Mendoza
 

How many nights is recommended for a visit to Mendoza. Would like to do a day of wineries what else is recommended? We love to hang with locals, eat, drink and people watch. Will be going in November flying in and out of BAs.

We spent 3 months in Argentina in 2008 and were really looking forward to Mendoza. We arrived in Mendoza from San Raphael in late October when the weather was great. To be frank I was less than impressed with Mendoza after hearing all the hype about the place. The city is pleasant enough with some great restaurants and street cafes etc.(definitely the place for people watching) and we enjoyed our day visiting the vineyards but it just didn't click so we moved on after a couple of days which was enough for us. Perhaps we didn't give it enough of a chance. Depending upon your interests, there is a lot to to round and about - hiking, biking and rafting are all available as are trips to Aconcagua the highest mountain in SA. Obviously this is just my personal opinion and I am sure that there are many others who loved it.

We moved on to Salta and absolutely loved it but it really does need around a week to do it justice. Salta also has a thriving wine industry with some great wines (notably Torrontes). The scenery is both diverse and truly amazing. If Salta is not already on your itinerary I would seriously consider it.

Thanks, I hear you! I am looking into Salta as well.

I think the key to enjoying this area is to stay outside of Mendoza at one of the fincas. We greatly enjoyed our two 1/2 days/three nights here, if we had stayed in the city itself (which we visited for the 1/2 day), I don't think we would have had as much fun.

Saying all that, the tours to the wineries are lots of fun as well as a trip to the Andes, the scenery is spectacular.

We visited both this area and the NW on this trip.

3-4 days for Mendoza. I also second Salta as a stop