Our highlights of Bariloche
Bariloche has to be one of our favourite places in Argentina that we have discovered in the five weeks we spent travelling around the country. Filled with lakes and surrounded by mountains, this is the perfect location for getting back to nature and taking on a few hikes (for all capabilities).
The town itself leaves much to be desired (exception being the ample chocolate shops!). Its rapid expansion to cope with tourism leaves only glimpses of the lake and snow-capped mountains between the buildings, but it is a great base to access the beautiful surrounding areason offer here. Unlike many other places we have visited, there are no national park entrance fees and you really don’t need to do tours to get the most out of the area.
Top tip: use the local bus service to get around, it will take you to most of your destinations for hiking and is cheap. The bus drivers are also really helpful in telling you when to get off and pointing you in the right direction! Note that you will need a Sube bus card.
Here are some of our highlights from our three days in Bariloche:
Cerro Campanario, Cerro Llao Llao & Sendero de los Arrayanes
We wanted to see the closer surrounding area that Bariloche had to offer and this is a great day out to achieve that, but be prepared that it is a long day and requires lots of walking.
We caught the local bus number 20 (the most regular bus from town – every 20 minutes) and got off at Cerro Campanario. Here you have the option to get a chair lift up for an additional cost or walk up for free! We opted to walk and it took us about 20 minutes to get to the top. There is a little cafe at the top too and a terrace area with great views if you want to relax for a while. The views over the lake are incredible and put into perspective the beautiful area that surrounds Bariloche.
We spent around an hour here and then headed back down to catch the number 20 onto Puerto Panuelo, a little harbour where the tour boats depart from. You can also walk up to Hotel Llao Llao, a huge lakeside hotel and golf course.
You can pick up a map from the tourist information office in town, which you can then use to follow the different trails as part of Circuito Chico. To get to the start of the trails, walk along the road side away from where the bus dropped you off for a good 1km then you have the option to head for Sendero de Los Arrayanes trail on your left or a little further along Cerro Llao Llao trail on your right.
We opted to do Sendero de Los Arrayanes first which weaves through beautiful woodland and incorporates lots of little detours to different viewing points of the lake. We would recommend doing all of these detours as each spot felt so unique; as if we were discovering a new lake each time.
This trail took us about 3 hours at a leisurely pace and then we crossed over to the next trail which took us up to Cerro Llao Llao (another 3 hours up and down including getting back to the bus stop). This offers different panoramic views of the lakes and mountains and was an awesome reward to end the day.
We felt like we were doing it backwards to everyone else, but it meant that we had lots of the spots to ourselves. If the full day is too much for you, then leaving out Cerro Campanario would be our recommendation.
Top tip: visit the tourist information as soon as you arrive in Bariloche. You can pick up a map of the town and surrounding areas (including the above walk) and a bus timetable. They will even help you plan how to get where you want to go. You can also top up your Sube bus card here!
Refugio Frey
This was about a 7 hour round hike for us (c.25km) and definitely worth it! The hike is not too challenging, but does require a good level of fitness. The views are lovely along the way and you will also pass a smaller Refugio (Refugio Piedritas), which was really interesting to discover.
This hike though is all about the destination – Refugio Frey. This house-like Refugio at 1700m is sheltered in a valley of snow-capped mountains and is set next to a large snow covered lake. It is just beautiful and like nothing else we have seen.
We would recommend catching the number 55 bus out in the morning (hourly buses). The last stop on this bus route is Villa Catedral, which leaves you in a large car park (starting point of 900m). There is a Refugio Frey sign and wooden trekker statue at the far end of the car park.
Follow the road a couple of hundred meters and the trail will start on your right hand side. There are some yellow, red and blue markers throughout the walk, but never there when you actually need them! So be prepared to use your intuition and then be reassured when you finally see a marker!
On your descent, take the route towards Guitterez Lake (the path forks off around an hour down). This offers an alternative view than retracing your ascent, and is easier too (although a longer route as you finish at 700m).
Top Tip: Visit the National Park office to plan your hike. You have to register your hike online in any event, which we did in the office, but they gave us great advice about the trail, how to get there and current conditions. We were considering another hike to Cerro Otto and they informed us that they were not recommending it due to thefts and safety on the mountain – we wouldn’t have known this if we didn’t go to the office. It is open 8am to 4pm so go the day before your planned hike.
Seven Lakes
Hire a car and take a road trip for the day! Absolutely worth the cost! We paid 1220 pesos (c£50) for the day plus half a tank of petrol (c£15). We shared the cost with two other travellers which made it a cheap day out and so much more rewarding than any organised tour we have been on.
This is about a 400km round trip and is doable in a day but another option is stay over night in San Martin de Los Andes (furthest point on the road trip).
The route is so easy – take route 40 up to San Martin de Los Andes, stopping off at Villa de Angostura. You will pass awesome lakes along the way, and can pull over at various points to check out the views. The lakes you pass are Espejo, Correntoso, Escondido, Villarino, Falkner, Hermoso, Vullignaco Waterall, Machonico and Lacar.
Top tip: download google maps or map me and this road trip will be a doddle! Look out for pull ins but also just stop when you think it may be a good view. We found the official view points to not be as good as our random off-road stops.
Coming back take route 63 – you’ll be on route 40 initially from San Martin de Los Andes and then take a left onto 63. This is a must do! Leave enough time for this journey as it’s a gravel road. It is definitely drivable in a small rental car but takes time and the views are extraordinary so you will want to stop off too.
