Salta, Argentina

Salta La Linda, which means Salta the Beautiful. Indeed a beautiful old city with colonial architecture in the northwest region of Argentina. Very Spanish looking, with buildings dating back to the 18^th, 19^th and early 20^th centuries. The old town center is situated around the 9^th of July square. A square with several of the cities highlights.

High Mountain Archeology

A great place to visit with the children is the Museum of High Mountain Archeology. In the museum the mummies of three perfectly preserved, around 500 year old bodies of Inca children are exposed that were found at a height of 6000 meters on a volcano high in the mountains of the Andes, as they were sacrificed to the Inca gods. They are this well preserved because of the lack of oxygen and the low temperatures at that height. Not all three Inca children are exposed at the same time. To conserve the mummies they expose only one mummy at the time. At the time we were there the body of the 6 year old girl, hit by lightning, was on exposure. The kids were so impressed by what they saw, they couldn’t stop talking about it for days.

Something else of interest located at the square is the neoclassical Cathedral Shrine and the Cabildo (a historical museum). Around the square some other museums, cafes and restaurants can be found. But if you walk away from the square there is also the beautiful Saint Francis Church and the city’s three pedestrian streets, Alberdi, Florida and “Caseros”.

What we wanted to do is take ‘El Tren a las Nubes’, Spanish for ‘The Train to the Clouds’ taking you through the beautiful landscape of Northwest Argentine region with the Chilean border. The train departs from Salta every Saturday early in the morning and returns around midnight. There are numerous stops along the way, some with markets selling artifacts or locals offering typical regional food. But unfortunately the railway was closed for maintenance while we were there.

We stayed in a hotel outside of the center because we wanted a pool and some peace with the kids. We were very happy with our choice. It gave us the best of both worlds. We could go and explore Salta but in the afternoons we just had some quiet time at the by the pool, while the children had cooking classes or ran in the huge garden of the hotel.

We came to Salta from San Pedro de Atacama, Chile by car. An adventurous, wonderful, and very long journey. A trip we did by private transfer. Something I hadn’t thought of beforehand was that it was kind of difficult to arrange. Most tourists either fly to Argentina, or take a tourist bus to cross the border. But as we wanted to have a private transfer this was more difficult. A Chilean car is not allowed to cross the border without a permit. This permit has to be requested a few weeks in advance. Thus, a “so called” friend from Argentina, came to pick us up and take us back with him to Argentina. I was very happy I knew somebody to call in Argentina, if not we wouldn’t have been able to experience this beautiful road across the Andean Pass.

Please keep in mind when driving that you have to leave early morning to reach Salta, driving at night is not very wise, not only can you not see anything of the extraordinary scenery, the border also closes around 10.30 pm and if you haven’t made it up to the border in time, you can either wait in your car the entire night at a height of 4,200 meter (it also gets really cold up there) or drive all the way back to San Pedro de Atacama, about a 4 hour drive.

9th of July square

Here are some awesome things to do in Salta with kids and some without. If you follow this list you will for sure do all the major highlights of this wonderful place. Use it as a check-list. It works really well.

• Museum of High Mountain Archeology;
• Cathedral Shrine on the 9^th of July square;
• Saint Francis church;
• Do the winetour of the Salta region;
• Buy souvenirs from the locals at  the Andean craft markets;
• Go to the hill of seven colours;
• Visit Cafayate;
• Horseback riding;
• Tren a las nubes.

House of Jasmines

House of Jasmines

Ruta Nacional N 51 km 6
La Merced Chica, Salta, Argentina
+(54) 387 497-2005
www.houseofjasmines.com

Price range

$$$$

Location

Nineteen kilometers outside the town of Salta, a beautiful estancia with a magical view of the Andes mountains.

Accommodation

We booked a junior suite with a superior room interconnecting, located in a small house separated from the main building. The rooms are tastefully decorated with a feeling for tradition and are very clean.

Dining

The house offers excellent dining at ‘The table of the House of Jasmines’. With a typical Argentinian BBQ (locals call it asado) on selected nights. All ingredients are fresh and local.

The hotel offers cooking classes both for adults and for children.

Services and amenities for kids

For an overview of the services and amenities for kids at this hotel click here. Amenities provided by the hotel in green.

Extra info

I absolutely love this hotel with its warm and romantic atmosphere and would go back any day if I had the chance. Everything is well taken care of. The hotel can arrange all kinds of activities in the environments of the hotel. Something I would recommend is go horseback riding.

You can also take a mountain bike and bike around the environments or just from your room to the Spa, as this is a 15 minute walk. I just loved the massage they gave! The children very much enjoyed the pasta cooking class. Of course we had the pasta they made for lunch and naturally this was the best pasta they had ever tasted.