3 Best Sights in Salta and San Lorenzo, The Northwest

The Fine Arts Museum's collection of colonial-era religious works includes figures from Argentina's Jesuit missions as well as Cuzco-style paintings from Peru and Bolivia. Another part of the museum highlights 20th-century pieces by Salta artists.

Fine examples of late-colonial architecture—an interior courtyard, thick adobe walls, a reed-and-tile roof—abound in this simple building, the 19th- and 20th-century home of the Uriburu family, which gave Argentina two presidents. Furniture, costumes, paintings, and family documents are on display across six rooms.

The heart of Salta is quintessential Latin America: a leafy central plaza named after Argentina's date of independence. Arcaded buildings line the streets surrounding it, and some have been converted into cafés, providing perfect spots to while away a warm afternoon. Popular with families who take shade under the palm and jacaranda trees, the square is dotted with craftsmen selling their wares and teens canoodling by the bandstand.