Full Day Excursion to Cafayate from Salta
Description
- Departure from Salta by route 68 to Cafayate, about 180 km. Travel the Lerma Valley until entering the Quebrada de las Conchas Nature Reserve, a 90 km path in the middle of a valley surrounded by colorful hills, where orange and red predominate. Here we will find geoforms carved by wind and water over millions of years (Devil's Throat, Amphitheater, Castles, Parrot House, Friar, Windows, Yesera, Obelisk, Toad). - Arrive in the village of Cafayate and visit a winery and taste its famous Torrontés wine. - Free time for lunch (at the expense of the passenger) and tour the village, you can visit the Wine Museum (entrance not included). - Then you start the return to Salta through the same ravine, which will give us a completely different landscape than the one seen in the outbound journey, due to the position of the sun.
Tour Options
Itinerary
Cafayate is a town in the province of Salta, in northwestern Argentina. It is located in the Calchaquíes valleys, an area known for its reddish rock formations. There are several vineyards in the area and, in the town, the Museum of Vine and Wine explains the production process of this product. Near the town square is the Rodolfo Bravo Regional and Archaeological Museum, with objects from local excavations, and the 19th century Cathedral of Our Lady of the Rosary.
The Calchaquí valley is bathed by the Calchaquí river that runs through the valley from north to south and, further south, by the Santa María river from south to north. Both converge next to the town of Cafayate forming the Las Conchas river. The Calchaquí Valley in all its extension, is strewn with ancient towns and pre-Columbian and colonial sites, largely intact, such as Cachi, Amaicha del Valle, Santa María, Cafayate, San Carlos, Angastaco, Molinos, Seclantás, among others.
The Devil's Throat is not one of the Quebrada de las Conchas formations, it is the most surprising. The huge reddish rock walls form a vertical tube similar to the devil's mouth. At the end of the tube you can see the blue sky of Cafayate. It is a must stop on the way to Cafayate to admire this work of nature. References on how it originated inform us that 15 million years ago the sea entered the continent for the last time leaving behind the landscape as we admire it today, the erosion of wind and water also contributed its own. Fossil remains of seashells and fish have been found. It is worth stopping and touring the Devil's Throat, you can climb its walls very carefully.
Highlights
What's included
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
- Infants are required to sit on an adult’s lap
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
Reviews(3)
The bus ride is long, but the views were amazing. We stopped at several spots along the way, which were full of other buses and tourists. Then we got to Cafayate at 2pm, which is when all the wineries are closed for siestas. It would make more sense to go direct to Cafayate so that you arrive at 12 noon when the wineries are open, and then check out sights on the way home (when they were empty of other tourists! ). Are guide was great and he spoke very good Spanish and English.
We received something completely different to what is advertised. The description of the tour specifically mentions that This tour/activity will have a maximum of 15 travelers, however, we were placed in a huge bus with more than 30 people. In addition, the tour description mentioned (this has being taken out) that the visit to the winery was to El Esteco (high end winery), and we were taken to a smaller winery and it was evident that the visit was under a low budgt tour. In short, we paid for a smaller group tour that would visit a more high end winery, and we ended up receiving a large group low cost tour. After researching we found out that the price of the tour we got was less than USD$40 per person, and we paid almost USD$93,5 per person. We contacted the tour operator Luna Roja and explained the situation and they never contacted us back with a solution.
Dear Marianella, First of all, thank you very much for your message! Its unfortunated that your experience was different as expected. For sure, this is very helpful for us to always improve our service and make necessary adjustment in the product (some changes are already have been managed, as you saw by yourself). Geting back to your feedback, as we tried to explain you in one of our conversation by phone at the day of the tour, that due to operational reason the tour has suffered some changes. We do our best to maintain the level of the service and offered you 2nd winery visit of similar level as Esteco on the afternoon. Regarding size of the shared tours - transportation unit assigned is accordingly to the number of reservation we receive. Its true that we allow maximum number of 15 persons for a single booking, but its not the maximum number of passengers allowed to do the tour. We take very seriously all opinions, and we can assure you that we will double check your case and perform all necessary measures.
