MENDOZA - SANTIAGO
Make the amazing cross over the Andes Mountains from Mendoza into Santiago, Chile in car. This is the perfect way to combine both Countries allowing you to stop along the way and take photos of some of the most breathtaking scenery in Argentina.
Your host picks you up at 8.30am to start the very scenic drive up to
Aconcagua National Park. Most of the route runs parallel with both the Rio Mendoza (the rafting river) and the famous narrow gauge Trans-Andean railway that used to connect Chile and Argentina. The route is known as
The Seven Tunnels. On the way we stop at the one and only village (Uspallata - after which the very picturesque Valley is named) for a coffee break. Before the final drive up to the park we visit
Puente de Inca, one of the world’s unique natural phenomenons. Here we may also shop at the very artisan, open-air bazaar. The Park is at an altitude of 9,300 feet and just ten miles from the frontier with Chile. Here we leave the vehicle and walk for an hour in what is best described as “bracing air”, with a beautiful view (cloud cover permitting) of the highest mountain peak outside the Himalayas,
Aconcagua towering 13,000 feet above us. If we are lucky we might see some of the famous (and evil looking) Condors flying overhead...keep your cameras loaded and ready, the birds won’t wait for us!! After the Park we continue through the
International Tunnel and down into Santiago and to your hotel.
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