Argentina mountain bike tour: Andes, canyons & national park Talampaya

Guests starting with us in Buenos Aires will depart in our van on Friday afternoon in route to La Rioja (flight to, and accommodations in Buenos Aires are not included in tour price). The shuttle from Buenos Aires to La Rioja takes 15 hours, arriving on Saturday. If you choose to fly to La Rioja, we will meet you Hotel El Chiflon (You need a transfer of 170km from the Airport to the hotel). Time for a nice meal, while we receive a briefing for the next days program.

 This first day of activities begins with a short transfer to the Provincial Park “Ischigualasto” also known as “Moon Valley” which is located in the province of San Juan.
Once accredited inside the park and with the bikes ready to ride, our 40km adventure begins. The undulating route takes us through a desert landscape “planet” aspect that, as a result of its paleontological and geological wealth, was declared a provincial park and a World Heritage Site by Unesco. Along the way we will stop to see several of its geoforms such as “The mushroom”, “Painted wall” or “Balls field” as well as being able to visit the “William Sill” museum, where you can see fossils and the way paleontologists work with them.
At the end of the tour we will have the opportunity to access the Park’s Hall Center and museum. After lunch, we continue our route along Route 150 in the direction of Huaco. This recently paved route is the link between the Sanjuan’s Valleys and the Andes Mountains and is known as “the scenic route”. On the 37km stretch chosen to pedal, not only the broken landscape stands out with countless shades and colors, we will also cross twelve bridges and six tunnels. The first kilometers will be wavy, up to kilometer sixteen, then twenty kilometers of unique landscapes and much descent. We load the bikes and return to the hotel “El Chiflón”. 76km and 566 mts elevation gain

In the morning and after breakfast we leave in the minibus to the National Park “Talampaya”. This park was created in 1997 with the aim of preserving this region of great interest, an internationally renowned paleontological site and a geological basin of Triassic origin. Once in the park we will make a short internal transfer to the starting point of the bicycle tour. Pedaling inside the “Talampaya Canyon” is a unique experience. The route takes place inside the dry river, which only carries water during the rainy season, on a ground that forces us to constantly choose the best possible path. The main attraction undoubtedly is given by the environment: The cliffs of one hundred and twenty meters that surround us and the most varied geoforms that generated centuries of erosion. The acoustic experiment that does not fail is the echo: A once group attempt will drive to listen to several repetitions of our own sound. During the tour we will see petroglyphs created by original civilizations more than a thousand years ago. After lunch we will do a trekking of approximately two hours in the “Quebrada Don Eduardo”. This hike also takes us to a dry river, but much narrower than the one used to pedal in the morning. The route allows us to access gorges between cliffs, stone arches and paths along goat trails until we reach the viewpoint from which to contemplate the lesser known part of the walls of Talampaya. Return to the “Accreditation Center” and transfer to Villa Union. 12km and 112mts elevation gain

We leave from Villa Unión with the bikes loaded in the trailer. After 45km we arrive at Guandacol, where we turn along a gravel road towards El Zapallar, a town located in the foothills of the Andes range. After having traveled ten kilometers, we unload the bikes from the trailer and begin our journey to “El Zapallar”. The road is winding and undulating, it is surrounded by cardones and as we advance it accentuates the upward trend. Once in “El Zapallar” we will do a refilling stop and then start our ride, mostly downhill, towards Guandacol. The descent is spectacular and winding at the beginning, then the road begins to offer us long straight lines until we reach the mythical Route 40. We load the bikes and drive back to Villa Unión. 58km and 450 mts elevation gain

We ride from Villa Union, on a slight uphill in the first eight kilometers. Once we arrive at the “Anchumbil Canyon”, the most technical route of this journey begins, pure ‘Mountain bike” on an irregular terrain following the course of a canyon formed by centuries of erosion. At times we can ride the bike and at times it will be necessary to push and walk. The erosion of rain and wind has left caves and holes in its high colored walls. Once out of the canyon we will pedal on trails until we reach once again a gravel track that takes us to Villa Unión again. After lunch at Villa Union we make another ride with less difficulty that takes us to “Banda Florida” and allows us to continue enjoying landscapes in all shades of ocher until returning to Villa Union. 45 km and 340mts elevation gain

This morning we leave in our vehicles towards the majestic “Cuesta de Miranda”. After thirty-three kilometers, we take our bikes and start the asphalted ascent of one of the most scenic mountain roads in Argentina. In 28km and 575 meters of elevation gained we reach the “Bordo atravesado” the highest point of the slope with 2040m.s.n.m. There begins a fabulous descent of 30km and a loss of height of more than a thousand meters. “La Cuesta de Miranda” was originally a centennial path through which cattle were taken from the “Sierra de Sañogasta” to the “Sierra de Famatina”. Between 1918 and 1928 the Italian Vicente Bolloli built the road on which the asphalted road passes today. The landscapes, the immensity and the colour of nature are remarkable. We load the bikes and drive to Chilecito. Toast for a spectacular day of cycling. 56km and 800mts elevation gain

We leave Chilecito and after 56km we arrive at “Carrizal”, where we start our ride towards one of the most impressive places of the tour: “The ocher canyon”. The winding road allows us to approach to “Famatina mountain” an impressive peak of 6020m.s.n.m. In its slope grew a mining enterprise dedicated to the extraction of gold, which was called “La Mejicana”. The river “El Dorado”, “Amarillo” or “Ocre” owe the color exactly to the ocher mineral that comes from glaciers, snow and ice from “Famatina”. The uphill is constant and demanding, as we start at 1800m.s.m. and we reach the “Ocher canyon” at 2700m.s.m and 24km. In the course of the ascent we will pass through formations that present incredible amounts of colors like “The Cribs”. After lunch, we undo the road and descend 24km to “Carrizal”. Load of the bikes in the trailer and transfer to Chilecito. 48km and 1330mts of elevation gain

Departure to Buenos Aires after breakfast. Arrival in the Federal Capital at 11pm. Those who to travel to La Rioja to then fly to Buenos Aires, will take a transfer in Patquia to the airport (Transfer not included in the tour price).