Day-by-day itinerary
Day 1 Buenos Aires — Arrival & First Asado
Morning Arrival in Buenos Aires
Arrive in Buenos Aires, the passionate, chaotic, and endlessly seductive capital of Argentina. Check into your hotel in Palermo or San Telmo — the two neighborhoods that best capture the city's culinary renaissance. Buenos Aires is a city that eats late (lunch at 1 PM, dinner after 9 PM), so adjust your clock to the Argentine rhythm. Take a first walk through the tree-lined avenues, past art deco cafés, colorful street art, and the omnipresent aroma of grilling meat that drifts from every corner parrilla.
Afternoon San Telmo & First Empanadas
Head to San Telmo, Buenos Aires' oldest neighborhood with cobblestone streets and crumbling colonial facades. Explore the Mercado de San Telmo — a beautiful 1897 iron-and-glass market hall that has become a food lover's paradise. Taste your first empanadas — the hand-held pastries that are Argentina's national snack. Each province has its own style: tucumanas (fried, juicy), salteñas (baked, with potato), and the classic porteña (beef, egg, olive, onion). Try 3-4 varieties at the market counters. Then browse the antique stalls, vinyl shops, and artisan food vendors selling dulce de leche, chimichurri, and yerba mate.
Evening First Asado at a Traditional Parrilla
Tonight, experience the ritual that defines Argentine culture: the asado. More than a barbecue, asado is a sacred social institution where meat is cooked low and slow over wood embers by an asador (grill master). At a traditional parrilla, the feast begins with provoleta (grilled provolone cheese with oregano, bubbly and golden), chorizo and morcilla (blood sausage) on crusty bread, then the main cuts: entraña (skirt steak, intensely beefy), vacío (flank, with a crispy fat cap), tira de asado (short ribs), and the king — a thick bife de chorizo (sirloin) cooked to pink perfection. The only condiment: chimichurri — parsley, garlic, oregano, vinegar, and oil.
Day 2 Buenos Aires — Café Culture, Dulce de Leche & Matambre
Morning Historic Cafés & Medialunas
Buenos Aires has a café culture rivaling Paris, with dozens of 'cafés notables' — historically protected establishments that have hosted writers, revolutionaries, and tango legends for over a century. Start at Café Tortoni (since 1858), the city's most iconic café on Avenida de Mayo, for a cortado and medialunas — Argentina's answer to croissants, smaller, sweeter, and glazed with a syrup that makes them irresistibly shiny. Then visit El Federal (since 1864, San Telmo) with its original mahogany bar and tin ceiling. Each café notable has its own character and story — they're living museums of Buenos Aires' golden age when the city was the richest in South America.
Afternoon Alfajores, Dulce de Leche & Helado
Discover Argentina's holy trinity of sweet indulgence. First, alfajores — two crumbly shortbread cookies sandwiched around a thick layer of dulce de leche and often coated in chocolate or meringue. Havanna and Cachafaz are the iconic brands, but artisan versions at Guolis or Tostado are superior. Then, understand dulce de leche — the caramelized milk spread that Argentina puts on everything (toast, pancakes, ice cream, cake). Finally, helado argentino: Argentine-style ice cream influenced by Italian gelato traditions but denser and more indulgent. Visit Cadore, Rapanui, or Freddo for scoops of dulce de leche granizado, sambayón, and chocolate amargo.
Evening Hidden Parrilla & Malbec Tasting
Tonight, go beyond the tourist parrillas to discover a puerta cerrada — Buenos Aires' unique 'closed door' restaurant scene. These are private supper clubs in someone's home, where a chef cooks a multi-course meal for 10–20 guests seated at a communal table. The format is perfect for Argentine cuisine: expect a progression from empanadas and provoleta through to slow-cooked matambre (stuffed rolled flank steak — the name literally means 'hunger killer'), grilled sweetbreads (mollejas — a Argentine delicacy), and a dessert of flan con dulce de leche. A Malbec flight accompanies the meal, showcasing wines from different Argentine regions.
