How Many Days Do You Really Need in Argentina? A Week-by-Week Itinerary Guide for First-Timers
One of the very first questions every traveler asks when planning a trip to Argentina is also the most important one: how much time do I actually need? It’s a fair question — and one that doesn’t have a simple answer. Argentina is the eighth-largest country in the world by land mass, a nation so vast that driving from Buenos Aires to Iguazú Falls alone would take over sixteen hours without stopping, and reaching Ushuaia at the southern tip of Patagonia from the capital would mean more than thirty hours on the road. The distances are not just geographical — they’re emotional. Each region of Argentina feels like a different country entirely, with its own landscapes, cuisine, rhythm, and soul.
At 01Argentina Travel Agency, we’ve been designing itineraries for international travelers for over 20 years. We’ve seen what works, what doesn’t, and what visitors genuinely regret missing. In this guide, we break down exactly what you can achieve with 7 days, 10 days, 2 weeks, and 3 weeks in Argentina — so you can make the most of whatever time you have.
The Honest Truth About Traveling in Argentina
Before diving into the itineraries, there’s one thing every first-time visitor to Argentina needs to understand: internal flights are almost always essential, and almost all of them connect through Buenos Aires. That means that hopping from Iguazú to El Calafate, for instance, often requires a layover in the capital — which adds travel time to your days and needs to be factored into your planning from the very beginning.
Argentina also runs on its own clock. Dinner before 9pm is unusual — locals often don’t sit down until 10pm, and on weekends, restaurants fill up well past midnight. Lunch is typically around 1 or 2pm, and the afternoon merienda — a coffee break with pastries — is a cherished daily ritual. Understanding this rhythm will help you plan your days more naturally and avoid the frustration of arriving somewhere hungry to find everything closed.
With that context in mind, here’s what each trip length realistically allows you to experience.
7 Days in Argentina: Focus Is Your Best Friend
A week in Argentina is absolutely achievable — but the golden rule is this: pick one or two regions and explore them properly, rather than trying to rush across the entire country. Travelers who attempt to see everything in seven days almost always end up spending more time in transit than on the ground.
The most natural combination for a first visit of this length is Buenos Aires paired with either Mendoza or Iguazú Falls. With Buenos Aires as your base for the first three days, you have time to explore the city meaningfully — wandering the cobblestone streets of San Telmo, discovering the colorful neighborhood of La Boca, visiting the iconic Recoleta Cemetery, and immersing yourself in the energy of Palermo. A night at a traditional milonga (tango venue) and a proper asado are essential experiences that no amount of rushing should crowd out.
From Buenos Aires, a short domestic flight connects you to Mendoza in about an hour and a half, or to Puerto Iguazú in about two hours. If wine, mountain landscapes, and the relaxed pace of the Cuyo region appeal to you, Mendoza deserves at least three nights — enough to visit a handful of world-class wineries, perhaps take a day trip into the Andes foothills, and enjoy long lunches that showcase Argentina’s remarkable food culture. If the scale and raw spectacle of nature is what draws you, Iguazú Falls is one of the most awe-inspiring sights on earth, and two full days in the Argentine national park — including the walk along the Lower Circuit, the Upper Circuit, and the legendary viewpoint at Garganta del Diablo (Devil’s Throat) — will leave a permanent mark on your memory.
What won’t fit in 7 days: Patagonia, Salta, and the Argentine northwest all require more time than a single week allows if you want to experience them with any depth.
10 Days in Argentina: The Ideal First Visit
Ten days is the sweet spot for a first visit to Argentina — the minimum amount of time that allows you to see a meaningful variety of the country without feeling like you’re constantly racing between airports. With a well-structured itinerary, 10 days can comfortably accommodate Buenos Aires, Iguazú Falls, and one additional destination — whether that’s Mendoza, Salta, or a brief introduction to Patagonia.
A strong 10-day structure might look like this: three days in Buenos Aires to settle in and explore the capital properly, two days at Iguazú Falls to experience the Argentine side of the waterfalls in full, then three to four days in Mendoza or Salta depending on your interests. If wine country and Andean scenery appeal to you, Mendoza is the natural choice. If dramatic highland landscapes, indigenous culture, colonial architecture, and the extraordinary colored hills of Jujuy excite you more, then flying north to Salta and exploring the region around it — including the Quebrada de Humahuaca, a UNESCO World Heritage Site — is equally rewarding.
The key to making 10 days feel generous rather than rushed is flying between destinations rather than taking overnight buses, and resisting the temptation to add too many stops. Two quality experiences in each destination will stay with you far longer than six rushed ones.
2 Weeks in Argentina: Room to Breathe and Begin to Discover Patagonia
With two weeks to work with, you have time to take in more destinations at a comfortable pace, and Argentina begins to feel genuinely explorable rather than merely sampled. A 14-day itinerary is where Patagonia becomes a realistic part of the conversation — and Patagonia, in the experience of everyone at 01Argentina, is transformative.
