Beautiful Bariloche, in the Lake District of Argentina, feels like a small slice of Switzerland. Perched at the edge of the Andes instead of the Alps, it offers stunning mountain views and all the chocolate you can stomach.

Beautiful Bariloche

Following our wine tasting extravaganza in Mendoza and the Uco Valley, we grabbed a flight down to San Carlos de Bariloche to spend a few days. The alternatives to flying are a 14-hour drive or an 18-hour bus ride, neither of which sounded appealing at all. The flight was easy, short, and relatively inexpensive, with some stunning views of the Andes out the right window. (We’re constantly thinking about which side of the plane to sit on, to give us the best view of the mountains!)

A note on pronunciation: If, like us, you’ve studied French, you would be tempted to say ‘Barilosh’. But it’s actually ‘Barilaw-chay’.

Our Airbnb here is a modern and beautifully appointed apartment just a few blocks from the town centre. It’s perfectly positioned for easy walking into the many restaurants and shops, as well as being a block away from the local ’50’ bus route, which will come in handy for our hike to Refugio Frey (see below). Our hosts are absolutely amazing, and provide us with lots and lots of local intel on restaurants, hikes, how the buses work, as well as the ‘Bariloche Bot’, who you can ask just about anything. (Search for ‘Bariloche Virtual Assistant English‘ in WhatsApp)

While perhaps primarily known as a ski town, Bariloche also offers cyclists and outdoorsy types plenty of opportunities to get out there and explore. The town is situated on the edge of Lake Nahuel Huapi, within Nahuel Huapi National Park, and in 2012 was designated ‘national capital of adventure tourism’ by the National Government. Finally, for those of you who think Fake News is a new phenomenon, way back in 1945 there were stories going around that Adolf Hitler escaped to Bariloche and lived here happily until his death in 1962 (Who comes up with this stuff? In this case, Stalin…)

Cyclemania and the ‘Circuito Chico’

Wandering downtown reaffirms the Swiss and German influence on the town. Every third shop seems to be a chocolate shop, and there are multiple craft breweries. It’s been known as ‘Little Switzerland’ since the 30’s, with a heavy architectural influence from there. The beach, too, is reminiscent of something in Europe, with rocks replacing sand and icy cold glacier-fed water. (Michelle’s beach bar is set extraordinarily high).

We opt to keep our powder (and bodies) dry, and instead take the local bus 20 out to the start of Circuito Chico, where we’ve arranged to rent bikes for the day. OK, if you’re going to be a stickler about it, they were electric bikes. But man, it’s seriously hilly out here, OK? But we still feel some sense of shame from the many lycra-clad serious cyclers who congregate here to explore the 200km ‘Grand Circuit’ of seven lakes.

The route we’ve planned is much more modest, perhaps 35km around Lago Perito Moreno with multiple stops for hikes through the forest, lunch in a beach cove and generally admiring the miradors and mountains. It’s a perfect blue sky, 24 degree day and after picking up the bikes and getting a briefing from the great folks at Circuito Chico Adventures, we immediately ignore their advice and begin a counter clockwise route around the circuito.

They’d recommended going clockwise to avoid the morning traffic and the worst of the hills, but armed with our e-bikes we opt to go against the grain. The traffic turns out to be fine, and it’s only a short cycle to our first stop, the Parroquia San Eduardo Chapel. We lock our bikes and climb up the 100 steps to the chapel, where we get a great view of the journey that awaits us over the next few hours, as well as the magnificently positioned Hotel Llao Llao poised on a narrow strip of land between two lakes. Too rich for our blood, but still quite the view.

We hop back on our bikes and continue around the circuito. The idea is not to cycle around the circuito as quickly as we can (although on the highest setting these things can boogie!), but instead to spend the day exploring the various sites along the way. We stop at a popular hiking spot called the Cerro Lopez, and walk down to the lakeshore to admire said Lopez mountain reflected in the glassy lake. Mountains are all around, getting us excited about doing some hiking in the next few days. On the way back up we pass these funky old Arrayan trees. We make a few more stops, find a nice place for lunch at the edge of a lake and carry on.

 This tiny grove of Arrayan trees was on the walk to the Mirodor Lago Moreno. These rare trees seem to get more gnarled and interesting with age (kind of like people we know) and some are 600 years old.

The biggest advantage of going counterclockwise on the circuito is that one of our last stops of the day (rather than the first) is at Cerveceria Patagonia, which not only has some of the freshest and best beer we’ve had in awhile, but also has a magnificent view out over Lago Moreno. Lazing in our Muskoka chairs (Patagonia chairs perhaps?), the beer is dangerously good and we must force ourselves to remember we still have a few kilo’s left to cycle. We reluctantly finish our cervesas and empanadas, and saddle up our mighty steeds one last time.

