Argentina & Buenos Aires Gay Travel

Valdés Peninsula, Patagonia argentina

The Valdés Peninsula (Spanish Península Valdés) is a peninsula along the Atlantic coast in the Viedma Department in the north east of Chubut Province, Argentina.

The only town on the Valdés Peninsula is the small settlement of Puerto Piramides. There are also a number of estancias, where sheep are raised.

Most of the Valdés Peninsula is barren land with some salt lakes. The largest of these lakes is at an elevation of about 40 m below sea level, until recently thought to be the lowest elevation in Argentina and South America. (The lowest point being Laguna del Carbón, Argentina).

It is an important nature reserve which was listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1999. The coastline is inhabited by marine mammals, like sea lions, elephant seals and fur seals. Southern right whales can be found in Golfo Nuevo and Golfo San José, protected bodies of water located between the Valdés Peninsula and the Patagonian mainland. These baleen whales come here between May and December, for mating and giving birth, because the water in the gulf is quieter and warmer than in the open sea. Orcas can be found off the coast, in the open sea off the Valdés Peninsula. In this area, they are known to beach themselves on shore to capture sea lions and elephant seals.

The inner part of the Valdés Peninsula is inhabited by rheas, guanacos and maras. A high diversity and range of birds live in the peninsula as well; at least 181 bird species, 66 of which migratory, live in the area, including the Antarctic Pigeon.

Tourism in Salta, Argentina

Salta is a city in northwestern Argentina and the capital city of the Salta Province. The weather in Salta is warm and dry. January and February are the months with greatest rainfall.

Nicknamed Salta la Linda (”Salta the Fair”), it has become a major tourist destination due to its old, colonial architecture and the natural scenery of the valleys westward. Attractions in the city proper include the 18th century Cabildo, the neo-classical style Cathedral, and the July 9 central square. The city’s museums exhibit a wide range of artifacts and art work from the native civilations that flourished in the area (Salta is located in the Southernmost region of what was the Inca empire, belonging to the Collasuyu, one of the four areas the empire was divided until the Spanish conquest), as well as from the 16th century Spanish conquest and the colonial and post-colonial periods. Salta is also the starting point of the “Train to the Clouds” (Tren a las nubes), and on the way to red-soiled Cafayate, as well as to other nearby tourist destinations.

Tourism in Salta, Argentina

The city center features a number of impressive buildings dating back to the 18th and 19th and early 20th centuries. Clockwise around the Ninth of July Square are the neoclassical Cathedral, the French style Museum of Contemporary Art, the Cabildo (in former times, the city’s town hall, nowadays a historical museum) and the Museum of High Mountain Archeology, which houses artifacts from the Inca civilization including the magnifically preserved bodies of three Inca children.

Within walking distance of the 9th July Square are the impressive Saint Francis Church and the city’s two pedestrian streets: Alberdi and Florida. The three blocks in Balcarce street closest to the train station are now the center of night life in Salta, with restaurants, pubs and cafés on both sidewalks and concerts every night.

Rising imposingly in the east is San Bernardo Hill. Its summit, from which visitors can get an awe-inspiring view of the city and the entire valley, can be reached by car, cable car or stairway.

Visit Salta all the year round! See you