I'm heading to South America with my wife in November and trying to work out where we want to go. We're starting in Buenos Aires and then heading to Iguazu. Our initial plan was then to visit El Calafate and Bariloche before heading over to Chile, but the AR airfares are a bit crazy (especially FTE-BRC).

So, rather than visit the Lakes District in both Argentina and Chile, I think it would be cheaper to go from El Calafate to Ushuaia and then across to Chile from there.

The question: How do Bariloche and Ushuaia compare as destinations, given that we would be visiting the Lakes District in Chile as well?

Steve

Lots more to do in Bariloche.... and IMHO overall scenery is much nicer. Ushuaia has more "wow" factor to some because its one of the southern-most cities in the world... but IMO Bariloche beats it hands down. What are your interests...?

Spent 10 days in Baricloche in March. We are pretty well travelled and have been to some wonderful places in the world. Bariloche, well not actually the town, which is OK, but the surrounding lakes, hills, scenery is just some of the most beautiful in the world.

We really hit lucky on the weather, cool mornings, but wonderful sunny days, spent time on the lakes, time walking, time eating and drinking. Excellent value. Lovely people. Stayed at Llao Llao, we thought it was a truly excellent hotel, not the cheapest, but as we are Brits anything priced in $$'s at the moment gets our vote.

Before you head out to Argentina stalk this forum, there are some great tips here, it was our first time in Argentina (not first in SA) and we learned a lot from here, look out for Gaucho100K's posts, he's the man, lots of little tips we picked up from his posts really helped us, like currency exchange at EZE.

Baricloche, go, it's wonderful. ^

Oh, if you are travelling around the country try and get flights on LAN Argentina (4M) rather the Aerolineas Argentina (AR), we had two internal flights on AR, one time shifted by 90 minutes, one cancelled, evidently that's pretty normal.

Bariloche or the area around San Martin de Los Andes is a beautiful part of Argentina it reminds me of Scotland.
It is also a good idea to take an overnight "coche cama" bus service from BA to that area as it is a lot cheaper than flying and very comfortable indeed - akin to Business class on an airline - big reclining seats with food and drink as well as entertainment all included in the price.^

http://www.viabariloche.com.ar/english/servicios.html

The Bus is a good option for those with budget considerations. However, one important downside of the bus is that it will take you a long time... so if you have only a few days, doing 20 hours on a bus may not be the best possible use of your time.

Thanks for your thoughts!

Another option might be to cross from El Calafate to Puerto Natales by bus (and then visit Torres del Paine), up to Puerto Montt and surrounds, then back into Argentina for Bariloche.

From my Lonely Planet (which I generally think is quite useless) the border crossing at Bariloche sounds easy, but I'm not sure if buses run from El Calafate to Puerto Natales in November. I found a reference to Bus Sur operating this route but it's not listed on their website. Turismo Zaahj seems to operate it for at least part of the year but their website is a bit lacking. So does anyone know if it's possible?

Steve

Steve, some information on buses can be found here (I think its only Spanish though):

http://www.xcolectivo.com.ar/

The border crossing between Chile and Argentina is dead simple. You fill out a form and the guy stamps your passport. I don't recall them once asking me a question. I crossed on the way from Bariloche to Pto. Montt. (I also crossed on the way to Bariloche, but that was on the bus-boat tour of the Andes, so it was a pretty rinky-dink spot).

From Pto. Natales to Pto. Montt, I don't think you can go overland unless you cross back into Argentina. You could, of course, take the Navimag ferry if you are up for a boat trip. I liked it, but others have found it boring.

As for the bus between El Calafate to Puerto Natales in November, I don't know for sure. I would assume they are running in November (that would be spring). You might want to ask over on THORNTREE.LONELYPLANET.COM. Lots of folks over there take buses.

Greg