Tourism in Argentina

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Patagonia
(dark blue)

Iguazú Falls, the Humid Pampas, and the Argentine Sea. Visitors enjoy the culture, customs and Argentine cuisine
.

The Argentine territory stretches from the highest peaks of the

Pampeanas mountains and the temperate Atlantic beaches and its extensive coastlines. The huge distances require in most cases air travel. The Misiones rainforest, Argentine Yungas, and areas of the Andean Patagonia are scientifically considered as biodiversity hotspots large areas worldwide. The great biodiversity and a large number of different landscapes and climates
make Argentina a diverse country.

Argentina received 5.80 million tourists in 2011 according to the

World Tourism Organization, the first most visited country in South America and the second most visited of all of Latin America, after Mexico.[2]

Main destinations

Buenos Aires, La Reina del Plata
  • City of Buenos Aires is in the midst of a tourism boom, according to the World Travel & Tourism Council,[3] it reveals strong growth for Argentina Travel and Tourism in 2007 [4] and in coming years, and the prestigious travel and tourism publication; Travel + Leisure Magazine, a monthly publication leader in the worldwide market of travel magazines, travelers voted Buenos Aires the second most desirable city to visit after Florence, Italy.[5] Buenos Aires, regarded as the “Paris of South America,” offers elegant architecture, exquisite cuisine, legendary nightlife, and fashionable shopping.

The most popular tourist sites are found in the historic city core, comprising

Cabildo, to the west, which was renovated during the construction of Avenida de Mayo
and Julio A. Roca. To the south is the Congreso de la Nación (National Congress), which currently houses the Academia Nacional de la Historia (National Academy of History). Lastly, to the northwest, is City Hall.

Avenida de Mayo links the Casa Rosada with the

Plaza del Congreso, which features a number of monuments and sculptures, including one of Auguste Rodin's few surviving original casts of "The Thinker
".

The Manzana de las Luces ("Illuminated Block") area features the San Ignacio church, the Colegio Nacional Buenos Aires and the old city council building (1894 to 1931). This area features tunnels and catacombs, which crossed underneath the Plaza de Mayo during colonial times. In the neighborhood of San Telmo,

Parque Lezama
is a few blocks south. The Ayres Porteños Hostel is a very famous hostel and a tourist attraction, it is decorated and painted by artists from La Boca and possesses a unique collection of local paintings among its walls.

The borough of

Cementerio de la Recoleta, where Eva Perón
's crypt can be visited, among those of many other Argentine historical and cultural figures.

  • Iguazú river flows into 275 waterfalls, plunging more than 70 meters with a deafening noise over 2.7  km. As this huge volume of water reaches the bottom, the spray rises, and rainbows are formed in the sky. A variety of the original fauna and flora completes the setting for the waterfalls within the protection of the Iguazú National Park. This park, located eighteen kilometers from Puerto Iguazú, was declared Natural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO. The famous falls are inside this park. The frontier with Brazil goes through the Garganta del Diablo (Devil's Throat). The National Park is full of the exotic subtropical vegetation which surrounds the falls and has 2,000 plant species - gigantic trees, ferns, lianas, orchids, - 400 bird species - parrots, hummingbirds, toucans - jaguars and yacarés (caimans) from the area. Its most impressive fall is called Garganta del Diablo. Other important is called Dos Hermanas, Bossetti or Álvar Núñez in honor of its discoverer, Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca
    .
Church of San Francisco in Salta, with the highest church bell of South America
  • San Antonio de Los Cobres
    . The whole Northern provinces combine natural attractions with suitable areas for diverse activities such as mountaineering, trekking, horseback riding, mountain biking, ecotourism, bird-watching, rural tourism, archaeological trips, sailing, canoeing and windsurfing.
The Perito Moreno Glacier in summer, located in the World Heritage Los Glaciares National Park
The city of Ushuaia in summer, in the Province of Tierra del Fuego, Antarctica and South Atlantic Islands
Moon Valley
  • Champaqui hill
    . These hills are fertile valleys, deserts and salt mines. All along the way northward, many 17th and 18th century chapels and farmhouses inherited from the Jesuits can be found.

