The Atacama and Argentina's North

A night in Santiago and three in the Atacama, then a long drive over the Andes past the salt flats and coloured hills of Jujuy. Five nights at Salta, with days out to Humahuaca and Cafayate's vineyards, then two of tango in Buenos Aires. On the way, an Atacameñan estate in the Andean foothills at sunset, the desert sky read through Andean cosmology, and the workshops where the Teatro Colón makes its sets and costumes.

Length: 11 nights
Pace: Four stays
Style: Road trip, wine, stargazing, walking
Route: Santiago to The Atacama Desert to Salta to Buenos Aires

SantiagoOne night
The Atacama DesertThree nights
SaltaFive nights
Buenos AiresTwo nights

A curved swimming pool with a waterfall, white parasols and palm trees in a hotel garden. — Photo: Mandarin Oriental, Santiago

Days 1 to 2 · one night

Santiago

Arrival after the overnight flight. Plaza de Armas, La Moneda Palace and the view from San Cristóbal Hill, and, if there is time, La Chascona, Pablo Neruda's house in Santiago, open as a museum.

Where you stay

Mandarin Oriental, Santiago

Mandarin Oriental, Santiago is in Las Condes, with 310 rooms and suites looking over the city, the gardens or the mountains, and a lagoon-style outdoor pool in 25,000 square metres of grounds. Dinner is Nikkei at Matsuri or Italian at Senso, and the AKO Wellness & Spa spreads over three floors.

A terrace with an infinity pool and stone walls, the sun setting beside a volcano. — Photo: Beckons / Javier Mery, Tomas Encina, Pedro Carreira, Diego Marin

Days 2 to 5 · three nights

The Atacama Desert

A two-hour flight north. Mountain biking, sunset on the salt flat, walks and an outing on horseback. At 9 p.m., in the lodge's garden amphitheatre, guides with telescopes move from Western astronomy to the Andean reading of the sky, and on request a historic indigenous estate in the foothills opens its ancestral sites, ending with Andean food from local hosts at sunset.

Where you stay

Tierra Atacama

Tierra Atacama stands on the edge of San Pedro de Atacama, looking across the desert to the Andes and Licancabur volcano. It has 28 rooms, guided trips to the salt flats and high lagoons are included in the stay, and the Uma Spa has indoor and infinity pools, a sauna and yoga spaces.

A white farmhouse with a tiled roof framed by eucalyptus trees, with green hills behind. — Photo © House of Jasmines (@houseofjasminesrelaischateaux)

Days 5 to 10 · five nights

Salta

A long day's drive over the Andes, by the Salinas Grandes and the Hill of Seven Colours at Purmamarca, down to Salta. A full day in the Quebrada de Humahuaca for a hike and the Pucará fortress, a long day south through the red rock of the Quebrada de las Conchas to Cafayate's vineyards for tastings, and time in colonial Salta. At House of Jasmines, a historic estancia of 100 hectares at the foot of the Andes, the chef teaches the art of the empanada.

Where you stay

House of Jasmines

House of Jasmines is a historic estancia at the end of a eucalyptus drive, 20 minutes from the centre of Salta and 10 minutes from the airport. It has 14 rooms and suites, an outdoor pool and spa facing the Andes, La Table restaurant, and riding, yoga and cooking classes on the estate.

Days 10 to 12 · two nights

Buenos Aires

A two-hour flight, or a private charter, from Salta to Buenos Aires. Teatro Colón, Plaza de Mayo and San Telmo, a tango lesson and a show, and time for cycling or shopping. In La Boca, Colón Fábrica opens the theatre's own workshops, where the sets, costumes, wigs and shoes for its productions are made. A half day at the polo can also be arranged: a talk on the rules, the horses and the players, a professional match, and the half-time tradition of treading in the divots.

Where you stay

Alvear Palace Hotel

On Avenida Alvear in Buenos Aires, the Alvear Palace Hotel has 207 rooms and suites decorated in a modern French style. Dinner is at L'Orangerie, drinks are at the Lobby Bar or the Alvear Roof Bar, and the spa, fitness centre and pool are on the 11th floor.

Arranged on request

Andean heritage at sunset

A historic indigenous estate in the Andean foothills, its ancestral archaeological sites and Atacameñan customs, ending with sunset and Andean food prepared by local hosts.

The sky in Andean cosmology

From 9 p.m. in Tierra Atacama's garden amphitheatre, telescopes and guides turn from Western astronomy to the way ancient Andean cultures read the heavens.

A balloon at first light

A flight over the Atacama as the sun rises behind Licancabur, private or shared, booked well in advance.

Empanadas at the estancia

At House of Jasmines, the Relais & Châteaux chef teaches traditional empanada making.

Colón Fábrica

The Teatro Colón's workshops in La Boca, where one of the few theatres in the world to make everything it stages builds its sets, costumes, wigs and shoes.

Treading in the divots

A half day at the polo in Buenos Aires, with a talk on the rules, the horses and the players before a professional match, and a turn on the field at half time to tread in the divots, by arrangement.

Subject to availability.

Ways to make it yours

A night in Purmamarca, below the Hill of Seven Colours, to break the drive over the Andes.
Two nights at Estancia Colomé in the Calchaquí Valleys, for the James Turrell Museum among its vineyards, the only museum given entirely to his work, with nine of his light pieces.
A night or two more in Buenos Aires.

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.