The Andes by Road, Lima to Buenos Aires
Eighteen nights from the Pacific at Lima to the polo fields outside Buenos Aires, driving across the Altiplano, the Uyuni salt flats and the Atacama on the way.
- 18 nights
- 13 stays
- Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina
- Road journey, Andes, salt flats, desert, polo
After Lima, Cusco and Machu Picchu, the journey takes to the road at Cusco and drives by four-wheel-drive vehicle around Lake Titicaca, across Bolivia's salt flats and deserts, into Chile's Atacama and down through northwest Argentina along Route 40. The cars are handed back in Córdoba, and the last two nights are in Buenos Aires.
- Length
- 18 nights
- Pace
- 13 stays
- Style
- Road journey, Andes, salt flats, desert, polo
- Route
- Lima to Cusco and Machu Picchu to Lake Titicaca to La Paz to The Uyuni salt flats to The Siloli Desert to San Pedro de Atacama to Purmamarca to Salta to Cafayate to Chilecito to Córdoba to Buenos Aires
- LimaOne night
- Cusco and Machu PicchuTwo nights
- Lake TiticacaTwo nights
- La PazOne night
- The Uyuni salt flatsTwo nights
- The Siloli DesertOne night
- San Pedro de AtacamaOne night
- PurmamarcaOne night
- SaltaOne night
- CafayateOne night
- ChilecitoTwo nights
- CórdobaOne night
- Buenos AiresTwo nights
01
Days 1 to 2 · one night
Lima
Met on arrival in Lima and taken to the hotel above the Pacific in Miraflores. The first evening is dinner at IK Restaurant.
Where you stay
Belmond Miraflores Park
Belmond Miraflores Park looks over the Pacific from the Miraflores district of Lima, with 87 rooms and suites. It has a heated rooftop pool, a spa, and two restaurants, Tragaluz and the rooftop Observatory.
02
Days 2 to 4 · two nights
Cusco and Machu Picchu
A morning flight to Cusco, then an afternoon in the city, with the cathedral on the Plaza de Armas, and dinner at MAP Café. The next day the Hiram Bingham train runs down the valley to Machu Picchu for a guided visit of the citadel and afternoon tea at the Belmond Sanctuary Lodge, before the train back to Cusco.
Where you stay
Belmond Palacio Nazarenas
Palacio Nazarenas was a palace and then a convent, built on Inca foundations in the centre of Cusco, and now has 55 suites with oxygen-enriched air. There is a heated outdoor pool, a spa and the restaurant Mauka.
03
Days 4 to 6 · two nights
Lake Titicaca
The drive begins: a briefing and a look over the vehicles in Cusco, then the road south to Puno and the shore of Lake Titicaca. The following day is spent on the lake by boat, visiting the floating Uros islands and Taquile Island, with lunch on Taquile.
Where you stay
Titilaka
Titilaka stands on a private peninsula reaching into Lake Titicaca, and every room faces the water. Excursions go out by boat, on foot and across the Altiplano, and afternoon tea, sundowners and dinner follow the light over the lake.
04
Days 6 to 7 · one night
La Paz
A full day by four-wheel-drive along the lake and across the Altiplano into Bolivia. Dinner in La Paz is at Gustu.
Where you stay
Atix Hotel
Atix is a boutique hotel in Zona Sur, the southern district of La Paz, built with Bolivian materials, from local stone floors to headboards of Amazonian wood. Its corridors and rooms show the work of the artist Gastón Ugalde, and 591 Bar is on the seventh-floor roof.
05
Days 7 to 9 · two nights
The Uyuni salt flats
South from La Paz to Oruro, the carnival city, for a picnic lunch with a carnival show, then on to Uyuni. The next day is spent on the salt flats: Colchani, where salt is still worked by hand, the cacti of Incahuasi, lunch out on the salt and the caves at Coquesa, with the option of staying on at Coquesa for sunset.
Where you stay
Luna Salada
Luna Salada sits at the edge of the Uyuni salt flats. It has a restaurant, Tunupa, a lounge, and a spa with a steam room looking out over the salt.
06
Days 9 to 10 · one night
The Siloli Desert
The train cemetery outside Uyuni, then a road through small Andean villages to the Black Lagoon and Laguna Hedionda, where flamingos feed, before the drive on to the desert lodge.
