Argentina Things to Do

Tucked in the shadows of the vast Andes mountain range and encircled by lush vineyards, Mendoza has a lot to offer travelers wanting to explore the Argentine countryside. Here are a few ideas for the best day trips from Mendoza.

From the cosmopolitan capital of Buenos Aires to the glacial wonderland of Patagonia, Argentina has plenty to tempt the intrepid traveler, but with only one week to see the sights, it’s impossible to cram it all in. For those limited on time, here are a few ideas for how to make the most of one week in Argentina.

The chill, windswept tip of South America must have seemed, to a Canadian, the perfect place for a profitable beaver colony. It took some convincing, but in 1946, Argentine President Perón authorized the introduction of 25 breeding beaver couples from Manitoba, Canada, to the island of Tierra del Fuego in Argentina. He even paid pilot Tom Lamb US$650 per animal, much coveted for their fur.

The vast and almost impenetrable plains of the Gran Chaco (“Big Hunting Ground”) spread from Northern Argentina in a low, sweltering swath through parts of Paraguay, Bolivia, and Brazil. Though the admittedly more charismatic Amazon gets all the attention, the Chaco is the second-largest forest on the continent, and even more remote, covered with dry tropical forest thick with thorn trees, cactus, and dozens—perhaps hundreds—of endemic species as yet unknown to science.