Mendoza is a wine trip and a mountain trip at the same time, and the good version alternates between the two. These are the days we add to your Mendoza package when you extend your stay: three in the wineries, four in the Andes. All of them can be quoted private.
Luján de Cuyo is the historic heart, Maipú is flat and next to the city, and the Uco Valley is higher, newer and further out. Each is a full day, and if you have two wine days we pair Luján or Maipú with the Uco Valley so they do not resemble each other.
The longest day and the biggest landscape: high-altitude vineyards an hour and a half south of the city, two wineries with tastings and a lunch by courses among the vines. 8:00 to 18:00.
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Three wineries in the old district next to the city, reached by bicycle on flat, quiet roads, with a guide riding beside you. Tastings at each and lunch among the vines. 8:30 to 17:00.
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The classic district, closest to the city: three wineries, from an old bodega to a contemporary one with the Andes in the window, with tastings and a four-course lunch at the last. 8:30 to 17:00.
Ask about this day ›Mendoza sits at the foot of the highest range outside Asia, and the Andes are visible from almost everywhere. These are the days that break up the wine: the road to the highest peak in the Americas, a nature reserve on the old road to Chile, an afternoon under sail, and thermal water.
The road west towards Chile: the Potrerillos reservoir, the Uspallata valley, Puente del Inca and Aconcagua Provincial Park, with an easy walk to the Horcones lagoon below the south face of the highest mountain in the Americas. Breakfast and box lunch included.
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The old international road to Chile, the Canota monument and the winding Caracoles climb, into a seventy-thousand-hectare private reserve with its historic hotel, its mineral springs and its guanacos. The entrance permit to the reserve is not included.
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An hour and a half under sail on a high-mountain reservoir ringed by the Andes, with cheese, nuts and a drink on board, and private transfers from and to your hotel. One of the few places in Argentina where you can sail at this altitude.
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Thermal pools indoors and out beside the Mendoza river, from 20 to 40 degrees, with a thermal grotto and waterfall, a cold spring-water pool, mud treatment and a buffet lunch at the hotel. Massages and robe are not included.
More about this day ›These are day tours we add to your Mendoza package rather than stand-alone tickets: we arrange them together with your flights or bus, your hotel and your transfers. If you have already booked everything else and only want one of these days, write to us anyway and we will tell you honestly whether we can help or whether you are better off buying it locally.
If you only have one, most people are happiest with Luján de Cuyo: close to the city, the classic names, a long lunch. If you have two, pair it — or the Maipú bike day — with the Uco Valley, which is further, higher and looks completely different. Three wine days in a row is more than most travellers want; that is what the mountain days are for.
Often, yes, and it is worth asking. What we will not do is print winery names on a web page: the wineries change their visiting hours and their availability through the year, and on some days the operator replaces one with another of the same standing. Tell us which one matters to you when you write, and we tell you whether it can be booked for your dates.
The Uco Valley and Luján de Cuyo days, and the sailing afternoon, are private. The others run as regular services and can be quoted private, with the vehicle and the guide for your group alone. Tell us when you write and we quote it either way.
Three or four nights is the usual answer. That gives you two wine days in different districts, one day in the mountains, and a morning that is not committed to anything. Two nights works if Mendoza is one leg of a longer route; more than four makes sense if you want the Uco Valley properly or you are going on to Chile over the Andes.
March and April, during the harvest, for the wineries. October to April for the high Andes, when the pass road is open and Aconcagua is clear more often. The hot springs at Cacheuta work all year, and in winter they are the best day of the lot.
Most travellers arrive in Mendoza with wine in mind, which is fair enough: this is where roughly seventy per cent of Argentine wine is made, and the Malbec that made the country famous grows here. Three or four days of tasting rooms, though, and even the keenest visitor starts to glaze over.
What saves it is the geography. An hour and a half west of the vineyards there is a road over a pass at more than three thousand metres, a reservoir you can sail on, thermal water coming out of the rock, and the south face of Aconcagua. The good version of a Mendoza stay alternates: a wine day, a mountain day, a wine day. Tell us your dates and how many of you are travelling and we lay the days out that way, and quote flights, hotel, transfers and the days you choose as one figure.
Send us your dates, how many of you are travelling and the days you would like to add. We come back within 24 hours with your Mendoza trip laid out, these days included where they fit.
The days above are arranged as part of one of these, with your flights or bus, your hotel and your transfers already handled.
Flights or bus, hotel, transfers and the days you choose, quoted as one price.
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The version most travellers choose when Mendoza is one leg of a longer trip.
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The same wine country reached overland, across the pampa in a sleeper seat.
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