Where you stay
Tayka del Desierto Hotel
Tayka del Desierto stands in the Siloli Desert beside a spring known as Ojo de Perdiz. It is close to the Eduardo Avaroa reserve, with its coloured lagoons, the Sol de Mañana geysers and the Stone Tree.
07
Days 10 to 11 · one night
San Pedro de Atacama
Across the Siloli Desert, past the vicuñas and the wind-carved Stone Tree, to Laguna Colorada, the Sol de Mañana geysers, the hot springs at Chalviri for those who want a bath, and Laguna Blanca and Laguna Verde, then over the border into Chile.
Where you stay
Cumbres Hotel
Cumbres is the night's hotel in San Pedro de Atacama, the oasis town in the middle of the Atacama Desert.
08
Days 11 to 12 · one night
Purmamarca
Free time in the Atacama in the morning, a picnic on the salt plains, then the road east into Argentina and the village of Purmamarca.
Where you stay
El Manantial del Silencio
El Manantial del Silencio is a colonial-style house about 500 metres from Purmamarca, at the foot of the Cerro de los Siete Colores in the Quebrada de Humahuaca. It has whitewashed walls and green shutters, a wooded park with a botanical trail, a spa with a heated indoor pool and the restaurant Calandria.
09
Days 12 to 13 · one night
Salta
An early walk on the Los Colorados circuit above Purmamarca, then a drive south through the forest towards Salta, with a picnic lunch at La Calera.
Where you stay
House of Jasmines
House of Jasmines is an estancia on a 100-hectare estate at La Merced Chica, at the foot of the Andes outside Salta, with 14 rooms and suites. It has gardens, an outdoor pool, a spa and a restaurant.
10
Days 13 to 14 · one night
Cafayate
South from Salta on Route 68 to Cafayate, among the high vineyards of the Calchaquí Valleys.
Where you stay
Patios de Cafayate Wine Hotel
Patios de Cafayate occupies the main house of a wine estate founded in 1892, now Bodega El Esteco, where Route 40 meets Route 68. Each room has its own style, a glass of Torrontés is poured every afternoon, and the restaurant cooks the food of Salta to go with the estate's wines.
11
Days 14 to 16 · two nights
Chilecito
Onto Route 40 to Belén, a quiet town known for its weaving workshops, for a visit to the weavers and to the ruins of El Shincal, then on to Chilecito, set among rocky hills. The next day is for Chilecito and the old cableway that once climbed to a high mine.
Where you stay
MAC Royal Suites Chilecito
MAC Royal Suites is a hotel and casino in the centre of Chilecito, in La Rioja province.
12
Days 16 to 17 · one night
Córdoba
The last drive, by way of Patquía, a small town founded in 1890 where several roads across Argentina meet, to Córdoba, for the Jesuit Block and the cathedral, and a celebration as the cars are handed back.
Where you stay
Azur Hotel & Spa
Azur Hotel & Spa has 16 rooms behind a small door on San Jerónimo street, in the historic centre of Córdoba, and its own spa.
13
Days 17 to 19 · two nights
Buenos Aires
A flight to Buenos Aires, lunch and a three-hour drive through the city: the Plaza de Mayo, San Telmo, Puerto Madero and Recoleta. The next day is spent at La Martina, a polo farm about 50 kilometres from the centre, with its history, a two-hour polo clinic for beginners and lunch. On the last morning, a transfer to the airport.
Where you stay
Four Seasons Hotel Buenos Aires
Four Seasons Hotel Buenos Aires is in Recoleta and joins a Belle Époque house, La Mansión Álzaga Unzué, to a modern tower. It has a spa, the courtyard restaurant Elena and the Pony Line Bar.
Ways to make it yours
- A stay at Coquesa to watch the sun set over the salt flats
- A bath in the hot springs at Chalviri on the desert crossing
- The observation car on the Hiram Bingham train to Machu Picchu
This is a sample. The hotels, the pace and the order are where we start, not where we finish: every journey is designed around the people taking it.
Made around you
Most travel is bought. This is designed.
Before anything is booked, we talk: who is travelling, how you like to spend a morning, and the hotel preferences below the obvious, from the kind of bath you like to the time you wake and how much daylight you need in a room. You see options where options matter and clean recommendations where they don't.
The same person remains your point of contact from the first reply to the trip after next. No handovers. No team.
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