Bariloche in Patagonia Argentina

We can arrange a few nights in Bariloche as part of your wider South American travel itinerary or as a stay prior to taking the boat over to Chile or in reverse, after taking the boat from Puerto Varas in Chile to Bariloche. You can also stay here prior to going south to El Calafate (El Chalten, Ushuaia) or after staying in El Calafate. If used as a standalone itinerary we suggest a minimum of 3 nights and other than that, one night if for logistics only.

Bariloche is the largest city in the Argentine lake region with a population of around 130,000 in habitants. It is located on the southern shore of the large lake Nahuel Huapi and is a top ski destination in the winter months. In the summer it is also an attractive holiday location offering lake bathing, water sports and fly fishing. It also offers a number of mountain-trekking trails with simple refugios (operated by the Club Andino Bariloche) for overnight stays.

Lake Side City

It is a rather large, lake-side development that serves as a principal base from which to explore the wilderness of the “Nahuel Huapi” National Park.

History says that the Bariloche of today began when, in 1890, Carlos Wiederhold (a Chilean with German ancestry) settled by the lake Nahuel Huapi and opened a small convenience store. Over the subsequent years other settlers from Austria, Germany, Slovakia, Italy and Chile, constructed their homes near to the store. In the 1930s the city began to take on its appearance of an Alpine village with many buildings constructed from locally-sourced stone and wood, and between1935 to 1940 the town was further urbanized forming its current day grid layout.

It is also the end, or start (whichever way you do it), of the Cruce de Lagos boat cruise that crosses the lakes between Argentina and Chile. The cruise takes a full day passing through scenery of outstanding natural beauty, with an option to overnight en-route beside a Chilean lake. A visit to Bariloche is also an option from Termas de Puyehue, in Chile, as it is close to the Argentine border.

Bariloche enjoys a cool-temperate climate with dry, often windy summers and rainy (snow on the mountains) winters. In the summer months of December to March the days are usually sunny and windy with temperatures between 18°C to 26°C, but cold nights (2°C to 9°C).