One of the highest railways in the world, and a day that climbs from the green valley of Salta to a steel viaduct at 4,220 metres on the edge of the Puna. The colonial city on the first afternoon, the train day on the second, with flights from Buenos Aires, two nights with breakfast and transfers included.
Arrival. Your flight leaves from the Buenos Aires domestic airport. When you land in Salta our guide is waiting with a sign with your name, and takes you to your hotel in the centre.
Salta city tour, in the afternoon. Around 4 pm we collect you at the hotel for a tour of the colonial centre: the Cathedral and the San Francisco church, the Cabildo on the main square, the Historical Museum of the North and the craft market. Then up to the top of San Bernardo hill for the view over the whole Lerma valley, and out to San Lorenzo, the leafy summer village just outside the city, before returning to the hotel. About 100 km and four hours.
The day is in two parts: by road up, by train at the top. Check-in is at 6:15 in front of Salta railway station, and the first part of the journey is by vehicle along National Route 51 into the Quebrada del Toro, with photo stops at Campo Quijano, the El Toro viaduct and the Yacoraite rock formation, and a country breakfast with the mountain community at El Alfarcito at about 9:25. By 11:40 you are in San Antonio de los Cobres, a mining town on the Puna at 3,775 metres, where you change to the train.
At 12:00 the Train to the Clouds leaves San Antonio for the hour's ride across the Puna to the La Polvorilla viaduct: 224 metres long, 63 metres high, built in the 1920s and 1930s as part of a railway meant to reach Chile. The train stops on the far side at 4,220 metres; you get down for half an hour, there is a flag ceremony and a craft market, and the view goes to the horizon in every direction. Back in San Antonio by 14:45, with free time in the town, and the road back to Salta from 16:30, with a stop at Santa Rosa de Tastil, a pre-Inca town on the old Inca road, for its museum and an afternoon snack. Salta in the evening.
Bilingual hosts on the road and on the train, medical assistance throughout, breakfast and the afternoon snack are part of the train day. The train runs on set days of the week, not daily, and fills early: tell us your dates and we build the three days around it.
Departure. Breakfast at the hotel and transfer to Salta airport for the flight back to Buenos Aires.
Regular service as described; it can also be quoted private, and tailored to your dates, interests and budget.
Tell us your travel dates and how many of you there are. We send a free, no-obligation quote within 24 hours, with hotel options from comfortable to five-star.
No, and it is worth knowing before you book. The journey up from Salta to San Antonio de los Cobres is by road, with stops; the train runs the final stretch across the Puna to the La Polvorilla viaduct and back, about an hour each way. The road section is where you see the Quebrada del Toro and have breakfast with a mountain community; the train is the climax.
No. It runs on set days of the week and it sells out, especially in July and around holidays, so we confirm the train date first and fit your flights and nights around it. Tell us your dates and we tell you which day works.
The viaduct is at 4,220 metres and San Antonio de los Cobres at 3,775. Most people feel a headache or breathlessness at the top and nothing worse; there is medical assistance on board and on the road. Walk slowly at the viaduct, drink water, eat lightly, and avoid alcohol the night before. If you have a heart or lung condition, this is a day to discuss with your doctor first.
The train day is a scheduled service shared with other passengers; that is how the train works. The city tour and the transfers can be regular or private. Tell us when you write and we quote it either way.
Layers. Salta can be warm in the morning and the viaduct close to freezing with wind, at any time of year. A warm jacket, hat, sunglasses and sun cream, and comfortable shoes. Bring a spare battery for the camera: the cold drains them.
Yes. One more night gives you a full day to Salinas Grandes and Purmamarca or to Cafayate; two give you both, which is the four-day Salta & Jujuy tour with the train on top. See also the optional day tours in Salta.
The railway was built between 1921 and 1948 to link Salta with Chile across the Andes, by the American engineer Richard Maury, without rack rails: the line climbs on zigzags, spirals and viaducts, and the La Polvorilla viaduct at the top is the piece of engineering everyone comes to see. The tourist train has run to it since 1972.
Today the day is done the sensible way: by road up the Quebrada del Toro, which lets you stop where the landscape asks for it and have breakfast with the community at El Alfarcito, and by train for the final crossing of the Puna to the viaduct, which is the part no road can give you. It is a long day at high altitude, and a good one.
We include the flights from Buenos Aires, two nights with breakfast, the airport transfers, the city tour and the full train day. Tell us your dates and how many of you are travelling, and we come back within 24 hours with the train day confirmed and the trip quoted as one figure.
The Train to the Clouds and the Solar Train of the Quebrada in one trip, with Cafayate in between.
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The city, Salinas Grandes with Purmamarca and Cafayate, with flights and three nights.
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The Quebrada de Humahuaca, Cachi, Iruya and a night in the peñas, to add to any of these.
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