Day 3 Buenos Aires — Mataderos, Pizza & Tango
Morning Mataderos Fair — Gaucho Food Market
On Sundays, head to the Feria de Mataderos in the western outskirts of Buenos Aires — a sprawling gaucho cultural fair near the old cattle market. This is where Argentina's rural food traditions come to the city: stalls selling locro (a thick corn and meat stew that's the national dish for May 25th celebrations), humita (steamed corn cakes wrapped in husks), tamales, asado criollo cooked over enormous open-pit fires, and torta frita (fried dough — gaucho comfort food on rainy days). Between eating, watch folkloric dancing, horse-riding demonstrations, and artisan gauchos crafting leather goods and mate gourds.
Afternoon Porteño Pizza & Fugazzeta
Buenos Aires is secretly one of the world's great pizza cities — the result of massive Italian immigration in the early 20th century. Argentine pizza is nothing like Italian or American: it's thick, doughy, and loaded with an obscene amount of cheese (muzzarella — note the local spelling). The signature is fugazzeta — a double-dough pizza stuffed with cheese and topped with sweet onions, essentially a cheese-filled focaccia that is outrageously indulgent. Visit the pizzerías of Avenida Corrientes — the Broadway of Buenos Aires — where Güerrin (since 1932), El Cuartito, and Banchero serve pizza by the slice standing at the counter, the porteño way, washed down with moscato (sweet sparkling wine) from the tap.
Evening Tango Dinner Show
End your Buenos Aires chapter with a tango dinner show — the quintessential porteño experience combining two of the city's greatest passions. In a converted warehouse or belle-époque salon, enjoy a multi-course Argentine dinner while world-class tango dancers perform just meters away. The meal typically features empanadas, a choice of bife de lomo (tenderloin) or salmon, and a decadent dessert, accompanied by Argentine wines. The tango itself — passionate, precise, and impossibly elegant — was born in the working-class neighborhoods of Buenos Aires in the late 1800s and became UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage. Watch the dancers' feet and you'll understand why it's called the 'vertical expression of a horizontal desire'.
Day 4 Mendoza — Arrival in the Malbec Capital
Morning Flight to Mendoza & Settling In
Fly from Buenos Aires to Mendoza (2 hours), arriving in Argentina's wine country at the foot of the Andes. Mendoza produces over 70% of Argentina's wine, and the dry, sunny climate with snowmelt irrigation creates ideal conditions for the Malbec grape — originally from Cahors, France, but now synonymous with Argentina. Check into your accommodation in the leafy city center or in Chacras de Coria, a charming suburb closer to the vineyards. Take a first stroll through Mendoza's tree-lined avenues and plazas — the city was entirely rebuilt after an 1861 earthquake, designed with wide boulevards and earthquake-resistant low-rise buildings surrounded by acequias (irrigation channels) that line every street.
Afternoon Mercado Central & Mendocina Cuisine
Explore Mendoza's Mercado Central — a bustling market where the agricultural bounty of the region is on full display. Mendoza is Argentina's olive capital (producing 90% of the country's olive oil), and the market overflows with marinated olives, sun-dried tomatoes, artisan goat cheeses from the foothills, and local charcuterie. Try a picada mendocina — a shared platter of cured meats, cheeses, olives, and nuts, the perfect wine-country appetizer. For lunch, seek out a traditional restaurant for chivito (roasted young goat — the signature dish of the Cuyo region), slow-cooked over embers until the meat falls off the bone, served with papas andinas (Andean potatoes) and a glass of Torrontés, Mendoza's aromatic white wine.
Evening Dinner & Wines with Andean Sunset
Mendoza's first evening deserves a memorable setting. Head to one of the wine lodges or restaurant terraces with views of the Andes — as the sun sets, the mountains turn from gold to pink to purple in a spectacle that never gets old. Enjoy a slow dinner featuring regional specialties: start with empanadas mendocinas (baked, with beef, olives, and egg — different from the porteña style), followed by lomo a la llama (grilled llama tenderloin — yes, it's a thing in western Argentina, lean and flavorful), or a classic bondiola (pork shoulder) braised in Malbec. The wine list is entirely local — this is where you begin your Malbec education with a bottle from Luján de Cuyo, the original Malbec heartland.
