Salta: Cabra Corral, Cafayate & Cachi.

Driving around Salta region was without a doubt my main highlight of Argentina. Stunning views, kind and patient people and delicious wine.

Emma Knight
Sep 5, 2018 · 8 min read
  1. Salta.

Salta is centred around a pretty main plaza and is the hub of the region. Unless you’re interested in the museums, it’s more of a stop off point as there isn’t masses to do, our best bits:

Cerro San Bernardo. To get a hilltop view of Salta we climbed up a few (quite a few) stairs to San Bernardo, where we chilled in a cafe at the top to watch the sunset. You can get a gondola up if you don’t fancy the stairs, but we wanted to earn our Parrilla dinner.

Viejo Jack Parrilla. The best meat I’ve ever had in my life. Melt in the mouth. We had bife de chorizo (sirloin) cooked jugoso (medium rare) and it was delicious (evident by how chuffed Tom is in the photo!).

Renting a car. Our plan was to drive around the Salta region having heard that’s the best way to get around. It definitely is. We rented a car online with Hertz, you need to be pretty confident in your ability to change a tire if needs be as Route 40 is 150km of rubble track, which we didn’t know beforehand!

2. Cabra Corral.

We hit jackpot finding this place all thanks to Airbnb. We stayed in an absolutely incredible cabin on the cliff side of the lake. It had a glass front looking out, outside seating and private stairs leading down to the water for a dip (we went in, but it was FREEZING). All you could hear was the occasional bird fluttering over the lake.

Having stocked up on food and drink on route, Tom magicked a BBQ up from nowhere and we didn’t leave the cabin for 3 days. We saw sunrises, sunsets and sat under the stars on very clear nights. It was heaven.

Cabra Corral is an artificial dam which combines water from all of the rivers in Calchaquí Valley, hence a large lake in an area which is almost desert. It’s not in the Lonely Planet yet (no idea how) and it was one of the best things we did in Argentina. We went in low season, apparently it’s popular in the summer with people from Salta but I find it hard to believe this would ruin it. Without a doubt worthwhile staying there (try and stay in the east of the lake past the bridge).

3. Drive Route 68: Cabra Corral to Cafayate.

The landscape along the drive was stunning. The mountains were different shades of red that changed in the light, and the rock formations continuously changed as we drove. The pictures say it all. The freedom we had with a rented car was a treat, we had a little picnic half way along and had multiple photo stops!

4. Cafayate.

Wine. Cafayate is full of bodegas in and on the outskirts of town. Having done a wine tour in Mendoza we were more keen on tastings, so walked to a few bodegas for a degustación. In each bodega we sampled 4 different wines and I attempted to talk flavours and smells to the staff in Spanish. (Surprisingly my Spanish improved towards the end!). Very few people spoke English in the Salta region, but the locals were so lovely and patient with our pigeon Spanish it was never an issue. Our favourite was Bodega Nanni which also has a beautiful courtyard for lunch, Finca Quara (a 10 minute walk out of town) was recommended to us but wasn’t open when we were there. Needless to say, I’m now into red wine!

Heladería Miranda. Wine ice cream. Sounds like a rubbishy tourist sell but it was delicious. More of a sorbet, we tried the local Malbec and Torrontes.

La Casa de las empanadas. 12 different types of empanadas and a ceramic jug of wine. Delightful. They must be popular as there are 2 restaurants, the one with the outside courtyard is the best.

Hostel Rusty K. Highly recommend the hostel we stayed in, there’s a lovely outside courtyard to chill in after a couple of glasses of wine.

5. Drive Route 40: Cafayate to Cachi.

I feel like we were a tad underprepared for the shear lack of road that this actually is. Deceivingly a main road on google maps, the majority of the road was stones, rubble, dodgy blind bends, and panic that we were smashing up the hire car. And that’s from me as the passenger, Tom did an exceptional job navigating the roads (and my backseat driving). The 156km drive took us a cool 6 hours (should’ve been about 2.5 hours on a normal road), and we had decent driving conditions.

Having said that, the views were epic and I would recommend it to anyone. Just when you thought you’d seen it all the landscape changed again and you saw something new.

We drove through Angastaco for a lunch stop and had the most delicious empanadas yet. No menu but everyone in Argentina understands empanadas!

6. Cachi.

We loved Cachi. A charming little village with lovely cobbled streets. We had ice-cream by the church followed by a drink in the square at Oliver’s (to get over the drive!).

We also climbed the hill next to Cachi fore more incredible views.

For dinner we went to Ashpamanta for handmade pasta, not something I expected to be having in Argentina. There were 4 tables in the restaurant, we were the only ones there all night and the owner/chef made the pasta in an open kitchen after we’d ordered it. Delicious.

7. Drive Route 33: Cachi to Salta.

The final drive back to Salta. Luckily it was predominately tarmac, except about 30 minutes of slightly sketchy bends coming down a mountain. We started off passing incredible mountain formations before heading through the cactus park. There were cacti as far as the eye can see. Millions of them.

Then we head up a mountain to an altitude of 3,457ft before going back down again. The drive, once again, was stunning.

On the Road

General Travels. Mostly Food.

Emma Knight

Written by

On the Road

General Travels. Mostly Food.

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