Colón Fábrica
In La Boca, the Teatro Colón opens the workshops of one of the few theatres in the world that makes everything its programme needs, from sets and costumes to wigs, shoes and special effects.
Argentina and Chile in Depth
Tango, waterfalls, Malbec, lakes and Patagonia, ending in Santiago, over 16 nights.
- 16 nights
- Six stays
- Argentina, Chile
- Wine, lakes, Patagonia, culture
A journey of 16 nights through both countries: Buenos Aires, the falls at Iguazú, the vineyards of the Uco Valley, the lakes around Bariloche and the granite of Torres del Paine, ending in Santiago with a day on the coast at Valparaíso. Along the way, the workshops where the Teatro Colón makes its own sets and costumes, a blending session that ends with a bottle of your own Uco Valley wine, and a search for pumas before dawn with a lodge's trackers.
- Length
- 16 nights
- Pace
- Six stays
- Style
- Wine, lakes, Patagonia, culture
- Route
- Buenos Aires to Iguazú Falls to The Uco Valley to Bariloche to Torres del Paine to Santiago
- Buenos AiresThree nights
- Iguazú FallsTwo nights
- The Uco ValleyThree nights
- BarilocheTwo nights
- Torres del PaineThree nights
- SantiagoThree nights
01
Days 1 to 4 · three nights
Buenos Aires
Private sightseeing in the city, a tango show with dinner, and a full day at an estancia in the Pampas for gaucho traditions. The Teatro Colón by guided visit, through the Foyer, the Gallery of Busts, the Golden Hall and the auditorium, then Colón Fábrica in La Boca, where the theatre's own workshops make the sets, costumes, wigs and shoes for its productions. Back at Palacio Duhau, a wine and cheese tasting in the cheese cellar of La Vinoteca. A half day at the polo can be arranged, beginning with a talk on the rules, the horses and the players before a professional match, and at half time you join the tradition of treading in the divots.
Where you stay
Palacio Duhau, Park Hyatt Buenos Aires
Palacio Duhau stands on Avenida Alvear in Recoleta, two buildings with 165 rooms and suites set around gardens of old trees. The Vinoteca has its own cheese cellar, Gioia serves its botanical cooking outdoors in the gardens, and the Ahín Spa has a short-course swimming pool.
02
Days 4 to 6 · two nights
Iguazú Falls
A flight north for private visits to both circuits of the falls and the Devil's Throat, a boat ride, and kayaking, rainforest walks and birding from the lodge. Awasi gives each room its own guide and 4x4, and from the lodge's deck a boat runs up the Paraná, the border with Paraguay, to the secluded Yasy Fall, reached by water.
Where you stay
Awasi Iguazú
Awasi Iguazú has 14 private villas in the Atlantic Rainforest outside Puerto Iguazú, and every room is given its own guide and 4x4. From the lodge's deck, boats run along the Paraná River to the secluded Yasy Fall and to the point where Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay meet.
03
Days 6 to 9 · three nights
The Uco Valley
A flight west to Mendoza and on to the Uco Valley, for two private half-day winery visits tasting Malbec and Torrontés. At The Vines, a blending session ends with a wine of your own, bottled by hand, and a sunrise ride sets off under the last of the night sky for a hilltop near the Manzano Histórico, with mate and pancakes at the top. Dinner at Siete Fuegos, Francis Mallmann's restaurant on the estate. From late February to early March, the stay can be timed for Mendoza's Fiesta Nacional de la Vendimia, the national harvest festival, with the night-time Vía Blanca de las Reinas parade of floats and the Acto Central finale at the Frank Romero Day Greek Theatre.
Where you stay
The Vines Resort & Spa
The Vines Resort & Spa is set among vineyards in Los Chacayes, in the Uco Valley at the foot of the Andes, about 90 minutes by road from Mendoza airport. Guests stay in private villas, and Francis Mallmann cooks regional dishes and Argentine beef at Siete Fuegos, the resort's restaurant.
04
Days 9 to 11 · two nights
Bariloche
A flight south to the lakes, and a cruise on Lake Nahuel Huapi with lunch on a secluded beach. Time at Llao Llao for its 18-hole course among the lakes and mountains, the spa, and the hotel's afternoon tea.
Where you stay
Llao Llao Resort, Golf & Spa
Llao Llao Resort, Golf & Spa has 205 rooms looking out over the lakes, forests and mountains outside Bariloche, and has welcomed guests for more than 80 years. There is an 18-hole golf course between the mountains and lakes, an indoor and outdoor pool, a spa, and afternoon tea in the Llao Llao tradition.
05
Days 11 to 14 · three nights
Torres del Paine
Flights on to Chilean Patagonia. Hiking, wildlife and photography, riding, and visits to the ranches, all from the lodge, each room with its own guide and 4x4. Before dawn, a team of wildlife trackers searches for pumas across the lodge's 7,000-acre private reserve, and on other days the Base Torres trail climbs the Ascencio Valley to the towers themselves. On request, a half day from dawn at Estancia Cerro Guido, one of Patagonia's largest ranches, with the wildlife trackers and puma researchers of the Cerro Guido Foundation: camera traps, guanaco monitoring and predator tracking, breakfast in the field with the team, and Casa Pumas, the foundation's interpretation centre, to finish.
Where you stay
Awasi Patagonia
In a private reserve facing the Torres del Paine range and Lake Sarmiento, Awasi Patagonia has 16 stand-alone villas sheltered from the wind by native lenga and ñirre forest. Each villa has its own guide and 4x4, and before dawn trackers lead puma searches across the 7,000-acre reserve.
06
Days 14 to 17 · three nights
Santiago
A flight north to Santiago for a full day in the city and a full day in Valparaíso for its street art and funiculars, before the flight home. Pablo Neruda's houses are open in both: La Chascona in Santiago and La Sebastiana in Valparaíso.
Where you stay
Mandarin Oriental, Santiago
On Presidente Kennedy Avenue in Las Condes, Mandarin Oriental, Santiago has 310 rooms and suites and 25,000 square metres of grounds around a lagoon-style outdoor pool and gardens. Matsuri serves Nikkei food in private tatami rooms, Senso is Italian, and the AKO Wellness & Spa uses Mapuche techniques over three floors.
Arranged on request
A wine of your own
At The Vines, a blending session in Uco Valley single varietals ends with your own blend, bottled by hand.
Wine Camp at harvest
In harvest season, dates confirmed at booking, a day in the vineyard at The Vines, picking grapes, sorting bunches, joining the punch-downs and treading the grapes.
Pumas at first light
From Awasi Patagonia, a private guide and a team of wildlife trackers set out before dawn across the lodge's 7,000-acre private reserve; sightings are never certain.
Yasy Fall by boat
From Awasi Iguazú's own deck, a boat up the Paraná, past a hidden creek to the secluded Yasy Fall, then kayaking from the lodge's floating deck.
With the puma researchers
At dawn on Estancia Cerro Guido, a half day with the Cerro Guido Foundation's wildlife trackers and puma researchers, among the camera traps, guanaco monitoring and predator tracking, with breakfast in the field and a finish at Casa Pumas, the foundation's interpretation centre.
Subject to availability.
Ways to make it yours
- Two nights in El Calafate with an ice trek on the Perito Moreno Glacier, in crampons.
- A day in the Tigre and Paraná Delta or across the river in Colonia del Sacramento.
- A day at Isla Negra, Neruda's third house, on Chile's central coast.
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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