Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
301
Their quadruple r ooms are a g reat value f or larger groups. Bathrooms have a
Zen-like simplicity with all natural elements and lar ge showers. The spa is so
nice you may not even want to hit the slopes, although with a lift just 15m (49
ft.) from the lobby, it's easy to start linking your turns.
In addition to housing the resort's casino, the 90-bedroom
Piscis Club Hotel
has well-equipped rooms that ac commodate up t o three people, though it 's
not quite the five-star hotel the sign proclaims. A stay here includes breakfast
and dinner. Like most of the lodg ings here, it is ski-in, ski-out. Following a day
of skiing, the hotel provides hot drinks and warming b y the fireplace, and the
indoor pool, Jacuzzi, and sauna should reinvigorate the remaining cold parts of
your body. The restaurant,
Las Cuatros Estaciones,
is the best around. All the
hotels offer ski instruction and children's activities, as well as adult activities in
the casino and night club. After a siesta and then a lat e dinner, swing b y
La
Cueva del Esquiador
wine bar and sample fr om a long and impr essive wine
list. They have special tastings of Mendozan wine throughout the ski season. As
vibrant in the evening as it is on snowy winter days, the place hosts night skiing
three times a week and regular concerts, parties, and events.
Las L eñas lies in the south west of M endoza pr ovince, near the cit y of
Malargüe and close to the Chilean border. To drive from Mendoza, take the RN
40 to the PR 222. M ost bookings are done online at w ww.laslenas.com.
Pow-
derQuest
(www.powderquest.com) offers packages popular with North Amer-
icans and Europeans. A 7-night package includes flights from Buenos Aires and
excellent guided English-language ski tours with guides who know the moun-
tain fantastically w ell. They'll also include a f ew days of wine t ouring in M en-
doza before or after.
Lift tickets run about $60 (£41) per da y, with multida y passes a vailable. A
weekly pass, for example, will run y ou $305 (£207). P rices for lifts, as w ell as
those for accommodations, depend on the time of the season. S eptember is
generally a g reat time t o c ome—fewer cr owds, cheaper pric es, and longer
days. Great last-minute end-of-season promotions are available as well.
10
visitors—you can look at it, but y ou can't walk on it. Under the bridge, you will see the
remains of an old spa that once belonged to a hotel, built in 1917 to capitaliz e on the
thermal springs. That hotel was destr oyed in an av alanche in 1965, but, in what many
consider a miracle, the adjacent chur ch went unscathed. N atural hot springs still flo w
underground here, but access is closed to the public. N ear the spa, v endors sell handi-
crafts.
Hostería Puente del Inca
(
&
261/429-9953
) is the best place to eat her e. It's a
bit stuffy and seems to be trapped in the 1950s, but the set menu is r
eliable and w ell
priced at $12 (£8.20).
