Lerma Valley and Calchaqui Valley

We will have breakfast all together and, after that, riders will drive to the Equestrian Center La Casa de la Tradición or to the facilities of Capilla de San Pedro where we raise and keep our horses. 

We introduce you to the team members and then proceed to meet the horses. The connection between riders and horses is very important and today you have the opportunity to ride on different horses and choose the one you feel comfortable and safe on. 

After a 2-hour ride, we will enjoy a typical criollo lunch and then drive back to Salta. 

You have the afternoon free to either rest or go round the city until it is time for dinner at the hotel

We have breakfast at the hotel and afterwards the transfer drives us back to Chicoana. We start our riding trail and today the horses carry us up to 2.400 m. 

We stop for a light lunch on our way. We enjoy the magnificent landscapes and the great performance of the horses while we continue the tour to the canyon Quebrada de Esoipe. 

There the transfer will be waiting for us to take us to Chicoana, where we will have dinner in a typical Criollo restaurant. The night will be spent at a beautiful boutique hotel, the Bo Hotel.

We will have a breakfast at the hotel and then drive back to Quebrada de Escoipe, where we’ll meet the team including the horses. We ride through the heart of the canyon surrounded by multi-coloured mountains. 

We ride on horse trails until we reach Isonza, a little village lost in time. We will go back to the house of the Tolaba family, where the van will be waiting for us to take us to Cachi where we eat and spend the night at the Hotel Automovil Club Argentino.

We will have breakfast at the Hotel and head for the Tin Tin Line, where a dirt road begins. This perfect straight line was made by the Incas and it crosses Los Cardones National Park. 

At this point, the horses will be waiting for us to start our journey. We will follow that road for a few kilometers and, after that, we’ll ride along a dried up riverbed – one of the many rivers that run through the Calchaquí Valley. 

At midday, we will have a picnic under a tree. A light meal just to recover and resume our ride. Along the way, we will cross the Calchaquí River and when we get to Cachi. 

Upon arrival in Cachi, we will stay again at the Argentine Automobile Club Hotel, near the center of Cachi. Then, we will have dinner at a typical restaurant where we can discover more regional flavors, and then, back to the hotel to sleep.

After a good night’s sleep and breakfast at the fantastic Automóvil Club Argentino Hotel, we will go for a city tour of Cachi. Walking around the cobbled streets of Cachi, we can admire its colonial architecture, the main square and the church with the mountains as the backdrop. 

We can also discover the cultural side in the Pío Pablo Díaz Museum of Archaeology, which houses important objects and artefacts from the original ethnic groups that once inhabited this land. You can also visit some archaeological sites and a local craft fair. 

Another interesting place to visit in Cachi is the local wineries – Finca La Paya or Bodega Isasmendi – where they make artisanal wine and, after that, we will have lunch and taste some typical foods. In the afternoon, we will continue to explore the town of Cachi and visit Cachi Adentro – the rural area surrounding the town – where we can see how the local communities, of indigenous origin, farm for a living. 

For dinner, we will go to a typical Cachi restaurant where we will try some local dishes and wine. We will go back to the Hotel.

After a hearty breakfast at the hotel, we will leave for Seclantás, a village in the centre of the Calchaquí Valleys and near other villages that we will also visit. 

These places witnessed the revolutionary fervour that led to Argentina’s war of independence and, at the same time, they are testimony to the flourishing Inca civilization. 

We will have lunch along legendary Route 40, the longest national highway in Argentina stretching from South to North along the Andes Mountains and across several National Parks. 

After lunch, we will get on our horses again and take the Road of the Artisans towards the town of Seclantás, where we expect to arrive in the afternoon. We will visit this traditional village of the Calchaquí Valleys and then, go to Finca Montenieva, a lovely farm outside the town where we will stay and enjoy a delicious homemade dinner with the farmers. 

We are visiting places that few people have had the opportunity to see!

After breakfast we continue our tour through the Calchaqui Valley and its unique landscapes. At midday we stop for a light lunch at the Brealito river. 

Afterwards, we ride along canyons until we reach the Brealito lagoon and from there we continue until we arrive in Molinos. We visit the church where the remains of Isasmendi lay. 

We enjoy dinner with typical regional food and then go to bed in the hotel.

After breakfast, we continue our tour through the Calchaqui Valley. The logistics team drives us to San Carlos where we visit local farmers who have animals and grow vegetables following ancient traditions. It was in San Carlos where the troops came together to fight for independence. We continue our journey to Cafayate where we arrive around midday. 

We check into the hotel and visit some bodegas. The wines produced in Cafayate are nationally and internationally known for the superb quality. We visit more wine bodegas and have the opportunity to try different wines. After lunch we explore Cafayate, a small town in the fantastic Andes. 

We visit various places like the canyons Quebrada de las Conchas and Garganta del Diablo, the amphitheatre and rock formations like El Sapo (the frog) that were shaped by the wind. In the evening we drive back to the hotel where we enjoy lunch and our last night in Cafayate.

We enjoy our last breakfast together in the hotel and then drive to the airport in Salta. We are happy that you have chosen Ampascachi for your once in a lifetime adventure, thank you very much!