The Jesuit estancias (large cattle ranches) in Córdoba are a singular sample of the productive organization of the religious members of Compañía de Jesús in the country, and this can still be seen in a preserved architecture. Though history demonstrated that the farms were acquired for economic purposes in order to support schools and universities, the estancias were of course used “for missionary purposes, thus turning into religious centers.” Estancias in Jesús María, Caroya, Santa Catalina, La Candelaria and Alta Gracia can be visited along a 250 km circuit. These farms that date back to the 17th century —together with the Jesuit Block in the City of Córdoba— are all national historical monuments that were declared World Cultural Heritage in 2000.

Sea lions on the shores of Patagonia
The Quebrada de Humahuaca view from Purmamarca in the province of Jujuy

The

glacial lakes; Andean Patagonic national parks, etc. constitute the tourist corridor called the Andean Footprint (Huella Andina) which is largely covered by National Route 40
.

Other destinations

Two of the beaches of Mar del Plata during summer tourism season
Aconcagua with snow. Located in the province of Mendoza, it is the highest mountain in the world outside the Himalayas, and continues to rise.[7]

adventure tourism. Whales-watching in Puerto Madryn
on the coast of Argentine Patagonia. Other very attractive destinations are the valley of
humahuacas
. In La Rioja, the path of Riojan warlords, with Olta and Malanzán as main cities. In the first are monuments to Chacho Penaloza and the tango Caminito, inspired there, while in Malanzán is the birthplace of Facundo Quiroga.[8][9] It can also visit the oldest city in Argentina, the mother of cities
Hot springs of Río Hondo
.

Are very attractive traditional events like the fair of

Luján and Punta Corral in Jujuy, the parade of faith to the Difunta Correa. An ample diversity of natural landscapes and dramatic contrasts such as the densely vegetated Yunga forests, or the mountains, hills and brooks of the Calchaquí Valleys, provide great conditions for fishing for sport fishing. Sport fishing of sea and river (of trout and sea bass in the Fueguan city of Río Grande, or dorado in Paso de la Patria, Juramento, Lipeo, Iruya and Bermejo). For it part -it has been said- Ushuaia is a privileged access to the Argentine Antarctica, the picturesque Route of the Adobe and the Tatón Dunes in the Province of Catamarca; rugged adventure tourism in the provinces of Santiago del Estero and La Pampa or in the Yungas and Calchaquí Valleys, the high Andean desert and jungles of Chaco, the northern Entre Ríos (Montiel Forest
) and Misiones.

The Province of Buenos Aires is the most populous and largest province of Argentina (if territorial claims in the Antarctica and South Atlantic islands are not taken into account). The nation's rail and road network fans out from Buenos Aires and into the province, the area centered on the Pampas. This region is characterized by its estancias (large cattle ranches) the oldest of them being featured in architectural styles, located in the middle of the Pampas. The province is also known by its many and different beaches in the coast of the Atlantic Ocean (the most visited being Mar del Plata). The hilly region of Tandil and Ventana offers golf courses, paragliding rides and trekking. They are very different landscapes from each other and distant from the mouth of the Paraná River, which islands are also visited by tourists.

Many ruins of the ancient

Jesuit missions - some of which have been covered by the jungle - are located near Posadas. The most well-known ruins are in San Ignacio Miní, 56 km away from the province's capital. The ones in Candelaria, Loreto, Santa Ana and Santa María are also very interesting. These Jesuit reductions were declared World Heritage by the UNESCO
.

Fifty kilometers to the north of Colón lies El Palmar National Park, housing the last samples of Yatay palm trees, which are almost eight centuries old. The city of Concordia is connected to the city of Salto (Uruguay) through the Salto Grande hydroelectric plant.

The

Guaraní
, Iberá means "Shining water". Its lagoons cover 31,500 hectares, its marshlands 52,000, and its inlands 260,000. This eco-system which gives life to turtles, yacarés (caimans), monkeys, swamp deer, capybaras - the largest rodent in the world - and up to 400 bird species, besides an extraordinary flora, extends over one million hectares.