Just up the road from the brewery is the ‘however you say piece de resistance’ in Spanish of the Circuito Chico: the Punto Panoramico looking out over the Lake District. With the large lakes and forested mountains it’s a completely different vista to where we’ve just been in the semi-arid mountains of Mendoza.

We trace our path from earlier in the day and once again congratulate ourselves on the wisdom of the e-bike decision. After dropping the bikes off, we walk about 100m down the road to the Cerro Campinario, where you can take a chairlift to the top of a low mountain for a 360 degree view of the area. Unfortunately the queue for the lift is about an hour long, and hey – there’s a perfectly good path over there that leads to the top, so – why don’t we walk? Al takes careful note of those in line to see if we can beat them to the top, and we set off. It’s only about a 30 minute scramble to the top, steep and a little slippery but better than the 1 hr wait (and yep, we beat that couple in line). The view here is hard to believe and even better than the one on the circuito, which makes it even more worthwhile.

We walk back to the bus stop at the bike shop (There’s one right at the chairlift place, but one thing we’ve learned about Bariloche buses is that they fill up quickly, leaving you waiting for the next one) and grab the 50 back into town.

Hike to Refugio Frey

In this day and age of internet searching and bloggers giving all kinds of great tips, you sometimes forget the simple yet effective visit to the local tourist information office. We’ve had some gems of advice from these in the last few weeks and in Bariloche the local at the info office suggested an alternative route for one of the most popular hikes in the area.
Refugio Frey is a popular day hike, with one of the biggest challenges being getting to and from the trail head. The usual route involves taking bus 55 to the base of Catedral Alta Patagonia Ski Resort, and starting and ending the hike there. The issue is that this bus only goes every two hours, and we were worried about potentially not being able to get on in the morning and/or missing the return bus in the afternoon.

We instead opt to take bus 50 to Villa Los Coihues, which departs every 20 minutes. This trek runs roughly parallel to the ‘traditional’ trek until meeting up with it as it turns into the valley. By combining two Alltrails maps, we can piece together a complete trail. (And it turns out that when we get to the trailhead, the trail to Frey is clearly signposted anyway).
The walk to Frey is quite varied, starting off in an almost desert-like environment that changes to thick forest and wildflowers, then into steeper more rocky terrain with sideways trees and plenty of scrambly bits. It culminates in a steep climb up to a stunning bowl with a glacier-fed lagoon surrounded by cathedral-like spires of granite on all sides. The hike up has been reasonably quiet, but when we reach the bowl it’s a veritable hub of activity, with people rock climbing the sheer walls, camping, swimming in the icy lake or enjoying a meal at the tiny restaurant in the refugio. Or, like us, basking in the warm sun while we rest our weary legs.

This bowl and the valley we’ve walked up is the back side of Catedral Alta Patagonia, South America’s largest ski resort, but there is no evidence of the resort from this angle. And because we retrace our steps back to Villa Los Coihues, we don’t end up seeing this famous resort. Perhaps we’ll return in the winter one day. After a refreshing beverage, we get the last two seats on the 50 bus and enjoy the 40 minute ride back into Bariloche, where we’re gratefully disgorged a block from our temporary home.

Oh My Goodness Lasagna

After a shower and a brief rest we head back out to a local restaurant El Boliche de Alberto Pasta, where we enjoy a fantastic and gigantic lasagna along with (of course) a beautiful bottle of Argentinian Malbec. This had been recommended to us by a local and was a great tip as the ‘original’ El Boliche de Alberto across the road had a line stretching down the block before it opened at 8pm.

So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Good Night

And with that our time in Bariloche is done. Next, we travel further south into Patagonia to the famed El Chalten, where we have a week of day hikes planned. (See, in The Sound Of Music, the Von Trapps flee in to Switzerland, and Bariloche is called Little Switzerland… ah, never mind).
 

Bariloche In A Nutshell

Where to stay: We really liked our spot on the east side of the main tourist strip. This meant we were away from the crowds and also, importantly, near the bus stop before the main tourist bus stop so you don’t risk a full bus sailing past you. It was still just a 10 minute walk to great cafes and restaurants.

Supermarket: La Anonima is a lot better than the Carre Four, which was surprisingly horrifying and should be avoided at all costs.

Local buses: You need a Sube card to ride the bus, which you can buy around town and also use in other Argentinian cities. You only need one per group as you can tap on several people for each ride. No need to tap off. Google maps shows the timetables if you click on the bus stop. It’s also reasonably common for people to ask someone to tap them on, and they just hand them the bus fare in cash.

At the time of writing (2023), there’s no Uber in Bariloche. Taxis are metered and seem safe.