San Carlos de Bariloche is a captivating Argentine city, located between the high Andes and the plains of Patagonia. This place is sometimes called an Argentine or a South-American Switzerland thanks to astonishing beauty of its lakes and forests, purity and transparency of air, architecture and delicious chocolate produced here. It is really hard to describe the beauty of the Andes: silent thousand-year-old woods, mirror lakes with greenery coming down to them, granite mountain peaks and blue glacier glades... And in the south, Fire Land and Ushuaia open the doors to boundless and mysterious Antarctic.



Bariloche is one of the most famous cities in this region. In 1931in order to attract more tourists it was decided to establish one of the country’s biggest national parks here. The plan worked out: for six months every year, Bariloche is turned into a lively resort with a unique Alpine atmosphere.

Summer attracts crowds of tourists here, who love walking along lush forests, observing picturesque glaciers and mountains. In wintertime, well-off lovers of mountain sports come to the city from all over South America, ride on the Andes’ slopes and fill local restaurants in the evenings. However, other seasons which are traditionally considered to be dull, might turn out to be even more colourful ones: in spring the valleys next to the lake are full of flowers and greenery while in autumn the colour of the forests changes into red, orange, hazel and yellow.

The city is located on the picturesque shore of the Nahuel Huapi lake and is surrounded with notched brown mountains. Look into the distance, and you will see Tronador mountain– the highest peak in the region (3 554 meters high).

Active tourism and sports are not the only things to do here as there are also numerous attractions found on this territory. Among the things that might interest you are: Templo Mayor and El Centro Civico complex (created of cypress, larch and tuff stone), Capilla de San Eduardo, national monument and a cathedral Catedral de Bariloche, a monument to Julio A. Roca (the person who was in the head of forces during the desert war that almost lead to extirpation of the Indian tribes), Post Office building which is now an exhibition hall, municipality building with huge tower clock, City tourist centre, rich Patagonia Museum and Sarmiento library, Nahuel Huapi Estancia where a house of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid’s hideout is found. The other attractions are Nahuel Huapi National Park, Los Arrayanes National Park, arrayana forest and El Boliche Viejo where general store was located.

Patagonia Museum will introduce you to the history of this region from the days when Indians lived here, smeared with fat from head to food not to feel cold, and up to the arrival of the white explorers and military expeditions.

The very “salt" of each stay is a visit to arrayana forest – the myrtle grove. Places where these trees grow could be counted on the fingers of one’s hand: Spain, Chile, Columbis. But even there they are rare to see, while in Bariloche they occupy 12 hectares of land.