The road west from Salta climbs out of a green valley, up a mountainside in hairpin bends to a pass at 3,348 metres, and comes down the other side into a desert of giant cacti with a snow-covered peak at the end of it. At the end of the road is Cachi, a white colonial village under the Nevado. The drive is the day; the village is the reward.
Cachi is about 160 kilometres from Salta and the road takes most of the morning, because it goes over the mountains rather than around them. It leaves the Lerma valley on Route 68, turns west onto Route 33 and follows the Quebrada de Escoipe up through forest and farmed terraces to the Cuesta del Obispo, the Bishop’s Slope, where the road climbs the mountain in a long series of bends to the Piedra del Molino pass.
Beyond the pass the landscape changes completely: the Recta de Tin Tin, a dead-straight stretch of road laid on the line of an Inca road, runs across a high plain of cardon cacti inside Los Cardones National Park, with the Nevado de Cachi ahead. The day starts early from your hotel in Salta, with a guide, and can run as a regular service or as a private one for your group alone.
After the Quebrada de Escoipe the road climbs the mountainside in bend after bend, with the valley and its farms dropping away below, to the Piedra del Molino at 3,348 metres. Condors are often seen along this stretch, and the stop at the top is for the view back over everything you have just driven up.
Over the pass the road runs dead straight for kilometres across a high plain of cardon cacti, some of them centuries old and several metres tall, inside Los Cardones National Park. At the end of the plain, white against the sky, is the Nevado de Cachi, 6,380 metres.
A colonial village of white houses and cobbled streets at the foot of the Nevado, in the Calchaqui Valley. The church of San Jose on the square is built of adobe, with its ceiling and confessionals made from cardon wood, and is a National Historic Monument. Beside it the archaeological museum tells the story of the people who farmed this valley for thousands of years before the Spanish. Free time for lunch and the craft stalls.
The return is by the same road, down the Cuesta del Obispo with the afternoon light on the valley, arriving in Salta in the evening.
The pass is at 3,348 metres and Cachi itself at about 2,300. Most travellers feel no more than a little breathlessness at the top; walk slowly at the stops, drink water and keep lunch light. If you have a heart or lung condition, ask your doctor before booking a day at altitude.
The weather changes with the height: warm in Salta, cool and windy at the pass, dry and sunny in the valley. Layers, a hat, sunglasses and sun cream. In summer, afternoon storms can close the Cuesta del Obispo for a few hours; the guide knows the road and adjusts the day.
No. It is a day we add to your Salta package if you decide to stay a little longer. 01Argentina arranges the whole trip — flights, hotel, transfers and the days you choose — and this is one of the days you can choose. When you write, we send you the detail of the day for your dates.
It can be. The day runs as a regular service or as a private one, with the vehicle and the guide for your group alone. Tell us when you write and we quote it either way.
Yes. The day is guided in English.
A full day: early pick-up and back in Salta in the evening, around 320 kilometres there and back on a mountain road, with stops all the way. It is a day in the vehicle with short walks, not a hike.
Cafayate, already in the Salta & Jujuy package, is the wine valley to the south, reached through the red canyon of the Quebrada de las Conchas. Cachi is the high road to the west: the pass, the cacti and the colonial village. They are different landscapes, and travellers with the time do both.
All year. April to November is dry with clear skies and the best view of the Nevado; summer is green on the Cuesta del Obispo, with the chance of an afternoon storm. The cardon flowers in spring.
Tell us when you are travelling and how many days you have in Salta, and we will come back within 24 hours with the whole trip laid out — this day included if it fits.
Flights, hotel, transfers, the city tour, Salinas Grandes and Cafayate, quoted as one price.
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Five folk music houses in one evening, with a dance lesson, empanadas, wine and dinner.
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