STA Travel Bugs: The best route from Rio to Patagonia?
This week’s question comes from Sealy over at AardvarkTravel.net, a cunning little travel search site with some friendly associated forums. In her Backpacking in Patagonia thread, she asks for some itinerary advice:
I am heading to South America in September and am doing an organized tour from Quito to Rio. I am planning to backpack with 2 other girls heading from Rio to Buenos Aires and then to Patagonia before ending up in Santiago. For this leg of the trip we are wanting to take 3 weeks (end of nov to end of dec).
Has anyone done this route and could suggest places to go, transportation or accomodation? We are struggling to figure out a route. We had contemplated getting a south american airpass but it may be out of our budget. How is the bus system in these parts? Some of the cities we want to stop in are Buenos Aires, Bariloche, El Calafate/El Chaten, Punta Arenas? Is it worth it to go all the way down to Ushuaia?
As always with Travel Bugs, we’re keen that any lovely readers who have had experience in this area go give their own advice in the forum. But we’ve also purloined the perspective of South American-savvy Graham from STA Travel…
Hi Sealy,
Travelling from Rio to Patagonia is a really popular route with backpackers. Obviously the more time you have in which to do this journey the better, but I don’t see any problem with doing it all in 3 weeks. There’s so much to see along the way but you would have to prioritise destinations considering you’re time limitations.
The logical route would be from Rio down to Iguazu, then down to Buenos Aires, then down to Bariloche and the rest of Patagonia before heading north again to Santiago. Don’t bother with an airpass, when you see the standard of Argentinian buses you’ll understand! They’re so much cheaper and enable you to see even more of the country from your window. The bus journey from Mendoza to Santiago is a must. The road goes straight through the Andes so you’ve got breathtaking scenery all around you as well as condors circling above you!
Give yourself at least two days in Iguazu. The falls are one of the seven wonders of the world so deserve more than just a quick glance. Make sure you stay on the Argentinian side though; more restaurants, more hotels and Iguazu’s only nightspot!
Then on to Buenos Aires. It’s hard to give advice to people travelling here as it’s such a diverse city. If you’re looking for a party hostel then check yourselves into the Millhouse. Its as central as you can get and is legendary for its all-night parties and buses that take backpackers to all Buenos Aires’ superclubs. If you’re looking for something a bit less hectic then the nicest area of the city is called Palermo. It’s a lot more upmarket and is incredibly European. In terms of the main tourist attractions in the city the biggest draw is probably the football. Even if you have no interest in the sport whatsoever, I guarantee you’ll be amazed by the passion of the fans and the spectacle as a whole.
The bus journey to Bariloche takes about 19 hours but again the scenery once you leave the province of Buenos Aires gets better and better. I don’t have a bad word to say about Bariloche, it’s amazing. Try and stay somewhere central (the Marco Polo is good hostel), and if you’re only gonna do one thing you should climb up to the revolving restaurant at the town’s main viewpoint. It gives an amazing view of the surrounding lakes (and if you’re feeling adventurous you can even paraglide off it!). From Bariloche it’s easy to navigate yourself around the rest of Patagonia. If you’ve got enough time then you might be able to squeeze in Ushuaia but it’s a long way down and you may find that your time would be better spent in Mendoza or Santiago.
Hope this is all useful information for you! If you can think of anything else then just let me know; my direct line is 08714680682.
Good luck,
Graham