Day 5 Mendoza — Luján de Cuyo Wine Route
Morning Historic Bodega & Old-Vine Malbec
Begin your wine route in Luján de Cuyo, the traditional heartland of Argentine Malbec where vines planted 80–100 years ago by Italian immigrants still produce intensely concentrated wines. Visit Bodega Luigi Bosca (since 1901) or Bodega Catena Zapata — the pyramid-shaped winery that single-handedly put Argentine Malbec on the world map in the 1990s. The morning tour takes you through the vineyards (look for the gnarled old vines trained in the traditional parral system), into the barrel rooms where Malbec ages in French oak, and ends with a guided tasting of 4–5 wines including reserve and single-vineyard bottlings. At this altitude (900–1,100 meters), the UV intensity gives Malbec its signature deep purple color and thick, velvety tannins.
Afternoon Vineyard Lunch & Blending Workshop
Continue to a boutique bodega for the highlight of the day: a winery lunch paired with wines from the estate, followed by a blending workshop where you create your own Malbec blend. At bodegas like Ruca Malen, Caelum, or Club Tapiz, lunch is served on a vine-shaded terrace overlooking the vineyards with the snow-capped Andes as backdrop. The multi-course meal is designed to showcase food-wine pairings: expect dishes like humita with Torrontés, cordero (lamb) with Cabernet Franc, and chocolate with late-harvest Malbec. In the blending workshop, the winemaker guides you through tasting Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Petit Verdot separately, then you blend your own cuvée to take home as a bottle.
Evening Vineyard Asado Under Andean Stars
Tonight, experience asado the Mendoza way — outdoors among the vineyards under a sky full of stars, with the silhouette of the Andes on the horizon. Several bodegas and estancias offer evening asado experiences: the fire is lit at sunset, and the asador slowly grills cuts of beef, chorizo, and provoleta while you sip Malbec and watch the stars emerge in the clear mountain air. Mendoza's dry climate means almost zero light pollution outside the city — the Milky Way is visible to the naked eye. The meal is unhurried, communal, and deeply Argentine: meat, wine, fire, friends, and the infinite sky.
Day 6 Mendoza — Valle de Uco & High-Altitude Wines
Morning Valle de Uco Bodegas
Drive south to the Valle de Uco (1.5 hours from Mendoza city), the new frontier of Argentine winemaking where vineyards climb to extraordinary altitudes of 1,200–1,500 meters. This is where the most exciting wines in South America are being made today. Visit Bodega Salentein — a cathedral-like winery built into the hillside with an art gallery and underground barrel room — or Zuccardi Valle de Uco, voted Best Vineyard in the World multiple times. At these altitudes, the temperature swings are extreme (40°C days, near-freezing nights), creating wines with incredible concentration, freshness, and mineral character that are redefining what Argentine wine can be.
Afternoon Lunch at the Foot of the Andes
Lunch at Piedra Infinita — Zuccardi's restaurant and one of the top dining destinations in all of Argentina. Chef Lucas Bustos creates a menu rooted in the terroir: each dish uses ingredients sourced from the valley and is paired with estate wines. Expect dishes like charred beetroot from the huerta (kitchen garden) with goat cheese, lamb shoulder slow-cooked in clay (a pre-Hispanic technique), and sourdough bread baked in a wood oven. The architecture of the restaurant is as striking as the food — concrete, stone, and glass that frames the Andes through every window. If Zuccardi is booked, Bodega Salentein's restaurant or Casa de Uco offer equally stunning settings with wine-paired lunches.
Evening Noche Mendocina — Downtown Wine Bars
Back in Mendoza city, spend your last evening exploring the vibrant wine bar scene around Arístides Villanueva — the lively pedestrian-friendly avenue that is Mendoza's social heart. Start at Vines Park Hyatt's wine bar for a tasting flight of high-end bottles you can't find abroad, then move to one of the casual wine bars where locals gather: try Williamsburg Wine Bar, Siete Cocinas, or The Vines Wine Bar. The mendocino tradition is to share a picada (charcuterie board) with friends over a bottle — or three. Order wines by the copa (glass) to try different varietals: beyond Malbec, discover Bonarda (Argentina's second red grape, juicy and underrated), Cabernet Franc (increasingly fashionable), and Criolla (the historic grape making a comeback in natural wines).
