North Argentina is an extremely mountainous region featuring absolutely stunning mountain drives filled with adrenaline and vertigo. On these steep mountain slopes, called cuestas, you are challenged to take on sharp curves, frequent gear changing and minding the other traffic by honking at dead angles and measuring the passage for vehicles approaching head-on. If that is not exciting enough, just imagine marveling at the wonderful landscapes of Argentina and deep canyons and cliffs that on more than one occasion will take your breath away.
To prepare you for your high mountain drives, Dos Manos Travel Agency has compiled a list of the top 5 Mountain Tours in North Argentina, with their characteristics and whereabouts:
- Cuesta del Portezuelo(Catamarca)
- Cuesta del Obispo(Salta)
Bordered on one side by the Sierra de Ancasti and the other by extremely deep ravines, the Cuesta del Portezuelo offers amazing sights of the natural beauty of the Central Valley of Cajamarca. The best way to get there is taking the turnoff on National Highway 38. On extremely narrow and zigzagging roads you will climb from 700 m.a.s.l. to the summit at 1800 m., where you have a good chance to see condors circling around you. The spectacular drive itself offers plenty of opportunities to stop besides the road to take in the magnificent scenery, which is especially beautiful in the flowering season.

The mountain drive is reached 57 km. from Salta, on the Provincial Route 33. A wide road that is under permanent conservation goes up the slope from Chicoana at 1270 m.a.s.l. to its maximum altitude at the Piedra del Molino (the Mill Stone) at 3340 m., in the National Park Cardones. Meters before the summit there is a viewpoint where you can see the dizzying hillside in its entire glory. When weather conditions are favorable you can observe the Valle Encantado (the Enchanted Valley) with its many multicolored hills, a lake situated between high meadows and there are even cave paintings. When you keep going on a road known as the Recta Tin Tin, made during the Inca period, you arrive at the picturesque town of Cachi and eventually to Seclantás, very famous for its artisanal production of ponchos.













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