worth it!
After this I traveled further northeast to a city called El Peñon to visit the absolutely otherworldly Campo de Piedra Pómez at around 11,000ft. I went on a tour that visited a high altitude lagoon, volcano, sand dunes, and the sight shown in these pictures. Again, throughout the entire tour I saw a single other group. This was honestly the most incredible place I’ve ever seen and felt like I was walking across another planet. We had complete freedom to walk across the pumice stone and spend as long as we wanted exploring the area. The lagoon was full of llamas and an incredible color spectrum that’s hard to show in pictures.
Following El Peñon I made the trip back down the mountain and north to Salta, and beyond to the Purmamarca/Tilcara region in Jujuy. This area is known for its colorful mountains and salt flats just to name a few. For the salt flat tour, they assign you a motorcycle guide and you follow behind them, getting out at each spot to take pictures. The whole area was a completely different Argentina than I was used to. The people were incredibly friendly, and the tamales commonly sold here, amazing.
Overall, driving and exploring solo throughout the north was much easier than I expected and honestly one of the most amazing road trips I’ve ever been on in my life. I speak intermediate Spanish so I knew enough to get around, but i think even with no Spanish knowledge it would have been possible. I’ve been to Buenos Aires and the south of Argentina a few times, but visiting the north was a completely new experience that I’m actively looking forward to visiting again soon.