We’d heard a lot about the bus ride over the Andes mountain range from Santiago to Mendoza with its famous ’29 curves’, and it didn’t disappoint. 

Santiago to Mendoza By Bus: A Stunning Bus Ride Over the Andes

We’d been thinking about the best way to get from Santiago de Chile to Mendoza, Argentina, for many weeks (probably months) before the actual journey. We had looked at renting a car (crossing a border in a rental car is extremely difficult, ill-advised, and a one-way rental isn’t possible between countries), as well as getting some sort of private driver / minibus ($250 USD per person, thank you very much! Wait, what??). So the big bus it shall be.

We’d booked our tickets over a month ago to ensure we got the best four spots on the bus, the coveted front-row seats on the upper deck, with nothing but a huge windshield separating us from the spectacular views of the winding roads and soaring mountains. (This glass would prove to be a blessing and a curse, with the sun doing its best to cook us while we resist the urge to draw the curtains lest we miss any of the action!)

Even with the early planning we weren’t able to get the 10am bus (at least, not the front row seats that we were after), so we settled for the 7:30am. Which meant getting three late-morning Canadians out of bed and in a cab by 7. (The Aussie in the crowd is always up with the sparrows anyway). We had even forgone our usual late night card game in preparation. We must be getting old.

Bleary-eyed, we all settle into our seats for the 7-hour journey. It’s only 184km as the crow flies between the cities, but the road winds through the mountains for 360km and the bus ride is 7 hours of mountain and semi-arid desert scenery.

 Within an hour the foothills of the Andes are all around us: dusty red hills covered in cacti and low yellow/brown scrub. Slowly the bus makes it’s way closer towards the Chilean border and the highlight of the drive.

 The pinnacle of the journey (both literally and figuratively) is the ‘29 curves’, where we finally stop flirting with the mountains and head up, up, up through (you guessed it) 29 hairpin bends to the top of the pass. As we look back down the Chilean side of the Andes, the cars look like tiny ants (beetles?) at the bottom of the valley.

 After reaching the top of the Uspallata Pass at about 3,200 metres, we drive straight through the middle of a ski resort (one which Jas had skied several years before) and begin our descent towards Argentina. This pass has been used for centuries as the main overland link between Buenos Aires on the Atlantic and Valparaiso port on the Pacific.

 

 At border control, we suddenly realized what the little slip of paper they gave us when we entered Chile was for. Three out of four of us had lost them, and had to face the consequences. Which turned out to be stern looks and a torrent of Spanish. The entire border experience took about an hour, which by all accounts seems like a good result.

And now comes a gradual descent down, down, ever further down. We’d read that the Chilean side of the Andes are much steeper than the Argentinian side, and this seems to be the case here. At this point Al fell asleep so missed much of what was here. Michelle will fill in the gaps…

 From the Argentina border we started to notice a narrow gauge railway line and old, abandoned buildings that looked like sidings. This is what remains of a 284km railway that was built over the Andes and connected the town of Uspallata with a city north of Santiago, Santa Rosa de Los Andes.

And so after 7 hours, one on-bus bathroom visit (in a word: don’t), a brief catnap and some spectacular scenery, we gratefully pull in to Mendoza bus station. With Argentina’s World Cup victory in 2022, the famous blue and white striped jerseys are everywhere, and Messi does his best to look menacing in billboards and posters. We get ourselves settled in to our Airbnb, and prepare to Embrace the Sloth™.

In a Nutshell: Booking the Bus over the Andes

• We used CATA Internacional bus line, as it had been recommended by a few other travel blogs. We bought our tickets through recorrido.cl.
• You’ll need the passport numbers of all travellers in order to book the ticket.
• Tickets cost $55 USD each (Jan 2023). There are other options but none we could get to work with a foreign ID.
• We took the 7:30am bus, which gets into Mendoza around 3pm – there’s also a bus that leaves at 10am.
• The website allows you to choose your seats. We booked far enough in advance to make sure we got the front four seats on the upper deck. It seems like you can book about six weeks in advance, but I’d advise you keep checking the website to see when the dates you want come available. 
• The website was a little flaky for me. I had trouble reserving the seats and also had trouble with using my credit card to book the tickets. I ended up using my Paypal account (which has my credit card associated with it).
• YOU WILL NEED A PRINTED COPY OF YOUR TICKETS AT THE BUS STATION. So find a printer and print them out. 
• The bus leaves from Terminal Sur (South Terminal), the international section. When you get to the station, find the CATA Internacional booth and present your printed tickets. They will check your passports and stamp the tickets, allowing you to board. We saw several people trying to board without checking in, and they were sent back to the desk. Here’s a picture of the desk:

• You may want to have some small Chilean notes on hand, as the baggage handlers ask for tips.
• Bring snacks and drinks – don’t expect any lunch or drinks provided on board, and your only stop is the border. Some people did pay the driver to get them some food there.
• Sit back and enjoy the scenery!
• (P.S. Shout out to the delightful travellers and their great blog/Youtube video on this trip!)