Argentina
Salta & Jujuy
Two Andean provinces, one circuit. What to see, what it costs in 2026, and the altitude order that makes the week work.
Currency
ARS
Language
Spanish
Best months
April–May and September–November — dry roads, clear light and thin crowds
Mid-range budget
$
95
/ day
Northwest Argentina is the part of the country that never looked at Europe. Salta and Jujuy sit against the Andes with red rock, salt flats, cactus forests and towns that have been on the same trade road for ten thousand years — the Quebrada de Humahuaca is a UNESCO cultural landscape precisely because people have been walking it that long. You come for the colours and you stay for the fact that the whole thing is a drive: two provinces, one loop, and a different altitude every night.
It is also the best group trip in Argentina, for an unromantic reason. Almost nothing here is reachable without a vehicle, and a vehicle divided by six is the cheapest way anyone gets to see a 4,170 m pass. Six of you in one truck turns the expensive version of this trip into the normal version. Bring people.
The soundtrack
Guides for here
Practical Stuff
Tipping
Ten percent in restaurants, left in cash even when you pay the bill by card, because card tips often don't reach the staff. Round up for taxi drivers. Tip a guide who has driven you over a 4,170 m pass and waited while you took photographs. At the Salinas Grandes the community guide fee is a fee, not a tip — pay it at the lodge and tip separately if the person was good.
Safety
The real risks here are altitude and roads, not crime. Most of the circuit sits between 2,000 and 4,400 m: go up slowly, sleep in the Quebrada before you cross the Cuesta de Lipán, and move like an old person when you step out of the car at 4,000 m. Coca leaf, tea and sweets are legal, ordinary and genuinely help.
A large part of the route is ripio — unpaved gravel. Several rental agencies restrict or exclude RN40, the Hornocal road and the road to Iruya in the contract, so ask in writing which routes you are covered on. Check road conditions locally before the Hornocal or Iruya (tourism office, service station, police). Don't drive mountain ripio after dark, and don't try the Cuesta del Obispo in heavy rain — it gets closed preventively for a reason.
Salta city at night is much like any Argentine city: normal urban care, phone away on the street, taxi or app car home from Balcarce.
SIM card
Buy a Personal, Claro or Movistar SIM in Salta city with your passport — it takes minutes and coverage is good along RN9 and RN68. Expect no signal at all on the Cuesta de Lipán, at the Salinas Grandes, on the Hornocal road and most of the way to Iruya. Download offline maps before you leave the city.