The city of

Monumento Nacional a la Bandera (National Monument to the Flag), where the Argentine National Flag
was raised for the first time. Parque Independencia has statues, a racecourse, and the Provincial History Museum.

Punta Tombo is a coastal location where abundant wildlife congregates-specifically the seasonal breeding ground of large numbers of Magellanic penguins.[10]

penguins and orcas
are also well represented.

Mount Fitz Roy, and the Petrified Forests National Monument, as well as the vast patagonian
plateau.

Main circuits

Overall Argentina has the following tourist circuits (north to south):

Carnivals

Province of San Luis.[12]

World Heritage

Curutchet House, World Heritage Site in La Plata
Main article: List of World Heritage Sites in Argentina

These are the UNESCO's World Heritage Sites in Argentina:[13][14]

Ethical traveler destination

Argentina has been included in 2010, 2011 and 2012 in the list of "The Developing World's 10 Best Ethical Destinations". This is an annual ranking produced by Ethical Traveler magazine, which is based on studies of developing nations which attempt to identify the best tourism destinations using categories such as environmental protection, social welfare, and human rights.[15][16]

Safety and security

The U.S. Department of State warns travelers in Argentina that "drivers frequently ignore traffic laws[17] and vehicles often travel at excessive speeds... traffic accidents are the primary threat to life and limb in Argentina."[18] Argentina has the highest traffic mortality rate in South America, with Argentine drivers causing 20 deaths each day (about 7,000 a year), with more than 120,000 people injured or maimed each year. These deaths have included tourists from various parts of the world.[19]

See also

References

  1. ^ Ministry of Tourism of Argentina: Regions Archived 2007-04-16 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ World Tourism Organization (2008). "UNWTO World Tourism Barometer June 2008" (PDF). UNWTO. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 19, 2008. Retrieved August 5, 2008.Volume 6 No. 2 Page 30
  3. ^ www.wttc.travel Retrieved on 10 March 2008
  4. ^ WTTC reveals strong growth for Argentina
  5. ^ Travel +Leisure Magazine worldsbest/2007 Archived 2009-09-18 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved on 10 March 2008
  6. ^ "Official website of "The North" touristic region". Archived from the original on 2013-04-07. Retrieved 2011-08-21.
  7. ^ "Aconcagua : Climbing, Hiking & Mountaineering : SummitPost". www.summitpost.org. Retrieved 2017-03-16.
  8. ^ "El Pucara de Aconquija". www.oni.escuelas.edu.ar. Archived from the original on 8 September 2003. Retrieved 15 January 2022.
  9. ^ "Aconquija". Archived from the original on 2015-09-23. Retrieved 2015-08-01.
  10. ^ C. Michael Hogan (2008) Pali Aike, The Megalithic Portal, ed. A. Burnham
  11. ^ "Yahoo". Yahoo.
  12. ^ "It works APA01e!!!". Carnavalderio.sanluis.gov.ar. Retrieved 2019-05-15.
  13. ^ Centre, UNESCO World Heritage. "Argentina". UNESCO World Heritage Centre.
  14. ^ "Los Alerces National Park". Paris: UNESCO. Retrieved 24 September 2017.
  15. ^ Jane Esberg, Jeff Greenwald and Natalie Lefevre. "The Developing World's 10 Best Ethical Destinations". Ethical Traveler. Retrieved 2010-12-11.
  16. ^ "The Developing World's 10 Best Ethical Destinations: 2012". Ethical Traveler. 2012-01-05. Retrieved 2012-01-26.
  17. ^ A non-profit working for traffic safety in Argentina noted that "drivers did not respect the red traffic light approximately 1,903,560 times every day" and that although drivers knew the dangers of drinking and driving "83% (of survey respondents) admitted to 'driving after drinking alcohol'".
  18. ^ "U.S Department of State Country Guide". Archived from the original on 2006-09-03. Retrieved 2017-06-25.
  19. ^ See Luchemos por la Vida - Asociación Civil

Sources

External links

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Argentina.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tourism in Argentina.


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