Mendoza
A wine country in a desert, watered by channels older than the Spanish arrival — where no tasting is planned without a driver
- When to go
- October 19° · 4 rainy days
- Per day
- €€price 2 of 5
- How many days
- 3days
- For you
- 6 questions →
- Nearest airport
- 8 km Mendoza
- Right now
Mendoza is a desert that grows wine, and it does so thanks to irrigation channels the Huarpe dug before the Spanish arrived. Today it is South America's largest wine region, with three valleys that do not fit into one day and one rule: whoever tastes does not drive.
Three valleys are three different days and three different wines. Maipú is nearest the city, flat and full of old bodegas — this is where you go by bicycle, and the only place where that makes sense. Luján de Cuyo is the middle band at around a thousand metres, with the best-known malbec houses. The Uco valley is the highest at up to fifteen hundred metres, the newest and the dearest — the wines are fresher and the wineries look like museums.
Tastings are booked in advance and that is not a formality: the larger houses take appointments only and many close on Sundays. The price depends on the house, and is almost always deducted from a purchase. Lunch at a winery is its own item and runs three hours — plan it as the afternoon, not as a break.
Harvest is in March, the best and the most expensive month: Vendimia, the harvest festival, takes over the city on the first weekend of March and there is not a room free. The rest of the year is quieter; winter from June to August closes some wineries but reveals the snow on the Andes — Aconcagua, the highest peak outside Asia at 6,961 metres, is seen from the road towards Chile, three hours from town.
Guides for Mendoza
Shorter, practical pages for one concrete question each — how many days, how much money, where to sleep, where to escape the city.
Mendoza in 2 days
→Day one at the end of the tram line and on a bike until six, day two 130 kilometres south, with a lunch that has to be…
What to see in Mendoza
Maipú by bicycle
The nearest valley, flat, with wineries ten kilometres apart — La Rural and Trapiche are two of the older houses on the route. Bikes are hired by the day and this is the only way to taste without a driver. Three houses in a day is the upper limit you will remember.
The Uco valley
Ninety minutes from town, at a thousand to fifteen hundred metres, with the Andes visible from every yard. The newest wineries and the freshest malbec — Zuccardi and Salentein are two that take visitors every day; go on a tour or with a driver, because it is far.
Aconcagua
The highest peak in the Americas and the highest outside Asia, 6,961 metres. It is visible from the provincial park entrance without climbing anything, three hours along the road to Chile. The same road passes Puente del Inca, a natural bridge over a thermal spring.
Lunch at a winery
Three hours, seven courses against seven glasses, with the vines and the Andes in front of you. Booked weeks ahead at the better-known houses, and the rest of the day is cleared for it.
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The Huarpe channels
An irrigation system older than the Spanish, without which nothing would grow here — Mendoza gets around two hundred millimetres of rain a year, desert numbers. The street trees in the city grow off the same channels.
The Cacheuta hot springs
An hour uphill, warm pools in the canyon of the Mendoza river. Go after a winery day or instead of one; open in winter too, when it is best.
Two things you probably did not know
The vineyards around Mendoza lie between eight hundred and fifteen hundred metres, among the highest in the world. There is almost no rain, so the vines are watered by channels dug by peoples who were there before the Spanish.
Aconcagua near Mendoza is the highest peak outside Asia at 6,961 metres. It can be climbed without technical gear, but half of those who try do not make it. The altitude stops them, not the terrain.
Ready for Mendoza?
Within reach from here
Places sorted by straight-line distance from Mendoza — day trips or weekends.
Argentina
→A country 3,700 kilometres long, where the far south is seen in December and the whales and the snow in August
Chile
→A country 4,300 kilometres long and 180 wide — driest desert on earth to glacier, without a single turn
Brazil
→A country where the flight between two cities is often cheaper, and always faster, than the overnight coach
All 277 places we write about sit on one page — narrow them down by continent, country, price or what you are travelling for.
Within reach from here: Santiago, Valparaíso and Bariloche
See how much of that actually suits you — or pin Mendoza if you have been.
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