Salta & Jujuy, Northwest Argentina

Salta and Jujuy sit in Argentina's northwest, hard against the borders of Chile and Bolivia, where Spanish colonial towns overlay a much older world. Pre-Columbian cultures never belonged to the Inca empire but traded with it and spoke a related language, and that history still shows in the food, music, textiles and faces you encounter.

This is dry, high mountain country cut through by a handful of fertile valleys, and the landscape shifts dramatically as you travel — from colonial streets to jungle to salt flats to desert gorge. It is a five-day route through one of Argentina's less-visited but more distinctive corners.

What you'll do

• Wander the colonial streets of Salta city
• Hear typical northern food and music at a local peña
• Travel the road from Salta up to the High Plateau, watching jungle give way to desert
• See the salt flats of the Puna
• Explore the Humahuaca Gorge and its old villages along the way