Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Santa Fe
543
12
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Around San Luis
Balde
0266
This small village, 35km west of San Luis, is remarkable only for its thermal baths. The
municipal complex is a decidedly down-at-heel affair, while a new spa resort offers
oodles of comfort in gorgeous surrounds.
Centro Termal Municipal
( 0266-449-9319; Av Esteban Agüero s/n; 1hr baths per person
AR$18, campsites AR$20, 2-person cabin AR$300; baths 8am-6pm)
offers small rooms with
a bath and a bed to relax, rented by the hour. They're clean enough and decent value for a
quick dip. Cabins (located across the road) are spacious for two.
Los Tamarindos
( 0266-444-2220;
www.jardinesdetamarindos.com
;
Av Esteban Agüero
s/n; s/d AR$400/500, cabins s/d AR$450/550; baths 8am-6pm)
is a wonderful thermal
baths complex featuring a couple of public pools for day use - an outdoor one at 26°C
(AR$30 per person) and a lovely, clean indoor one (AR$45 for both). The rooms here are
standard, with small baths fed by hot spring water, but the cabins are a real treat: they're
much more spacious and have a separate tub where you can get neck deep in the water.
Regular buses run to and from San Luis' bus terminal to the bus terminal at Balde
(AR$10, 45 minutes), which is a short walk to either of the complexes.
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Parque Nacional Sierra de las Quijadas
Fans of the
Road Runner
cartoon will feel oddly at home among the red sandstone rock
formations in this rarely visited
national park
( 02652-490182; sier-
radelasquijadas@apn.gov.ar; admission AR$50)
The park comprises 1500 sq km of canyons
and dry lake beds among the Sierra de las Quijadas, the peaks of which reach 1200m at
Cerro Portillo. Recent paleontological excavations by the Universidad Nacional de San
Luis and New York's Museum of Natural History unearthed dinosaur tracks and fossils
from the Lower Cretaceous, 120 million years ago.
