Salta to Cafayate: Quebrada de las Conchas & Wine Day Trip

4.93

(148 reviews)

What’s the experience like?

I’ll be honest — I didn’t expect the drive from Salta to Cafayate to feel like a movie. One minute we were weaving through the sleepy Lerma Valley (the driver pointed out fields of tobacco and horses munching grass), and then suddenly the earth cracked open into these wild red canyons. Our guide, Martín, kept pausing to let us hop out — first at Devil’s Throat, which looked like something out of a sci-fi film. The air smelled dusty and sweet, almost like sun-baked clay. I tried clapping inside the Amphitheater formation just because Martín said the echo was famous — he was right, it bounced back twice as loud. Some guy played a pan flute there too; it sounded kind of haunting against all that stone.

We made so many stops for photos I lost count (Three Crosses viewpoint is where my phone nearly overheated). The colors kept shifting — ochre, rust, pale green. At one point I just stood there squinting at the horizon, trying to figure out how rocks could look soft and sharp at the same time. There was this older couple from Buenos Aires who shared their mate with us during a quick bathroom break in Talapampa — I probably looked confused but they laughed and showed me how to hold the cup properly.

Cafayate itself felt slower than Salta. We wandered past sleepy plazas and whitewashed churches before heading into a small winery for a tasting (included in the tour). The Torrontés was cold and floral — honestly, I’m not usually a white wine person but that glass hit different after all the dust and sun. Lunch was on our own but Martín gave tips on which spot did empanadas best; mine came out piping hot with a little cumin kick. On the way back I dozed off for half an hour, woke up just as we rolled past those crazy rock formations again. It’s strange how quickly that landscape gets under your skin.