New Day – New City. Bariloche, Argentina

March 21, 2024 · by Dano · in Bariloche

I know, in my last post I said we were going to El Chalten, and we did. The only problem was the weather, clear in El Calafate, cloudy in El Chalen. No chance to see the mountain.

We did stop for a coffee and an alfajore cookie. If you’ve had one of these cookies, you know why we stopped to have one. Very tasty! Two shortbread cookies with caramel sandwiched in the middle, yum! And we had the chance to meet a nice young lady from Switzerland who was touring around Argentina for a month or so. She told us she had been there for 4 days and saw Mount Fitz Roy once, and only for about an hour. Guess she wanted to make us feel better about driving over 2hrs for a cookie.

So, without further ado, on to San Carlos de Bariloche (pronounced, “Bare uh low chay”). Short flight, about 2hrs from El Calafate. Bariloche is known as the “Little Switzerland” of Argentina with Swiss-styled homes and buildings, and chocolate. There are more chocolate shops here than pubs in Dublin, and I can tell you, that’s a lot of chocolate shops!

Situated on Lago Nahuel Huapi in the national park of the same name, Bariloche owes its fame to skiing. Apparently, this is the place to be when winter hits and you’re yearning for the ski scene. But if hiking is your thing, Nahuel Huapi is what you’re looking for. Tons of trails through some beautiful scenery, and a few lakes to enjoy as well.

Bariloche across the lake

The city

This time we’ve rented a cabin for our week stay in Bariloche. The home has two bedrooms, bath, living room, dining area, kitchen and laundry room. The second bedroom is really a loft area with three beds. We also rented a car here so we can travel around the lake on our own. The car rental in El Calafate was easy and traffic not so bad. Looks pretty much the same here in Bariloche.