Bariloche

**WHERE**: Southern Argentina
**WHY**: Gateway to Patagonia, amazing hiking.
**TIME**: 4 nights

1) Sendero de los Arrayanes

1 hour round trip

Our guide to Argentina

Sendero de Los Arrayanes is an easy walk through the forest. Think Bambi, Lord of the Rings, and Harry Potter all rolled into one - this walk bespeaks magic and enchantment. Suitable for any level of fitness or hiking experience, the Arrayanes trail will take about 2 hours to fully complete. The path is largely completed on boardwalks through dense thickets or the Arrayanes tree, past the beautiful shoreline of Lago Moreno and past several deserted beaches. If the day is sunny, you should also be afforded some amazing views from the Moreno viewpoint of Cerro Lopez - a genuinely breathtaking sight. To get to the trail head catch one of the many buses from the centre of Bariloche heading to Llao Llao (bus no. 20). The bus should take about 20-30 minutes to arrive at Puerto Panuelo. What you want to do is get off at the second last stop, not at Hotel Llao Llao itself - tell the bus drive to stop at at Puerto Pañuelo. After alighting from the bus walk the 300 m back down the hill until you arrive at the 'Green Christ' and a small car park on your left hand side. The trail starts here. Follow the boardwalk through the forest, trailing for about 2 km. Easily worth a short day trip from Bariloche. You’ll see lakes, gorgeous densely wooded forest land, and some distant snow-capped mountains.

2) Cerro Llao Llao

3 hour return

This one comes in at number two due to it easily being tacked on to the Sendero de Los Arrayanes route (the one you just read about).To start this hike you need to follow the road from the end of the Sendero de los Arrayanes for about 5 minutes - the start of the trail will be signposted. The trail starts off flat at first, until it turns into a gentle incline and after about 30 - 40 minutes of hiking you’ll come to a turn on the left with a sign marking it as the route to 'Cerro Llao Llao'. The trail zig-zags to the top & takes a further 25 - 30 minutes from here. You’ll be given an amazing views over the Nahuel Haupi Lake. Once at the top you have to return via the same route either turning right at the bottom of the zig-zags back the way you came or turning left and follow the trail to Villa Tacul for a beautiful beach. I’d recommend the Cerro Llao Llao hike to hikers with some degree of physical fitness - the ascents are a bit harder than what you’ll find on Sendero de los Arrayanes.

3) Cerro Bella Vista

3 hour round trip

10 kms

Climbing Cerro Bella Vista is a worthwhile stop-over for any visitor to Bariloche. This outing will only take a day, and by the completion of the steep walk uphill you’ll be afforded a perfect 360° view of the peaks surrounding you and the photogenic valleys below. On the hike you’ll ascend about 800 metres - so the hike certainly requires at least a moderate amount of physical fitness. However, the peak can easily be climbed in a single day. The easiest way to get to the trailhead is via taxi - take any from town (expect to pay about $5 US), all the drivers in town should know where to drop you off at.

Once on the trail simply follow it along until you come to the signpost pointing to Cerro Bella Vista, follow this trail to the right as is climbs through the forest. The trail should become steadily steeper as you go - you should pass by the tree line after an hour or so and then arrive on the ridge. Continue along the ridge to Cerro Bella Vista. Enjoy the view and then return the way you came. I’d certainly recommend for you to pack all of the water that you might need - I don’t recall seeing any easily available streams along the way.

4) Cerro Campanario

2 hour round trip

Sure, this viewpoint is accessible via cable car from outside of Bariloche. Sure, the cable car is affordable and fast. However, the day hike to the summit of Cerro Campanario is absolutely worth your while - just imagine your smugness when you emerge at the summit, glorious after your physical exertion, free to judge the lazy few whom took the cable car. Yep. definitely worth it for the smugness.

To summit Cerro Campanario catch the number 10 or 20 bus which leaves from the centre of town every 20 minutes along Bustillo Ave - ride this until you get to the 17.5km mark on the highway. Once there the chairlift should be fairly obvious - the trail starts on the right hand side about 50m to the right of the lift. There are toilets both at the base of chair lift and at the top next to the cafe. The trail up is fairly steep, but over pretty quickly. You can expect to be hiking for about 40 minutes to get up there - however, the views are unparalleled - the town will look miniature and you can enjoy it all the more for having worked to get there.

5) Bosque Arrayanes

5 hour round trip

OK, this one is slightly stretching the term “day hike”, but, the hike through Bosque Arrayanes is absolutely worth heading a little farther afield. The hike actually commences from a village outside of Bariloche, Villa la Angostura, there are currently 8 buses per day running from Bariloche to Villa la Angostura, with the first one at 8am. (expect to pay about $4 USD). Once you arrive in the Villa la Angostura bus terminal, walk back onto the main road to the Tourist Information Office. Grab a map for Los Arrayanes National Park, a boat schedule and a local bus timetable. The way this hike works is that you are heading out onto the a small peninsula from the village of Angostura. There is only one trail leading from the town - so if you decide to do a return trip you’ll be hiking the exact same route twice The trail through Los Arrayanes National Park is 12 km one way. I’d recommend for you to to take the catamaran one way from Bahia de la Flecha ($18 USD) and walk back along the trail to the village. See the map to the side for a better understanding of how this looks.

It should be impossible to get lost walking the trail through the Arrayanes national park - there is only one trail - just don’t leave it. The trail is mostly shaded due to overhead tree cover. There’s no water sources on the trail, so take enough.

One note to consider is to ensure that you leave enough time to get back to Villa la Angostura to catch a bus back to Bariloche - when I was there the last bus left at 7 pm. However, depending on the season you’ll definitely want to be off the trail well before nightfall. This is Patagonia remember.