A well-balanced two-week route for a first-timer might combine Buenos Aires (three nights), Iguazú Falls (two nights), Salta and the Argentine northwest (three nights), and then a Patagonia segment of five to six nights focused either on El Calafate and the Perito Moreno Glacier, or on Bariloche and the Argentine Lake District — or a combination of both if you’re willing to take two short internal flights in that section.
Perito Moreno is one of the few advancing glaciers in the world, and the experience of standing on the walkways watching and listening to the ice calve into Lago Argentino is unlike anything else Argentina — or indeed the world — offers. A full day at the glacier is the minimum, and many travelers find themselves wishing they had planned for two.
Bariloche, meanwhile, sits on the shore of Nahuel Huapi Lake in northern Patagonia, surrounded by mountains and forests that carry a striking resemblance to the Swiss Alps. The hiking is exceptional, the local chocolate is famously good, and the town serves as a launchpad for some of the most scenic drives and boat crossings in South America. Two to three nights here feel natural and unhurried.
With two weeks, you also have something that 7 or 10-day travelers rarely get: recovery days. A morning to sleep in after a long flight, an unplanned afternoon in a wine bar, time to simply sit in a plaza and watch Argentine life unfold around you. These are the moments that transform a good trip into an unforgettable one.
3 Weeks in Argentina: The Country Begins to Reveal Itself
Three weeks is the length of trip that allows Argentina to stop feeling like a checklist and start feeling like an experience. With roughly twenty days on the ground, you can visit the country’s major destinations at a reasonable, comfortable pace while also weaving in lesser-known places that most short-stay visitors never reach.
A three-week journey might unfold something like this: Buenos Aires and its surroundings for the first few days, then north to Salta and the extraordinary landscapes of Jujuy — the Salinas Grandes salt flats, the seven-colored hills of Purmamarca, the vineyards of Cafayate tucked into a canyon of red rock. From there, a flight east to Iguazú Falls, followed by a return to Buenos Aires before heading south into Patagonia for a full week or more. In Patagonia, three weeks finally allows you to experience multiple destinations without rushing: El Calafate for the glaciers, El Chaltén for some of the finest trekking in the world at the foot of Mount Fitz Roy, and perhaps Ushuaia — the southernmost city on earth — with its national park, Beagle Channel boat trips, and the particular quiet of being at the end of the world.
Three weeks also opens the door to Mendoza, which in a shorter trip sometimes has to be sacrificed in favor of other priorities. Mendoza deserves at least three nights, and when combined with everything else a three-week itinerary offers, it becomes the elegant, unhurried wine-country conclusion to an epic journey through the country.
What About Off-the-Beaten-Path Argentina?
For those returning to Argentina for a second or third visit — or for first-timers with a particular sense of adventure — there are destinations beyond the classic circuit that reward those willing to seek them out.
The Iberá Wetlands in Corrientes province are among the best wildlife-watching destinations in South America, comparable in biodiversity to the Pantanal, and still relatively undiscovered by international tourism. The Cueva de las Manos in Santa Cruz — a UNESCO-listed cave complex with some of the oldest rock art in the Americas — is a profound and moving site that sits just off the road to El Chaltén. Córdoba, Argentina’s second city, has a remarkable colonial center and is surrounded by mountain valleys that feel authentically Argentine in a way that heavily touristed destinations sometimes don’t. And Rosario, the birthplace of Ernesto Che Guevara and Lionel Messi, has a growing food and cultural scene that often surprises travelers who expected to pass through quickly.
These destinations are where 20 years of local expertise really make a difference. They are the places that don’t appear prominently in generic travel guides, but that our team knows intimately — and that our clients consistently tell us were among the most meaningful parts of their journey.
A Quick Reference Guide
7 Days — Buenos Aires + Mendoza or Iguazú. One region done well. Ideal for travelers with limited time who want quality over quantity.
10 Days — Buenos Aires + Iguazú + Mendoza or Salta. The classic first-timer circuit. Enough time to genuinely connect with each destination.
2 Weeks — Buenos Aires + Iguazú + Salta + Introduction to Patagonia (El Calafate or Bariloche). The ideal balance of diversity and depth.
3 Weeks — The full country: Buenos Aires, Salta and Jujuy, Iguazú, Mendoza, and a full Patagonia loop including El Calafate, El Chaltén, and possibly Ushuaia.
Let 01Argentina Build Your Perfect Itinerary
Every traveler is different. Some come to Argentina for the glaciers. Others come for the wine, the steak, the tango, or the trekking. Many come with a vague sense that Argentina is extraordinary — and leave knowing exactly why.
At 01Argentina Travel Agency, we’ve spent more than two decades learning what international travelers from the US, UK, Australia, and Europe need to experience Argentina at its best. We understand the flight connections, the seasonal nuances, the hidden restaurants, and the moments that make a trip genuinely memorable rather than merely efficient.
Whether you have a week or a month, we’ll design an itinerary built around your interests, your pace, and the kind of travel experience you’re looking for — and we’ll handle every detail along the way.
Get in touch with our team today and let’s start planning the Argentina trip you’ve been thinking about.