Day 7 Bariloche — Arrival in the Lake District
Morning Flight to Bariloche
Fly from Mendoza to San Carlos de Bariloche (1.5 hours), crossing from the arid wine country to the spectacular Argentine Lake District in northern Patagonia. Bariloche sits on the shores of Lake Nahuel Huapi, surrounded by snow-capped peaks, ancient forests of coihue and lenga trees, and crystal-clear glacial lakes. The city itself has a distinctive Swiss-alpine character — the result of German, Swiss, and Austrian immigrants who settled here in the early 1900s and brought their brewing, chocolate-making, and smoked-meat traditions. This fusion of European Alpine culture with Patagonian wildness creates a food scene unlike anywhere else in Argentina.
Afternoon The Chocolate Road
Bariloche is Argentina's chocolate capital — Calle Mitre, the main street, is lined with over 20 chocolate shops whose aromas hit you from a block away. This tradition dates to the 1930s when Italian-Swiss immigrants began crafting European-style chocolates with Argentine cacao. Start at Rapa Nui (the most beloved brand, founded 1939) for their legendary chocolate en rama (bark-textured chocolate sheets), then visit Mamuschka for artisan truffles and bonbons, and Abuela Goye for traditional tabletas (chocolate bars). Each shop offers free tastings — try chocolate con frutos del bosque (with wild berries), chocolate con rosa mosqueta (with rosehip, a Patagonian specialty), and the classic chocolate amargo (dark). End with a taza de chocolate — a thick, rich Bariloche hot chocolate served with a plate of churros.
Evening Craft Brewery & Patagonian Trout
Bariloche is the birthplace of Argentina's craft beer revolution. The same European immigrants who brought chocolate also brought brewing traditions, and today the city has over 30 craft breweries — more per capita than anywhere in South America. Head to Berlina, Patagonia Brewing Company, or Manush for a tasting flight of styles you won't find elsewhere in Argentina: Scotch Ale brewed with smoked malt, Patagonian IPA with local hops, and seasonal stouts infused with Bariloche chocolate. Pair your beers with trucha patagónica (Patagonian trout) — pulled from the glacial lakes and served smoked, grilled, or as gravlax. The local specialty is a trucha ahumada platter (smoked trout) with cream cheese, capers, and dark bread — essentially Patagonian lox.
Day 8 Bariloche — Circuito Chico & Patagonian Lamb
Morning Circuito Chico & Craft Beer Stop
Drive the Circuito Chico — Bariloche's legendary 60 km scenic loop around the Llao Llao peninsula, with jaw-dropping views of Lake Nahuel Huapi, Lake Moreno, and the snow-capped Andes at every turn. Stop at Punto Panorámico for photos of the two lakes meeting, then continue to Colonia Suiza — a tiny Swiss settlement founded in 1895 where the tradition of curanto (an indigenous Mapuche earth-oven feast) is still practiced on Wednesdays and weekends. Along the route, stop at Cervecería Berlina's lakeside taproom or one of several roadside microbreweries for a mid-morning tasting of Patagonian pale ale with views of the impossibly blue lake.
Afternoon Cordero al Asador — Cross-Spit Lamb
Experience the most iconic dish of Patagonia: cordero al asador — a whole lamb butterflied and splayed on a metal cross (la cruz), slow-roasted for 3–4 hours next to a wood fire. This ancient gaucho technique yields meat that is impossibly tender, smoky, and infused with the flavor of Patagonian herbs (neneo, calafate) that the lambs graze on in the steppe. The best places to experience this are the estancias and rustic restaurants along the lake: El Boliche de Alberto, Ceci Resto, or any place where you can see the lamb rotating by the fire outside. The meal is simple but perfect — cordero with crispy skin, chimichurri, a green salad, and a bottle of Patagonian Pinot Noir (yes, Patagonia makes excellent cool-climate wines too).
Evening Patagonian Fondue & Southern Wines
Bariloche's Alpine heritage shines brightest in winter, but even in autumn the cozy fondue restaurants are irresistible. Head to a mountain lodge-style restaurant like Butterfly, Kandahar, or La Fonda del Tío for fondue patagónica — a local twist featuring melted cheeses from the region's artisan dairies, served with crusty bread, cured meats, and mushrooms foraged from the surrounding forests. Follow with a chocolate fondue for dessert, dipping strawberries and churros into melted Bariloche chocolate. Pair with wines from Patagonia's emerging wine region — Bodega Noemia's Malbec from Río Negro, or a crisp Pinot Noir from the valley. The wood-paneled dining rooms, crackling fireplaces, and lake views through frosted windows create the perfect setting for your last full evening in Patagonia.
