The 10 Best Travel Experiences in Argentina

Iguazu Falls straddles the border between Argentina and Brazil and is wider than Victoria Falls and taller than Niagara, making it arguably the world's most spectacular waterfall system.

The 275 separate cascades thunder over a 2.

7-kilometre arc in the subtropical jungle of both countries' national parks.

Mount Fitz Roy is a serrated granite peak on the border of Argentina and Chile in Patagonia, rising 3,405 metres above the Patagonian steppe.

Its distinctive jagged silhouette, often wreathed in cloud, inspired the Patagonia clothing brand logo and is considered one of the most technically challenging climbs in the world.

A massive tidewater glacier advancing into Lago Argentino, calving house-sized chunks of ice with a thunderous crack several times a day.

One of the few glaciers on Earth still growing, its brilliant blue ice face and extensive boardwalk system make it Patagonia's signature sight.

Peninsula Valdes juts into the South Atlantic off Argentine Patagonia and holds one of the continent's great wildlife spectacles: southern right whales calving close to shore, orcas that beach themselves hunting sea lion pups, and colonies of elephant seals and penguins.

A UNESCO site reached from Puerto Madryn, it's linked by unpaved roads between viewing points.

Sightings are seasonal, so timing matters.

Aconcagua rises 6,961 metres in Mendoza Province, the highest peak in both the Western and Southern Hemispheres and one of the Seven Summits.

Serious climbers spend two to three weeks on the standard Normal Route to the summit, but the mountain rewards a much shorter visit too: a half-day trek from the Horcones trailhead reaches Laguna de los Horcones, a glacial lake with a full view of the south face and glacier.

Aconcagua Provincial Park protects the surrounding high-altitude terrain.

Buenos Aires pairs wide, Parisian-style boulevards with the pulse of a Latin American capital: tango danced in San Telmo squares, steak houses running late into the night, and the pink Casa Rosada overlooking Plaza de Mayo.

Neighborhoods vary sharply, from elegant Recoleta's cafes and cemetery to La Boca's brightly painted tenements.

It's a walkable city built for lingering, not checklist sightseeing.

Marketed as the southernmost city in the world, Ushuaia sits on the Beagle Channel in Tierra del Fuego, snow-capped peaks rising directly behind its harbour.

It is the main departure point for Antarctica cruises, and shorter boat trips from the same harbour pass the red-and-white Les Eclaireurs lighthouse and islands crowded with sea lions, cormorants and penguins.

Tierra del Fuego National Park lies a short drive west for subantarctic forest and coastal trails.

San Carlos de Bariloche sits on the shore of Nahuel Huapi Lake in Argentine Patagonia, a Swiss-styled town backed by the Andes and a gateway to a national park of forested peaks and turquoise lakes.

Chocolate shops line the Centro Cívico, while the Circuito Chico drive and the Cerro Campanario cable car reach panoramic viewpoints over the lake district.

It doubles as a ski base in winter and a hiking and mountain-biking hub in summer.

Argentina's premier wine region sits in the high-altitude desert at the foot of the Andes, where Malbec, transformed from a minor French grape into Argentina's signature wine, thrives in vineyards that often frame snow-capped peaks directly behind their rows.

Many bodegas pair tastings with Andean views and asador barbecue lunches.

This 155-kilometre gorge in Argentina's arid northwest has been a travel corridor since long before the Inca, its adobe villages and banded red-and-ochre rock now UNESCO-listed.

Purmamarca sits beneath the striped Cerro de los Siete Colores, while Humahuaca and Tilcara keep colonial churches and pre-Columbian ruins within walking distance.

It rewards slow travel along Ruta 9, not a single stop.