CULTURE AND WINE TOURS ITINERARY | |
Mendoza, Luján de Cuyo, Buenos Aires, Salta and Jujuy / 15 days / Trip Code: #100 | |
Mendoza - Suggested number of days: 3 | |
 | Maipú. Day 1. Located 15 kilometers away from Mendoza City, Maipú covers 717 square kilometers and is at a height of 804 meters above sea level. This city has welcomed a flow of European immigrants sharing a passion for winemaking. Its optimal natural conditions for vine-growing have made it Argentina’s prime area for Viticulture. |
 | La Rural Winery In late 1885, Felipe Rutini began the building of this winery, under the slogan "Labor et Perseverantia" (“hard work and perseverance”). His working premise was to value quality over quantity. Felipe was son of Francisco Rutini, who at the beginning of the 19th Century was already manufacturing delicious home-made wines in his native city of Ascoli Piceno, Le Marche, Italy. So it was that Felipe, on emigrating to the Americas, decided to continue his family’s wine growing and making tradition by planting the first vines in Coquimbito. |
 | Museo del Vino San Felipe (St. Philip’s Wine Museum) of La Rural Winery This museum is located within La Rural Winery, facing Felipe (Philip) Rutini’s family home. It has become the most important of its kind in the Americas, sharing its prestige with others in France, Italy and South Africa. It exhibits a wide variety of machinery, carriages and other elements that were used in wine growing and making in Mendoza. Four thousand five hundred original items are on display, notably ancient wine presses, barrel-maker’s tools, colonial-style cooked earthenware ewers, books and catalogs on enology, laboratory items and some fifty carriages. These pieces were retrieved mainly from the warehouses in La Rural Winery and the Maipú area. |
 | CarinaE Vineyards & Winery This “Boutique-type” winery was founded in 2003 by the French immigrants Brigitte and Philippe Subra, who arrived in Argentina in 1998. The vineyards are located in the traditional Zona Alta (Upper Zone) of the Mendoza River. Their wines are the embodiment of French charm and good taste. |
 | Lunch at Domaine du Mont: this is a restaurant set up in a 100-year-old Victorian home, built of traditional adobe and Pinoterra wood. The old farmhouse is set in two hectares of land under cultivation, deep in the heart of Maipú. |
 | Tempus Alba Winery Steeped in family tradition, Tempus Alba has its own vineyards in the establishments “La Alborada”, “El Retorno” and “San Antonio”, totaling over 110 hectares of terrain. These vineyards are located in privileged zones of the districts of Luján de Cuyo, Maipú and Tupungato. The mere trip to the vineyard is a source of enjoyment: the countryside is typical of the Mendoza rural area, with plantations of grapes, olives, almonds and cherries, all against the impressive backdrop of the Andes. |
 | Uco River Valley. Day 2. The Uco River Valley is an oasis bewitching one with its beautiful landscapes. It is located in the central-western area of Mendoza Province and consists of the Districts of Tupungato, Tunuyán and San Carlos. It is a prime fruit-growing region that also harbors renowned wineries, thus creating an exquisite destination within the Mendoza itinerary. |
 | Finca La Celia Winery, It was created in 1890 by Eugenio Bustos, who began construction work on the winery after he bought the land. His daughter and heir of the property and family winemaking tradition, Celia Bustos, continued his hard work. In 2000, Finca La Celia became the first foreign branch of the Chilean Viña San Pedro Winery, after enlargement and restoration. |
 | O’Fournier Winery It was founded in the year 2000. This is one of the most sophisticated wineries in its architectural design, impressively minimalist and modern in decor. The highlight of the tour of the inside of the building is when one gets to the entrance to a tunnel that leads to a majestic “cava”, or natural wine-cellar, 10 meters underground. On returning to ground level one is greeted by a beautiful lagoon, reflecting the imposing Andes. |
 | Lunch in the Urban Restaurant at O’Fournier Winery: Inaugurated in October 2006, it includes an underground room and the winery´s private cava (wine cellar). |
 | Benvenuto de la Serna Winery Sharing the dream of his grandparents, Italian immigrants from Genoa, Silvio Benvenuto and his family have created this appealing wine-growing and winemaking project in unsurpassed terrain, west of Vista Flores. This is a picturesque winery, boasting successful high-altitude viticulture, at 1000 meters above sea level. |
 | Andeluna-La Azul Winery In the dream-like surroundings of the Valley of Tupungato, at over 1300 meters above sea level and at the foot of the Andes, is located Andeluna-La Azul, a property covering 80 hectares. Its tourism sector consists of galleries, pergolas and gardens overlooking the vineyards, the Tupungato Volcano and the Cordón del Plata. |
Luján de Cuyo - Suggested number of days: 3 | |
| The district of Luján de Cuyo is located in the central-northern area of Mendoza, 18 kilometers from the capital city. It is one of the regions concentrating the greatest wine-growing and winemaking activity in the country. It offers picturesque landscapes and a wide range of tourism options. | |