Day 9 Bariloche — Victoria Island & Lake Flavors
Morning Boat Trip on Lake Nahuel Huapi
Board a catamaran at Puerto Pañuelo for a morning cruise across Lake Nahuel Huapi to Isla Victoria — a forested island in the middle of the lake accessible only by boat. The crossing itself is spectacular: the glacial water changes color from turquoise to deep blue depending on the depth, with the Andes reflected on the surface. On the island, walk through ancient arrayán forests (cinnamon-colored myrtle trees unique to Patagonia) and take in views that feel like a fjord in Norway transported to South America. The boat typically stops at the Bosque de Arrayanes on Península Quetrihué — a mystical grove of these cinnamon-barked trees that inspired the forest in Walt Disney's Bambi.
Afternoon Smokehouse & Local Terroir Products
Back on shore, explore Bariloche's tradition of smoked and cured products — another legacy of the European settlers. Visit an ahumadero (smokehouse) like Familia Weiss or Ahumadero Familia Goye, where trout, wild boar, deer, and cheeses are smoked over native wood chips (lenga, coihue). Taste trucha ahumada (smoked trout), jabalí ahumado (smoked wild boar sausage), and queso ahumado (smoked cheese), all produced in-house. Then visit a regional delicatessen for other Patagonian specialties: calafate berry jam (the native berry that legend says makes you return to Patagonia), rosa mosqueta (rosehip) products, hongos de pino (pine mushrooms dried and sold in beautiful glass jars), and artisan goat cheeses from the surrounding farms.
Evening Farewell Dinner — Venison & Calafate
Your last dinner in Patagonia deserves something special. Head to one of Bariloche's finest restaurants — Cassis, Butterfly, or Jauja — for a meal that showcases the wild, untamed flavors of this region. Start with a trucha gravlax or wild mushroom risotto, then move to the main event: ciervo (venison) — hunted in the surrounding national parks (red deer introduced by European settlers) and prepared in refined Patagonian style, perhaps as a lomo de ciervo with calafate berry reduction, or ciervo braseado (braised in Malbec) with polenta. For dessert, a calafate and chocolate tart or a rosa mosqueta soufflé. This is Patagonian haute cuisine — wild ingredients, European techniques, and views of the moonlit lake through the window.
Day 10 Return to Buenos Aires — Last Argentine Flavors
Morning Last Gourmet Shopping in Bariloche
Before your flight back to Buenos Aires, make a final sweep of Calle Mitre for edible souvenirs. Stock up on Rapa Nui chocolate en rama, calafate jam, dried pine mushrooms, smoked trout vacuum-packed for travel, artisan beer from Berlina or Manush (available in bottles at their shops), and rosa mosqueta products. Then enjoy a last Bariloche breakfast: a tostada with dulce de leche and a thick hot chocolate at one of the lakefront cafés, watching the morning light hit the Andes one final time before heading to the airport for the 2-hour flight back to Buenos Aires.
Afternoon Farewell Parrilla in Buenos Aires
Back in Buenos Aires for a final afternoon, head to the parrilla that has become your favorite over the past days — or try one last legendary spot. This is your chance to order all the cuts you've fallen in love with: provoleta, entraña, vacío, mollejas (sweetbreads), and a final bife de chorizo, all washed down with a great bottle of Malbec from the vineyards you visited just days ago in Mendoza. Revisit Palermo's tree-lined streets or San Telmo's cobblestones one last time. Pick up last-minute gifts: alfajores from Havanna, a bottle of Malbec from a vinoteca, or yerba mate and a bombilla from a market stall.
Evening Departure from Buenos Aires
Transfer to Ezeiza International Airport for your departure flight. As you leave, reflect on 10 days of extraordinary culinary immersion across three dramatically different Argentine regions: the cosmopolitan energy and asado culture of Buenos Aires, the sun-drenched vineyards and Malbec mastery of Mendoza, and the Alpine-Patagonian fusion of Bariloche with its chocolate, craft beer, smoked trout, and Patagonian lamb. Argentina is a country that expresses its soul through food — every asado is a gathering, every mate shared is a bond, every bottle of Malbec tells the story of immigrants who built a wine culture from scratch at the foot of the Andes. ¡Buen viaje y hasta la vuelta!