Rare Adventures

Tag: bariloche

  • Bariloche, heart of Patagonia Lake District

    Bariloche, heart of Patagonia Lake District

    What to find in the town and surcharges for European

    We managed to get to Bariloche with surprisingly little drama. FlyBondi had a good day and were only 90 minutes late.  Bariloche is the tourist capital of northern Patagonia, which is known for its massive array of lakes surrounded by mountains.

    My summary of the tours is a separate post.

    Sunset view over Lago Nahuel Huapi from a hotel balcony in Bariloche, with mountains in the background.

    So, our expectations were for lots of water, and we weren’t disappointed when we found our hotel had a fantastic view of the biggest lake, Lago Nahuel Huapi. We stayed at a brand new Radisson Blu, which promised much but seemed to still be in the shake down period with lots of issues and things not working which were a bit disappointing, but hey, it had a great view.

    Panoramic view of Lago Nahuel Huapi in Bariloche, Argentina, featuring clear blue skies, calm waters reflecting the clouds, and green land with rocky shores.

    Bariloche is a major ski centre in the winter with pistes on the mountains behind it in Cerro Catedral. The high street is full of bars and restaurants with strong Spanish and Alpine influences, however, just like most skiing resorts, if you aren’t skiing there isn’t much else to do. There are a few boat trips but with freezing cold water there aren’t many water sports going on.

    Interior of a cozy restaurant in Bariloche with wooden furniture and a variety of table settings, featuring vibrant colored tablecloths and a decorative wall displaying local artwork.

    A thing we had not seen before was dual pricing of tours. Basically, if the tour included an English speaking guide the costs were significantly more than for a Spanish speaking guide. In the case of Circuito Chico the Spanish tour cost £13, and the English tour cost £30, for the Tronodor Glacier the price difference was £45 for Spanish and £80 for English.

    Panoramic view of Lago Nahuel Huapi and surrounding mountains in Bariloche, Argentina, with a person taking a photo in the foreground.

    We gave it some thought and decided that we would be quite happy to forgo the tour commentary as we were going for the scenery anyway, so we went with the cheaper option with differing experiences!

    On the first tour, it transpired that only 3 people spoke Spanish, so the guide received some adhoc English lessons, on the second tour nobody spoke English and on the third tour we had a personal commentary from an English speaking guide, so all in all it was money well saved.

    The locals have a bit taste for chocolate. Every other street seemed to have some form of chocolate shop going on but the ultimate was the chocolate supermarket, the irony of this being that iin a 3 story department store, the ground floor was dedicated to chocolate and the other two floors were a gym.

    Not only did it have a department store, it also had a museum, who on earth cares about the history of chocolate, surely you just buy it, eat it, regret it, forget it. Not in Bariloche, they just love chocolate.

    There appears to be a bit of a sinister past to the town and many of the Nazis headed here after the second world war, there is even a walking tour dedicated to the memory, which in my view shoul be forgotten but that is life.

    There is also a nice civic square. It is build in a European style and does not appear to be very old, but it is very pleasant and there lots of shops around there if the weather is wet.

    So all in all, Bariloche is a dull place in November unless you like chocolate, but the locals are very friendly and I definately got the impression it would be a lot more fun in the ski season when all the bars are open.

  • Destination Argentina

    Destination Argentina

    Patagonia and Ushuaia here we come

    Nearly time to pack our rucksacks for the next adventure. This is a big one on our bucket list and has taken a lot of planning over the last few months.

    Anyone in their right minds would be using a travel agent, but that is too easy for us. It would hardly be Rare Adventures if we had someone organising us, just think of the things that could go wrong.

    This idea first came up from the BBC series “Race across the world“, when they travelled the length of South America. The scenery was so remote and beautiful that we decided we had to see Patagonia and the most southerly point at Ushuaia.

    In an ideal world we would like to have been doing more by road to enjoy the scenery, but the distances are so vast we will be using internal flights as our main form of transport. Wooksie has put a 1 month limit on the trip and we had to be home for Christmas, which apparently starts on the 1st December in her world, the schedule was a bit of a challenge,

    It is quite difficult to filter though the information on the internet, there is so much to trawl through and evaluate, but eventually we came up with this route. Driving or train would have been more fun but would have constrained us too much, and by using flights we can spend more time as the destinations.

    Image of the Lonely Planet guide to Argentina

    After all these years, and with all the online information, we still end up buying a copy of the “Lonely Planet” as a simple point of reference.

    Argentinian itinerary

    Here is our plan, or maybe more of a list of things that might happen!

    • 29th October fly from Bristol to Rio– with a change in Amsterdam with KLM, we spend 3 days enjoying the Copacabana and Ipanema beaches, bars and having a look at Christ the Redeemer and Sugarloaf Mountain.
    • 2nd Nov we fly to Iguazu Falls – for trekking, 4×4 offroading and speed boating around the spectacular falls, it’s going to be a spectacular day.
    • 4th Nov we fly to Bariloche via Buenos Aires – this could be a bit tricky as it’s not a through flight but with a bit of luck we will arrive in the northern part of Patagonia and the Argentinian Lake District in the early evening. Trekking and adventures at altitude await us.
    • 9th Nov we fly to Buenos Aires – we then have 3 or 4 days getting to know the place and popping over to Montevideo in Uruguay.
    • 13th Nov we fly to El Calafate to spend 4 days trekking around the glaciers and mountains in the southern part of Patagonia.
    • 16th Nov we fly to Ushuaia to head to the most southerly point in South America and cruise around the Beagle Channel, unfortunately Wooksie didn’t fancy a cruise to Antarctica which is a disappointment.
    • 20th Nov we start our trip home with more stop overs in Buenos Aires and Rio before getting back for the end of November.

    We have lots of adventures and and scenery to explore d and will be posting regular updates on what has happened – onwards and upwards.