Bariloche, Argentina
Where the world ends, and Patagonia begins. By travellers, for travellers.
Welcome back to the 4th installment of our South American Adventure! For those that don’t know our last port was Puerto Varas, Chile. From here we caught on a 9 hour bus, up and through the Andes to the other side and entered the beautiful little town, San Carlos de Bariloche. As mentioned, where Patagonia begins. The most beautiful part of the world we have ever experienced.. Up to this point of course!
As mentioned, we caught a bus from Puerto Varas to Bariloche, and it cost less than $30AUD. You can buy tickets online, or directly from a bus terminal. We suggest going to the terminal for a cheaper price. The length of your journey will vary depending on your border crossing. The bus will estimate a time of 4-7 hours. We were unfortunate and had some passengers delay our journey to 9 hours. But well worth it in the end! When you are preparing to take the bus, please remember it is an official border crossing, you will need your passport handy, and have no fresh fruit or vegetables. Do however, take some packaged food and drinks for the road.
So where can you stay and what is there to do in this lakeside town? First things first, a bed right? We stayed in a cosy little hostel but nothing to really rave about. We were however, lucky enough to meet some lovely Italian girls later on in our trip who spoke very highly of their hostel in Bariloche. “Patagonia Jazz Hostel”. From all reports it is by far one of the best hostels in the city. I will mention that they are an animal rights conscious hostel, and go to a lot of effort to maintain this image. Jazz provides its guests with a free breakfast consisting of homemade bread, homemade jams and peanut butter, fresh juices and more. Perfect way to start off any morning if you ask us! Not only that, for a miniscule cost, a vegan dinner will also be cooked with in the communal kitchen by staff and owners. Builds a comfortable and homey vibe so naturally draws a fun vibrant crowd.
Now Bariloche... There is a lot to do here and personally we believe you should allow 4-5 days to stay here. If your here in winter, and love to ski or board, it would be worth your time to stay a bit longer and hit up many of the mountains and backcountry ski areas. If not, we suggest make some new friends and hire a car for a few days to explore the local area and surrounding towns. First of all you are able to drive about an hour south to El Bolson. Very sleepy village but boasts about it’s amazing views over it’s lake, Rio Azul, and a cool little waterfall, Cascada Escondida. Cruise down, have a picnic at the viewpoint and relax. There is also a few hikes in the area you can look into as well. We were coming off the back of a nights of partying so, our adventurous spirits stopped when we discussed hiking! Enjoy the town and the beauty of a landscape that seems untouched for decades.
With in a day's drive you will be able to explore some more surrounding towns that are all by the lake. We personally recommend spending a day on the other side of the lake. 2 small towns in particular that have beautiful markets and great seaside views. First up, take the
drive to the other side of the lake and one of the first towns you will come across is Villa la Angostura. Villa la Angostura is only small so you can miss it with the blink of an eye. It has one main street with many ice cream shops. For less than $2AUD you can buy 1⁄4 of a tub of homemade ice cream... Best decision you will make! There is also a small wharf down by the lake that offers tourists and travellers boat rides around the lake so you will see some beautiful, panoramic views of the town, and the mountains. Next up, an hour or so North of Villa la Angostura you will find San Martin de los Andes. The town itself has a small beach between the mountains and almost looks like it is surrounded by fjords on either side. The drive to San Martin was by far the highlight. Many places for you to be able to stop, enjoy the viewpoint over the small cliffs, take photos and even have a picnic lunch. The road winds through the mountains and truly is spectacular! Pro tip - try and do this between Thursday and Saturday. Otherwise you may find the town having a few day long siesta!
Now that we have covered some surrounding areas, let’s have a look at what Bariloche has to offer! There is many cool tours around the city that you can take part in, however the two that we recommend is both the free walking tour which shows you all the city's highlights, the church, pier and more and the second tour, is the walking food tour. The food tour was only just starting up when we arrived so it was a new experience for us all. The operator of the tour, was absolutely fantastic. You can tell he has put in a lot of time and effort to get this up and running for people like us. Taking you to many locally owned restaurants where you will be able to try many different local specialties. A must do for everyone!
Special Mention - Cerveza or Cerveceria? Local cuisine?
When you arrive in Bariloche, you will see that a large portion of bars, pubs and even restaurants will establish themselves as a Cerveza, or a Cerveceria. So what is the difference and where should you go? Well, cerveza simply means serves beer, cerveceria means serves craft beer, from this particular restaurant! So for all the beer and craft beer lover out there, you can try a different craft beer in nearly any pub bar or restaurant. Just to give you an idea, there is over 100 different cervecerias in Bariloche alone. This is where we got our first ‘taste’ of the huge Argentinian beer culture. Let us tell you it is fantastic!
Regarding the variety of foods in Bariloche, it is absolutely outstanding! For the vegetarians and vegans out there, Ren vegetariano and Vegetariano are absolutely amazing. For everyone else, the best way to put it, Bariloche are very proud of their food. Look out for Asadas, and any BBQ restaurants. For the seafood fanatics.... Best...Trout...Ever..
Well that's all for Bariloche, now, onwards to the deep south, the heart of Patagonia... El Calafate! For pictures and more, follow us on instagram at “rysys_world_tour” and “ethanharwood80”.
