Mendoza is the capital of Mendoza Province, located west of Buenos Aires, nestled against the Andes with Chile to the west. The region is Argentina’s most important wine producer, filled with vineyards, or “bodegas” as they are called. It is also home to the highest mountain outside the Himalayas, Aconcagua, standing at nearly 7,000 meters.
Mendoza City
The city center is comfortably sized, with approximately 120,000 inhabitants, and most places are within walking distance. January and February can be hot, with temperatures well over 30°C, but fortunately, the city has an extraordinary number of parks that serve as shady oases.
On the outskirts of the city is the enormous Parque General San Martín, ideal for long walks. More centrally, you’ll find Plaza Independencia, a large park and popular gathering place for locals, especially in the evenings. There are stalls selling jewelry and similar items, and every evening a fountain light show is held, with water spouting from numerous jets synchronized with music, illuminated by colorful lights that follow the rhythm. It’s quite spectacular.
Plaza Independencia also hosts a small contemporary art museum that might be worth a visit, if only as a cool retreat. Otherwise, the city isn’t known for its museums. We tried visiting two historical museums, but both were closed despite Google indicating they were open. Perhaps they were closed for the summer?
Dining Out
If you’re looking for dining or shopping, Arístides Villanueva is a popular street. Gral. Espejo, west of Plaza Independencia, also has many restaurants and nightlife spots. Prices at these locations are relatively high. Food prices in Argentina doubled in 2024, and this is noticeable. For more affordable meals, NANI Bodegón at the corner of Av. Chile and Gral. Espejo is recommended, as well as the grill spot El Mejor Patio De Comidas at the corner of Chile and Av. Las Heras. In the pedestrian street Sarmiento, which leads out from Plaza Independencia, there are also reasonably priced options, and perhaps more importantly, no traffic noise if you prefer dining outdoors.
Currency Exchange
At the end of Sarmiento, near the McDonald’s on Av. San Martín, we found the only place in the city that exchanges currency, as far as we could tell after checking several locations.
Aconcagua
Aconcagua is one of the Seven Summits, the highest peaks on each continent. Every year, over 3,000 people attempt to climb it. Although reaching the summit doesn’t require technical climbing skills, the weather is a significant challenge. It can change rapidly and causes fatalities each year.
However, you don’t need to climb to the top to experience Aconcagua. You can take shorter or longer hikes toward the majestic, snow-covered mountain, which boasts one of the world’s tallest vertical walls. The sight is truly impressive. From Mendoza City, it’s 200 kilometers to Aconcagua. You can rent a car and drive yourself or join an organized tour.
From Mendoza to Aconcagua
We opted to rent a car and make the trip independently. While it might be more expensive than an organized tour, the freedom to set your own pace and stop whenever you like, both while driving and hiking, is invaluable.
The drive from Mendoza is an experience in itself. The road winds through colorful mountains along the Rio Mendoza, which has carved out a canyon with an impressive wall of sand and gravel. All the while, you follow the Trans-Andean Railway, which runs from Mendoza to Los Andes in Chile. This narrow-gauge railway was inaugurated in 1910 and closed in 1984. Building it through the high mountains was an engineering feat, employing cogwheel technology in the steepest sections. The tracks and bridges are still in place, and there is talk of reopening the railway for tourism.
At Horcones, the park entrance, we obtained entry permits and began our hike. Initially, the trail is wide and easy, attracting many tourists looking for a better view of the mountain. The summit looms at the end of the valley, growing larger with every step. At Laguna de Horcones, we crossed a river on a suspension bridge. Beyond this point, there were far fewer tourists. The trail became narrower, steeper, and more rugged, traversing rocky terrain.
Several times, we were startled by the sudden approach of a line of horses carrying supplies to climbers acclimatizing at base camp before their ascent. Reaching the summit can take up to 20 days, though many do it in less time.
Organized groups are easy to spot: clusters of 10-12 people march in single file at a brisk pace. It seemed to us that they spent more time looking at the heels of the person in front than at the mountains.