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With properties located at the foot of the Andes, Achaval Ferrer has been developing this important and widely-acclaimed wine-growing and winemaking project since 1998. |
 | Belasco de Baquedano Winery: Pertaining to the La Navarra Group, this winery started up its activities by purchasing 70 hectares of prime vineyards that had been laid out at the beginning of last century. It is located in stunning Cordillera scenery, and is a prime tourism destination on the Mendoza wine trail. |
 | Decero Winery Located in the heart of Agrelo, this establishment has a singular history. Conceived in the tradition of Swiss winemaking, it owes its name to the way it started up: “de cero” (“from zero”). As explained by its owners, the winery was created from scratch, planting one vine at a time, in once arid and desolate lands at the foot of the Andes. |
Buenos Aires - Suggested number of days: 3 | |
 | Buenos Aires The city of Buenos Aires is world famous for its cultural contrasts, both in regard to its people and its architecture, that abounds in historical buildings, museums and parks. It colorful physiognomy, a mixture of Bohemian and modern styles, gives it a unique aura. Centrally located on the eastern side of the country, standing on the western shores of the Río de la Plata and with the fertile Pampas plains stretching away westward, Buenos Aires is also the ideal destination for enjoying the Gaucho culture with all its typical components: asados and horse riding in typical estancias. |
Suggested excursions: | |
 | Private city tour: here we will get to know the multiple attractions offered by the city of Buenos Aires as the country´s capital and main cultural venue: theaters, museums, historical buildings and parks. |
 | A tango class: Open up all of your senses to this sensuous and rhythmic dance, a result of the fusion of European cultures with Criollo (local Creole) emotion, evoking sentiments of love, the lovelorn, melancholy and nostalgia. We plunge enthusiastically into this world-famous emblematic Rioplatense (pertaining to the River Plate) musical genre. |
 | A polo or football (soccer) match: We will enjoy practicing these sports on exclusive playing fields. |
 | A Gaucho experience. A day on an Estancia: The Pampas plains are the historic home of the emblematic Argentine horseman: the Gaucho. We will now recreate some of his most representative pastimes: horse trekking and asado. |
Salta - Suggested number of days: 4 | |
 | The Valles Calchaquíes. In the 18th Century, the Jesuits planted the first grapevines in these valleys, which have since then become full of vineyards and wineries. Currently, the latter extend over an area of more than 1,800 hectares through Cafayate, San Carlos, Angastaco and Molinos, all these places located in the Valles Calchaquíes. This region’s economic growth has been impressive due to the high quality of its wines. Feeling Pampas offers you its “High-Altitude Wines” theme trail, including visits to boutique-type and craft wineries of international fame. Wine tasting of the prime varieties and access first-rate gastronomy and lodging facilities (Boutique Hotels) are included. |
 | The wineries of Cafayate Cafayate contains some exceptional Argentine wineries. This region is designed to cater for high-level tourism without losing the charm and warmth of small-town hospitality. You can visit the Etchart and Mournier, El Colomé, El Esteco, San Pedro de Yacuchuyo, José L. Mounier, Domingo Hermanos, El Porvenir and Félix Lavaque wineries in this fantastic mountain enclave. |
 | Salinas Grandes These impressively huge salt flats located on the border of Jujuy and Salta attract a great number of tourists. With an extension of 212 square kilometers, they are called the Salinas Grandes and they are some 5 to 10 million years old. In their beginnings, the geographical basin was covered with very salty water originating from volcanic activity. Its later evaporation originated this salt deposit, whose average thickness is around 30 centimeters. This is no doubt one of the most starkly beautiful and unique landscapes in the northern area. |
 | The Tren a las Nubes (Train to the Clouds) This is one of the most amazing rail trips worldwide. The famous Tren a las Nubes (Train to the Clouds) gradually ascends to 4,200 meters altitude above sea level on its 434-kilometer round trip. It goes through the most precipitous mountain scenery of the Andes. It leaves from the city of Salta and goes through the Lerma Valley, to enter the Quebrada del Toro and finally arrive in the high plateau of the Puna. During the trip, one can admire the clouds below the bridges one crosses or hanging from the mountainsides, in a magnificent picture-postcard display. |
Jujuy - Suggested number of days: 2 | |
 | The Quebrada de Humahuaca. This canyon is world-renowned for its exquisite scenic beauty. It was declared part of Humanity’s Cultural and Natural Heritage in July 2003 by the UNESCO, precisely because of its wonderful natural scenery and its picturesque villages, which still abound with pre-Columbian and Spanish Colonial features and marks of the centuries-old Omaguaca culture |