Mer om Trans-Andinske jernbanen: ferrocarril-trasandino.com.ar
Aconcagua – How To
All day hikes start from Horcones and lead toward Confluencia, which serves as the base camp for those aiming to reach the summit. You can choose to walk a few hundred meters to the nearest viewpoint for a glimpse of the mountain, go a bit farther to Laguna de Horcones, or continue all the way to Confluencia. The round trip to Confluencia is 14.5 km with 600 meters / 2,000 feet of elevation gain. It’s not a very long hike, but keep in mind that the highest point is at 3,400 meters / 11,000 feet above sea level, so the pace is slower than at lower altitudes. Plan for a total of 4–6 hours.
If you’re traveling independently, you must book park access and pay in advance. You cannot purchase access cards at the visitor center. Access is booked online here: aconcagua/tickets-ascenso-trekking-largo-trekking-corto/, but online payment is not available. Instead, you can make the payment at a Pago Fácil office, which you can find throughout Argentina.
All hikes start from the visitor center at Horcones. Here, you’ll check in with the voucher you received when booking online and exchange it for a park access card. After that, you can drive one kilometer farther, park your vehicle, and start your hike on foot.
Termas Cacheuta – Hot Springs
The hot springs at Cacheuta, an hour’s drive from Mendoza, are considered one of the main attractions in the area. So, we decided to visit and combine it with a short hike. It was pretty obvious how popular the springs were as soon as we arrived. It was January, the peak season, and the place was incredibly crowded. There were so many people that we decided to skip entering the overcrowded pools and instead strolled around the many eateries and market stalls outside, observing the lively atmosphere. As usual, the focus was on grilled food, which Argentinians consume in staggering amounts.
The hike didn’t happen either because the trail was fenced off, and the area was marked as private
Bodega visit
Mendoza is Argentina’s wine capital. The area, situated at an altitude of about 1,000 meters / 3,000 feet, benefits from abundant sunlight, high temperatures, and ample water supply from melting snow and glaciers in the Andes.
Mendoza is Argentina’s wine capital. The area, situated at an altitude of about 1,000 meters, benefits from abundant sunlight, high temperatures, and ample water supply from melting snow and glaciers in the Andes.
Wine production in Mendoza began on a small scale in the 1600s but expanded significantly with a wave of immigration from Southern Europe around 1900. The immigrants brought winemaking expertise and grapevines from their homelands. Mendoza is known for the Malbec grape, which was initially considered low quality and thus cheap to buy from Europe. However, it thrived in Mendoza’s climate, producing high-quality wines that are now very popular.
Booking a bodega tour online is possible, but the easiest option is to join an organized tour. We arranged a 6-hour tour through TURISMO El Cristo turismoelcristo.tur.ar located near Plaza Independencia. We booked a 6-hour tour that included visits to three wineries in the Maipú region and one olive oil producer. Maipú and Luján are the most renowned wine districts. There were 12 of us in a minibus, and even though only four of us were English speakers, we had an English-speaking guide at each stop.
At Bodega Casa Familia Cecchin bodegacecchin.com.ar which produces organic wines, we received an interesting introduction to the craft. One of the challenges faced by winemakers is parrots that eat the grapes. They come in flocks and can strip large areas bare. Some address this problem by poisoning the birds, but here they planted fruit trees among the grapevines. The parrots prefer the plums and leave the grapes untouched.
Ladybugs can be bought in bulk and are used against insects. When watering once a week, they flood the area, drowning snails and other pests.
At all three wineries we visited, we saw similar production equipment with minor variations. Nevertheless, it was interesting because the guides were excellent, each sharing unique insights about production and the history of the wineries. Naturally, wine tasting was part of the experience at every location, with up to six different types of wine to sample.
As amateurs, we didn’t spit out the wine after each tasting, so the mood became increasingly jovial as the day went on. The last winery we visited, Casa Corbel – Bodega Sillon, was the only one to have preserved the old barrels once used for wine storage. A large hall was filled with these enormous barrels. Our German fellow tourist enthusiastically demonstrated how one could crawl through the narrow openings to clean the barrels.
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